Monday, September 12, 2011

The Value of Surveys; Fantasy and 40k TT Results Incoming

I'll have formatted Fantasy and 40k TT results up later today.  Invitational results still incoming from the scoremaster.  Apologies for the delay here.

So, the survey we put out for the NOVA has a very high percentage response rate by now, and provides some very valuable input from the players themselves ...


Here are a few highlights, for your consumption

Several people are complaining about the terrain at various venues, loudly!  Let's look at what the participants as a whole thought:

Asked whether players would like to play with the same amount of LOS blocking terrain again? 93% said yes.

Asked opinion about the terrain as a whole?
87% said it was Good or Excellent; 95% said it was Average, Good, or Excellent

What about cheating / sportsmanship / slow play / etc?
Asked about their experiences regarding opponents compared to the norm at the NOVA,
77% said Above Average
98% said Average or Above Average

What about the Independence Center as the Game Hall?
81% Very Satisfied or Satisfied
94% Neutral, Satisfied, or Very Satisfied

Other than a few more complaining sorts, the response to terrain, game hall, and sportsmanship was overwhelmingly positive!

What about the Hyatt as a whole, though?
62% of those who stayed at the Hyatt were satisfied or very satisfied with their rooms / room rates for value ($109/night)
17% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied
The rest were "neutral"

What about the Hyatt food?
26% were satisfied with the food
42% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied
The rest were "neutral"


So, this is more telling - not very high marks for the Hyatt for value ... over the comments you're able to sort of see that people felt it was a nice hotel, and a nice gaming venue, but too nickle-and-dime, and the food was either slow or expensive (or both).

When asked whether the NOVA was better than expected, as expected, or less than expected ...
77% said "Better Than Expected," and 97% said "As Expected" or "Better Than Expected."  Many of those 20% saying "as expected" also specifically stated thereafter in their comments that they expected it to be awesome.

What about value for cost?  99.3% said Fair, Neutral, Good, or Excellent.  96% said Neutral, Good, or Excellent. 85% said Good, or Excellent.

Demographics? 94% of our attendees are over 22 years old.  50% are over 30 years old.  Interesting.

How did we do in terms of keeping things organized?
87% said Excellent or Good
96% said Neutral, Excellent, or Good
100% said Fair, Neutral, Excellent, or Good
0% said "Poor"

Finally, when ranking the NOVA on a scale of 1-5, where a 1 was "Fair" and a 5 was "Off the Charts" ... 85% said 4 or 5; 97% said 3, 4, or 5.  Nearly half voted it a "5."




So are the handful of negative blog reviews reflective of the majority?   Not even in the slightest ways imaginable.

Do we have a lot to improve on?  Hell yes!  The best part of this review was the contribution of constructive suggestions for improvement.  Nothing beats a positive suggestion given by a guy who enjoyed himself, but wants to see it be even better next year.  My kind of comments.

A couple of choice "Single phrase summations" of the NOVA that tickled my fancy ...

Awesomefunweekend! (that's one word right? :))

Tough friendly opponents, Beautiful armies, unparalleled terrain, Competitive scoring, What all 40k Tournaments should be.

It was the best experience I could have had for my first GT. Thanks Mike and crew!!

 Captures the GW GT spirit with a modern competitive edge.

NOVA has set a new standard for the social aspect of the tabletop wargaming hobby.

The NOVA was the best tournament I have attended in twenty+ years of running and playing 40K events.

2 comments:

  1. I agree! I wish I would have gotten a survey! We are modeling a lot of what you do in our Indy Open coming next year. Great Job Mike and team!

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  2. In my defense, as I noted terrain as a place for improvement on my survey, it did not affect the fun factor of my games in any way. Because I thought that the terrain would be similar to last year's, I designed a list that would hopefully do well in that environment. Turned out that wasn't the case and my list's effectiveness was drastically reduced.

    HOWEVER: It forced a challenge upon my list, which created some very close games for me. This is why I play 40k; it was exciting to try and salvage wins in obscure ways. I was placed into a disadvantage and I had to work out how to win the game with what I had. And it was fun. Turns out, I was in every single game I played, except for one. Change a couple dice rolls in several games and I would have won. But that is the way the game goes and that is what I like about it. I think it taught me to think outside the box when the ideal situation doesn't come up, so while my record wasn't as good as I hoped, I definitely got something out of the weekend. ;)

    So I'm not complaining in the least, I was simply unprepared. But as I said before, I won't be caught with my pants down again! Plus, as a whole, my opponent's were excellent and awesome to play against. :D

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