Translation:

MMOGs Questionnaire (complete the questionnaire and win the

coupon code)

Introduction:

Dear respondents, I am Iro Voulgari, a scholar specialized in educational science at the

University of Patras.

Thank you for the time you are taking to complete the form. I will ask you a series

question about video games. The goal of the questionnaire is to evaluate our research and

understand the public's opinions on video games.

Your answers will help us improve and facilitate our future study. All answers will be

held in the strictest confidentiality.

Once you finish this form, you will receive a 5 dollars Amazon coupon code sent directly

to your email.

Background information:

Before starting the questionnaire, I want you to ask yourself: Have you ever scolded your

children, or have you been scolded by your parents because of video games.

I believe most of you do. Lots of people think that video games can destroy one’s life.

However, with the help of Vassilis Konis and Demetrios G. Sampson, I've done an incredible
research, and we are here to share the result with you that may turn your conventional idea on

games.

MMOGs, the massively multiplayer online games, are our research object. If anyone has

never heard of them, you must know The World of Warcraft, a typical example of MMOGs. A

characteristic feature of MMOGs is the boundless virtual world where players control the

characters, complete tasks and acquire expertise. By playing the characters, players make

progression, communicate and interact with other players.

Now, please take a pause and think about what effect video games have on you. If you

are parents, think about how games influence your children. Is it a positive effect or negative?

In this virtual world, the characters controlled by players are the reflection of players

themselves, and they are doing the exact same things they will do in real life, so we believe that

the game will have a positive influence on players.

We aim to show you what players can gain from games and what skills are practiced in

games. Our research methods include interviews and surveys. The interviews are for qualitative

analysis, in which we asked participants with questions relevant to the skills they considered

essential for the game, and their interactions with other players. The surveys are for quantitative

analysis, including questions about interactions, skills and knowledge, tasks, problems and

activities. We published the call for participation in different gaming websites and fora,

randomly selected MMOG players over 18 age. The participants were also chosen from

participants of our previous research, through emails, posters on internet cafés and university

campuses notice boards in different areas in Greece. Finally, we had 238 volunteers of different

backgrounds. 21 volunteers were interviewed, and the others took the surveys.
 In previous studies, we obtained very encouraging results. There are indications that

knowledge and skills involved in a game, such as navigation in the virtual space, observation,

interpersonal and communication skills may be transferable to other domains, to other games or

to real life.

Are you surprised by the results? Playing MMOGs has benefits to certain skills, but

please keep in mind that we didn’t consider time as an influential factor in our research, so it is

important to set up a time limit of playing games.

Personal Information

Name:

Age:

job:

Contact email:

Q# Question Responses

1. Did you know what is MMOGs before taking this a) Yes

questionnaire? b) No

2. Do you play MMOGs? a) Yes

b) No

3. Approximately how much time do you spend on

playing MMOGs a day on average? (If you

answered yes in the previous question)

 4. Do people around you play MMOGs? a) Yes

b) No

5. Who are they? (If you answered yes in the previous

question)

6. Do you think playing MMOGs is beneficial? (in any a) Yes

aspect) b) No

7. Do you agree with our research result? a) Yes

b) No

8. Do you think our research result is reliable? a) Yes

b) No

Thank you very much for participating in this questionnaire. We appreciate your work!

Iro Voulgari

Researcher

Yihang Pan, Julie Johnson, Writing 2

Translation Analysis Essay

Gaming is a common way of entertainment for people of all ages from all around the

world. However, the idea that playing video games is a waste of time always exists among the

public, and the influence of video games has always been a controversial topic. Researchers have
discovered that video gaming can be addictive – a phenomenon known as “Internet gaming

disorder.”1 Meanwhile, significant research has been carried out to better understand the impact

of video games. The educational science peer-reviewed article entitled “Learning outcomes and

processes in massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs): exploring the perceptions of

players”2 displays the learning mechanisms in the game environment and indicates that certain

skills and knowledge practiced in the game may be useful to other domains or to real life. With

the genre framework of the educational science journal article including citations, jargons, and

scientific analysis, the team of researchers, including Iro Voulgari, Vassilis Konis and Demetrios

G. Sampson, can compose the article rigorously, scientifically and convincingly, but limit the

audience exclusively to the scholars who specialized in educational sciences. To go beyond the

limits of a peer-reviewed article, I chose to translate it into a questionnaire. Genres are "tools to

help people to get things done."3 By replacing the original content of the article, including data,

graphs, and jargons, with simpler text, restructuring the article, adding questionnaire questions,

and setting up rewards for participants to fit into the genre conventions of a questionnaire, I

make the article comprehensible to the public, achieve the purpose of changing people's opinions

on games, and motivate them to focus on the benefits of gaming.

