Hello, my name is Derek Bartram and I am a final year student studying Software Engineering at the University of Birmingham. As part of my final year I am required to complete a project of some significant size; I have opted for a project in the area of strategy gaming. As part of the project I need to do requirements elicitation; i.e. getting to know what the end-user [i.e. people like yourself] wants.

Please could you take a few minutes of your time to complete the following questionnaire [by adding a reply with your answers numbered]. Please try to keep the topic directly related to this post as it will be included as part of my final report. Thank you.

1) Within this project I aim to produce a strategy game which is only devoted to online play, containing no ‘computer player’. The game would be constantly running and all players inhabit the same game environment. How important would you rate a ‘computer player’?

2) This game is intended to run continuously, so at times your units will be left unattended. How would you like your units to be maintained while you are not playing?

1. Left to an ally
2. Locked so they cannot be altered in any way [paused]
3. A scripting mechanism to allow behaviors to be defined for your units to follow
4. Other; please specify.

3) Given that the game is to run long-term [i.e. longer that one gaming session], how would you rate the need for integration with email, instant messaging, sms, etc? And why?

4) What features do you think current strategy games have that they do particularly well?

5) What features do you particularity dislike in current strategy games?

6) The following features have been suggested for inclusion within this project; please rate them in order of importance [most important first]. Please feel free to add your thoughts on these features.

1. Realistic weather; including features like day/night, wind, rain. Could include interaction with certain weapons [e.g. nuclear missiles which produce fall-out]
2. Realistic terrain; terrain is modeled on real forces such as erosion etc.
3. Natural disasters; floods, earthquakes, etc.
4. Unit customization; the ability to modify unit’s appearance.
5. Unit construction; the ability to make totally new units from unit components [e.g. wheels and engines].
6. Better ally options; sharing of units, resources, etc.
7. Video messaging

7) What features not included above would you like to see [and why]?

Once again, thank you for your help with this process; I shall endeavor to produce a game which shall be appreciated by everyone. A webpage for the project shall be available sometime before Christmas 2004; details to follow. Thank you.