Level up Your Data: A Feasibility Study on Using Video Games for Data Collection in the Experimental Social Sciences

Video games have become a central part of contemporary popular culture. However, little research exists on the utilization of interactive video games for answering questions relevant for social scientists. This paper explores how role-playing video games (RPGs) can be designed and used for collecting participants’ data in experimentally manipulating studies. Using RPG Maker, a commercial tool for creating video games, I designed a game in which participants control a character, talk to non-player characters, spend money, and make abstract decisions (e.g., voting). This study could thus test the usability of video game-exclusive mechanics in a coherent and visually engaging environment building on the self-determination theory. By using observations of participants’ in-game behaviour, post-experience questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, the feasibility and validity of using custom RPGs in the experimental social sciences was tested. This study shows that using video games for data collections can generate high-quality behavioural and survey data by making participants motivated, attentive, emotionally engaged, and giving them a strong agency within a realistic virtual environment.

Jul 17, 2025 09:00 — 10:30