The purpose of my translation is to let more people acknowledge the positive sides of

playing MMOGs. To fulfil the exigence, I set up a reward for the participants, took advantage of

the survey questions, and applied pathos to my translation. As Laura Carroll stated in

1
Hannah Nichols, “How Video Games Affect the Brain,” July 10, 2017, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/.
2
Iro Voulgari, Komis Vassilis, and Demetrios G. Sampson. "Learning Outcomes and Processes in Massively
Multiplayer Online Games: Exploring the Perceptions of Players." Educational Technology Research and
Development 62, no. 2 (2014): 245-70.
3
Kerry Dirk, “Navigating Genres,” in Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing (Anderson, SC: Parlor Press, 2020), pp.
249-262, 252.
"Backpacks vs. Briefcases", the exigence "is usually responding to some kind of problem." 4 In

the peer-reviewed article, Iro and his team aim to share their work with other scholars in the field

of educational science so that others can modify and further this research topic. To accomplish

that, they have to ensure the accuracy, scientificity and validity of their work. They referred to

lots of other scholar’s work, such as Ang and Zaphiris’s work on the potential of MMOGs, to

explain the reasons and process of developing their own research and show the improvement

they had made. Moreover, the authors incorporated massive data to analyze their research

methodology. By making references and using data, they successfully enhanced the credibility of

their article. Different from the article, I am trying to change the public's views of video games.

To achieve that, I have to make my questionnaire attractive to the public so that people can

participate and absorb the information on it. In the questionnaire I referred to, Lauren stated that

after taking the survey and leaving a comment, participants could win a 500 dollars gift card of

The Food Network Store.5 To attract people, I give out Amazon coupon codes for the people

who participate in the questionnaire. By providing rewards, participants will be more likely to

read the questionnaire carefully, which conform to my goal- disseminate upsides to gaming. My

translation includes eight questions related to participants' personal experience and thoughts on

MMOGs which are used to facilitate participants' reflection and thoughts on the influence of

MMOGs. As they answer the questions, they will start to think whether there is a good side of

gaming. In the background information, I persuaded participants to realize the positive sides of

gaming by applying pathos, an "effective appeal if the rhetor has to persuade the audience in a

very short amount of time." 6 To apply pathos, I created a scene for participants- asking them to

4
Laura Bolin Carroll, “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis,” in Writing Spaces: Readings
on Writing (West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press, 2010), pp. 48.
5
Lauren Miyashiro, “Take Our Burger Survey and Enter to Win a $500 Gift Card to the Food Network Store,” Food
Network, 2014, https://www.foodnetwork.com/.
6
Carroll, Writing Spaces, 53
recall when they were scolded by parents or rebuked their children because of video games. This

is useful to create resonance with people because lots of them have experienced rebuke because

of playing games. I arouse their obligation to read and finish the questionnaire seriously so that

my goal is achieved. By translating the article into a questionnaire, the benefits of gaming are

getting more attention from the public.

Translating the research article into a questionnaire widens the audience to the general

public by replacing jargons, data, graphs and tables with comprehensible text and reorganizing

the structure of the article. The research article has both a primary and secondary audience-

educated scholars in the field of educational science and people who love reading the journal

“Educational Technology Research and Development.” As stated by Laura Carrol, “the audience

should be able to help address the problem.” 7 By publishing the article, the authors receive

suggestions, help and support from other scholars or sponsors, which will benefit their future

research, and their research result will also benefit other scholars who can modify and promote

this research into a deeper level. Iro and his team have to record the research process in detail

and ensure the rigorism, scientific nature, and reliability of the article by following the genre of

the academic article. They took advantage of many jargons, such as "theoretical framework" and

"varimax rotation"8, to promote professionalism and provide convenience for scholars to read

and understand, and the article contains graphs and tables to visualize their ideas. The article

displayed the structure of an academic work, comprising the abstract, introduction, research

methodology, analysis, result, and conclusion, which make the article organized, smooth and

logical to other scholars. Because of different targeted groups, all of these conventions are
7
Carroll, Writing Spaces, 49
8
Iro Voulgari, Komis Vassilis, and Demetrios G. Sampson. "Learning Outcomes and Processes in Massively
Multiplayer Online Games: Exploring the Perceptions of Players." Educational Technology Research and
Development
excluded from my translation. My questionnaire is facing the general public- this questionnaire is

posted online so that everyone has the chance to view it. Most of the participants know nothing

about the jargons of educational science and have no patience and knowledge to view and

understand the graphs and tables. I reorganized the structure of my translation to follow the genre

conventions of the questionnaire. My translation consists only of introduction, background

information and questions. In these sections, I delete jargons, summarize the whole article,

paraphrase the data into intelligible information, and translate graphs and tables into readable

text to the public. By fitting into the genre conventions of a questionnaire, a broader scope of

audience can understand the materials.

