Lore™ enthusiast

We're finally here! Because of how lengthy these posts will be, I'm going to have to split them over multiple posts. The plan is to have this intro, posts focused on each game and its main responses, and then a further few posts dedicated to each game's responses on the optional opinion section along with a selection of the free-response text box answers. They'll all be tagged with '#census survey', and once they're all out, I'll link them all in the pinned post so they're easy to find :)

Here is a list of pretty interesting patterns and findings I got from the results before we dive into the answers themselves!

When it comes to the free-response section, Veilguard inspired far more writing than any other game, with the highest comment count, response rate, average word count, and total word count

Solas inspired the largest number of people to say something, with the highest raw comment count and highest response rate. Cullen, Loghain, Anders, and Oghren also all broke 200+ optional text responses.

Sigrun had the least text responses (though she was rated positively by 85.2% of respondents and negatively by virtually nobody), with all the Awakening companions getting between 80-100. The non-DLC character with the fewest responses was Inquisition Leliana

Josephine inspired relatively few and relatively short responses, but 94.7% of respondents rated her positively

Taash generated the most intense free-response engagement, with the most total words and average words per response

Anders was the character who inspired the least indifference - only 1% of respondents selected "I'm indifferent" for him

Cullen was the most polarising, with his ratings fairly evenly distributed. He also had the highest negative percentage, narrowly ahead of Oghren

Oghren had the highest percentage of "mixed/conflicted feelings"

Tallis inspired the most indifference, with 43.5% of respondents selecting "I'm indifferent" for her. The next highest result was Sebastian at 25.4%

The top five characters with the most "I love them" responses were Dorian (75.4%), Zevran, Morrigan, Merrill, and DA2 Varric. Dorian was the most overwhelmingly positively rated, with 94.2% positive answers, 0.8% negative, and 1.4% indifferent

Vivienne, Sera, Taash, Harding, and Lucanis all had very positive ratings as characters, but their free-response text boxes were generally criticism-heavy, with people citing issues with their writing and storylines

Opinions on Oghren don't differ by gender - men were slightly more likely to be mixed rather than negative, but otherwise percentages were broadly the same across the board

Opinions on Taash differ pretty clearly between cis and trans/nonbinary respondents. Trans and nonbinary results are almost identical, but cis people were broadly less positive on Taash. 6.4% of trans and 5.6% nonbinary respondents rated Taash negatively ("dislike" or "hate") compared to 16.8% of cis respondents. 38.5% of trans and 38.6% of nonbinary people specifically selected "I love them" for Taash, compared to only 22.8% of cis respondents.

Men were substantially more likely to love Anders - 41.2% of women loved him vs. 61.5% of men.

Women were substantially more likely to love Cullen - 28.9% of women vs. 13.1% of men - and men were substantially more likely to hate Cullen (10.1% of women vs. 25.3% of men).

Sera was loved by 52.6% of men vs. only 35.3% of women

Some other interesting patterns: Neve was more positively rated by nonbinary people and men than she was by women, and Iron Bull was much more positively rated by nonbinary people than by either men or women

People who like Solas are almost twice as likely than others to also like Blackwall

Anders and Fenris fans aren't generally opposing camps, though Fenris fans are more likely to dislike Anders than Anders fans are likely to dislike Fenris. Among people positive about Anders, 97.2% were also positive about Fenris.

Ace-spec respondents lean slightly more positively toward Lucanis, but the difference isn't statistically significant

Older respondents (for this purpose 36+) like Cullen more than younger respondents do, while they like Loghain significantly less. Older respondents are also notably more likely to like Lucanis, Emmrich, and Aveline. Velanna, for some reason, peaks significantly for 23-27 year olds

Bellara was rated positively by every single person who said Veilguard was their favourite game

People who romanced Alistair in Origins tended to romance Fenris in DA2 and Cullen in Inquisition. People who romanced Leliana in Origins heavily favoured Josephine in Inquisition. Merrill romancers strongly gravitate toward Josephine and Bellara. Isabela romancers overwhelmingly favour Neve in Veilguard. Zevran romancers favour Dorian and Lucanis. Blackwall romancers divide strongly between Emmrich and Davrin.

The most common favourite romance pipelines were Zevran > Fenris > Dorian > Lucanis and Zevran > Fenris > Dorian > Emmrich

The fandom is very consistently pro mage, with 97.8% siding with the mages in Origins, 95.6% in DA2, and 89.7% in Inquisition. Only 1 respondent out of the 760 who answered the question for all three games chose the Templar option in every game.