To ensure the effectiveness of my translation, I placed the materials of the academic

article into the context of a questionnaire by incorporating certain genre conventions and

constraints. The peer-reviewed article is based on academic and scientific context, which barely

contains interactions between the authors and audience. In the context of a questionnaire, I guide

participants to think about the influence of MMOGs and help them answer the questions. In the

introduction, I pointed out the goal of the questionnaire and the reward participants can receive.

Then I provided background information to let participants learn about the research and its

result- MMOGs is beneficial in some aspects. In the questions part, the order of the questions

helps to develop and lead participants’ thoughts. The questions begin with personal experience of

MMOGs, then people’s experience around you, and lastly your opinions on MMOGs. Instead of

the formal tone in the article, I built a friendly tone so that the participants will be more likely to

accept the information listed on the questionnaire. I changed the narrative perspective into the

first person, shortening the distance between the author and the participants. The title of the peer-

reviewed article is just a summary of the objective and achievement, which aims to provide
general information of the article. However, the title is different in a questionnaire. In my

reference questionnaire, Lauren added the information of the gift card into the title.9 Similar to

his title, my new title also contains information about the reward because my goal is to stimulate

people's desire to click on my questionnaire. Some constraints are set to make the translation fit

into the context, but "limit the way the discourse is delivered or communicated." 10 The first

constraint is the length of the text. In my reference questionnaire, Sarah made the introduction

brief and straightforward.11 I also include a short introduction and background information

because participants will not spend time reading the long text of a questionnaire. Another

constraint is that the participants attracted by the coupon code may go directly to answer the

question and ignore the background information which I want them to read. My purpose of

letting people learn about the positive sides of gaming will fail if participants neglect the

background information. The article is rearranged into a completely new context through the use

of informal tone, the first point of view, and certain constraints.

In China, the competitions of League of Legends, one of the most famous computer

games, were viewed more than 20 billion times in 2019, which is 10 times of total views of F1

(FIA Formula 1 World Championship).12 Video games are coming into people's view more

frequently, but lots of people still keep criticizing video games and overlook all the benefits it

brings to us. By translating Iro’s academic article into a questionnaire, I achieve my purpose of

bringing the benefits of video games to the public. "No rhetorical performance takes place in a

9
Lauren Miyashiro, Food Network
10
Carroll, Writing Spaces, 49
11
Sarah Mae Sincero. “Customer Satisfaction On Qrz Family Restaurant”. Explorable, 2012.
https://explorable.com/questionnaire-example
12
Ztalk: Gaming, Bilibili, 2020, https://b23.tv/wDTqxP.
vacuum."13 With different purposes, the same information will generate completely different

effects to a different audience in different contexts. That is the power of the genre.

Bibliography

Dirk, Kerry. “Navigating Genres.” Essay. In Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, 249–62.

Anderson, SC: Parlor Press, 2020.

Miyashiro, Lauren. “Take Our Burger Survey and Enter to Win a $500 Gift Card to the Food

Network Store.” Food Network, 2014. https://www.foodnetwork.com/.

Mae Sincero, Sarah. “Customer Satisfaction On Qrz Family Restaurant”. Explorable, 2012.

https://explorable.com/questionnaire-example.

13
Carroll, Writing Spaces, 52
Ztalk: Gaming. Bilibili, 2020. https://b23.tv/wDTqxP.

Bolin Carroll, Laura. “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis.” Essay. In

Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, 48–49. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press, 2010.

Voulgari, Iro, Vassilis Komis, and Demetrios G. Sampson. "Learning Outcomes and Processes in

Massively Multiplayer Online Games: Exploring the Perceptions of Players." Educational

Technology Research and Development 62, no. 2 (2014): 245-70. Accessed February 2, 2021.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/24546585.

Nichols, Hannah. “How Video Games Affect the Brain,” July 10, 2017.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/.