To back up the common complaint in the free-response boxes about Veilguard forcing a harmonious team with no ability to disagree with companions, Rook was dramatically more likely to get along with everyone. The percentage of people who said their protagonist genuinely got along with every companion was 28.9% for the Warden, 22.1% for Hawke, 28.3% for the Inquisitor, and 72.2% for Rook. The most common sources of friction: For the Warden, Oghren, then Wynne; for Hawke, Sebastian, then Aveline and Carver; for the Inquisitor, Vivienne and Cullen, then Sera and Solas; and for Rook, Lucanis and Taash, but at much lower rates than any previous game's conflicts.

Certain pairings of characters were very often loved by the same people; some examples were Aveline and Cassandra, Morrigan and Isabela, Velanna and Merrill, Isabela and Neve, Isabela and Sera, Zevran and Fenris, and Nathaniel and Carver.

Cullen fans were more likely than other players to dislike Velanna, Merrill, Sera, Vivienne, and Isabela.

Inquisition players who chose the mages usually allied with them, but players who chose the Templars usually conscripted them.

Tag list: @songofamazon, @soldiermom1973, @jellyeliart, @jadesabre301. @limastockholm, @nico--reinhold, @huntrixdyke, @championofdogs, @kirkwallsbane, @kolimachris, @aw-reginum, @illcarxd, @i-crave-boi-juice, @mint-chip-superiority, @softforalistair, @oxygenforthewicked, @mylosingdogs, @captainlavellan, @howdy-do-da-day, @tarasmom, @dreadknightcassandra, @kingmalowe, @whimsyswastry, @firstwardenevka, @dragon-age-sideblog, @thatrandomfeministgamer, @loquaciousquark, @danzadair. @azeroths-andrastian-simp, @cooncannibal, @nightswatchyaoi

How old are you?: 28-35 (48.3%), 23-27 (24.6%), 36-45 (18.4%), 18-22 (6.3%), 46-55 (1.9%), 13-17 (0.3%), 56+ (0.1%)

Currently working on a bigger illustration with Nerevar and Dagoth (that I was supposed to post for valentine's but I think it would've been evil to do that considering what's in there so maybe it's good I didn't finish in time) so for now here's some doodles and stuff.

Haven't really drawn them in a bit. I also have a lot of work at uni...... ToT

Nix Hound

are they going to fix the problems with skyrim and eso? why don't they fix the problems with eso in eso? is it for the dedicated fans who buy every version of skyrim for every console? is it for the lore buffs who point out the inconsistency in the games that even "dragon break" can't answer? is it for the casual gamer to drop a day of minimum wage earnings on?

where could someone even buy it if not physically? on steam? on xbox digital services? would they own the game, or would it be a subscription? is the platform its played on a subscription? Who is this game for? how can people play it? how can it even get made, when theyre laying off every important member of the Zenimax team? how much money is going into it? how much money will be spent on it? how much can a consumer gain from it?

I say this with much love, as someone with a Morrowind profile picture and a Morrowind username. TES is a franchise that deserves a dignified conclusion to its releases. Promising a sixth game for over ten years only to focus on the microtransaction ridden massively multiplayer online game is such a cash-grabby way to do it.

not to mention being caught plagiarizing its fans, laying off writers and artists, releasing and re-releasing the same game for more money every year, narrowing down the fandom at large to people who can afford the games and dlcs and subscriptions? if there even is a sixth game, what could it possibly offer that would make it worth the cost to play it?

does it not feel like a weird situation? Is there a plan to shutter obsidian until there’s nothing left and the devs go work at other studios or get laid off? Then they can right it off in taxes or whatever? Isn’t this just the beginning of their “overhaul”? I just can not see it as a “win” and can only see it as a bad omen

Whiterun Exterior Path

Concept art for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

"Hey everyone, I want to share this link with you all with a little bit of context, and a small request: https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/69b8ec0b-7479-f111-9b47-6045bdbd0989

This post was created as a part of an industry-wide mobilization effort. When this post hits 25k upvotes, it will land on Asha Sharma's (XBOX CEO) desk.

If you have a moment to spare, please create an account and upvote this post in support of not only ZoS and ESO, but all of the other people and studios impacted by recent layoffs. And please share this message with others and encourage them to do the same. Thank you so much."

here is a great video on why this is important and worthwhile from people who make games, who are heading the no games for genocide campaign.

the key points of the call to action for gamers (& streamers) are:

cancel your xbox game pass subscription

boycott xbox published games (including games they sell on steam/microsoft storefronts)

boycott microsoft gaming hardware

don't play xbox published games on stream

don't take sponsorships from xbox/xbox owned studios