I know you’re an opinionated lot of Game of Thrones fans here at Watchers on the Wall, so I wanted to share with you a new opportunity to speak your mind. Questeros is part of an international research project that wants to know your views about Game of Thrones in an online survey.
The researchers for the Game of Thrones Research Project have recently launched the survey, which take about 20 minutes to complete, on the project’s website at Questeros.org. The questionnaire is very straightforward and mostly multiple-choice, with the option of answering more in-depth in the open spaces if you want to.
The project is created and run by a group of over 40 researchers from around the world, led by Professor Martin Barker from Aberystwyth University in the UK. The research project is entirely self-funded, and isn’t connected with HBO or George R. R. Martin in any way. It’s being conducted by a group of university researchers with an interest in fantasy films and television. Some of the researchers involved also worked on similar projects like The World Star Wars Project, The World Hobbit Project, and the Watching The Lord of the Rings Project.
The results and findings of the project will be made publicly available eventually. The survey will be open well into 2017, after Season 7 of Game of Thrones finally airs.
The GoT Research Project wants to gather thousands of people’s views on the series, and has asked for our help with it. The more responses they receive to the survey, the better the final result will be, so spread the word about the project! Take the survey, and stay up-to-date with the Game of Thrones Research Project on their Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook.
Orson!
(koong koong koong) me like surveys!
Oo, this sounds interesting! Will go and complete survey asap.
Done and done!
Done. Someone could also do some research about how our fandom treats information (spoilers and leaks), how accurate it is in predicting the future story, etc. Could be interesting too.
Just took a peek at the survey… it seems interesting but there are some “justify your answer” sections and I need to think them through… Will complete the survey later.
Done! I have been completely unable to engage with the community this time ’round due to spoilers. So it’s fun to actually talk about my GoT “feels” again. Also I’m glad they gave me the chance to rant about spoilers and purists. :p
20 minutes, they said… grumbe, grumble, took me more than an hour! 😀
TBF, I wrote quite a bit in the “open boxes”. 😉
I also had a look around their website. I find it quite interesting that this group of academics conducting research on a US show based on US books, only includes one academic from the US! Quite a few from the UK and – yikes! – my country! (Finland). Spain, Canada, Greece, Germany, Brazil, other countries are represented. It’s almost like academics from around the world are studying US culture from the outside, which is an interesting and possibly fruitful, proposition.
Anyway, I’d encourage all WotW readers to take the survey. It really only takes about 10 minutes (multiple choice, click) unless you want to write about your favourite scenes or characters.
I’m really looking forward to their findings in late 2017/early 2018. They said websites, such as WotW, who promote their survey will get proper reports and stuff. 🙂
That was fun
QueenofThrones,
Ahaha! Isn’t it great that someone really wants to know! 😀
I expect they’ll get a fair few rants in the “open boxes”, but that’s what they want, they want to know what the fandom really thinks.
We fans are also the lab rats here. One of their research questions must be “What kind of people are serious fans of this fantasy series’?”
Done and done!
“Game of Thrones presents us with many different lands and kinds of people. Has there been one which has particularly intrigued you?”
I might have given multiple answers to more than one question like this.
Nice to do a survey about something I am actually interested in for a change!
talvikorppi,
“It’s almost like academics from around the world are studying US culture from the outside”
Let’s be frank: US culture is the global culture or at least it dominates the Western World. We all watch Hollywood movies/TV series and we have very few alternatives. I always look for Scandinavian films (we have a Scandinavian film festival annually), but unfortunately I can’t remember watching any Finnish film since Talvisota (1989). So… reality.
Inga,
Just because something’s on television doesn’t make it a part of “culture”. US Culture is NOT global culture. I live in Australia – we might have some brands, franchises, etc. imported from the US, but our culture is very, very different.
Took me about half an hour as I couldn’t resist answering their follow-up questions. I agree with Jorah’s Mormont that it was fun to be asked about GoT and I can’t wait to see the results.
Done and done !
Clara Janie,
No offense. I live in Lithuania which is very very small compared to Australia, but we also maintain our local culture (or at least we try to). In general, it’s a big problem for a small country to produce anything worth watching within our standard movie budgets which make 1/3 of one GOT episode at best. But life is unfair, and that’s the price of living in a small country: you have to watch American production or sometimes Australian production and I don’t complain, if that production is good.
Done! I totally referred to myself as “a girl” when asked the personal opinion questions. That was a good way to pass break time at work. Give me more GoT surveys!
That was fun. Thanks for sharing, Sue!
QueenofThrones,
Hahaha I feel you!!!
I’m going to do this survey tomorrow when I have more time and I’m more awake!
done and dusted
Anonymous opinings about a show I love? I’m in.
One of the questions I tanked on (I know, I know, every answer is good, yadda yadda), is what books, TV shows, etc. are GoT-like. I am not as well-read as I’d like to be. Dune, GoT, some bad fantasy – that’s about it.
Does anyone have recommendations for GoT-like epic either dystopia or fantasy? I’m reading some Arthur C. Clarke now because I’m woefully under-read in the classics.
I got way more than 20 minutes of enjoyment out of that.
I also got an excuse to express my fascination with Braavos, so that was a bonus.
Just put in my pennies worth. Took me about an hour also. Was curious to know why they asked what our political affiliations were? I ticked ‘middle of the road’. Perhaps they are after to determine how GoT viewers would vote in the US presidential elections! I’m not a US citizen so couldn’t vote in any case, but only to say if I could it certainly wouldn’t be for that moron Donald Trump! God Help America (and the world) if he ends up in the oval office – Winter would definitely be coming – a nuclear one 🙁
Just wanted to share: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5OJiX0yBo8
Black Raven,
True that about trump , it is known
jessie_snow,
I definitely recommend the Prince of Nothing series. Might take the first 100 pages to get into because of the weird names and the author R Scott Bakker is a philosopher at heart so his writing style is a bit more challenging. However it is the most intriguing, epic series I’ve ever read – and I’m a huge GoT fan who’s read the books several times. But Prince of Nothing tops it in my opinion. And on the plus side the author will be done with the final book next year – so no waiting!
Makes me think of Skyrim…lol. I often use just those words.
Did anybody have a rant about Dorne?
Done! Those were well thought out questions. I enjoyed that! 🙂
jessie_snow,
I haven’t read that much fantasy, in general historical fiction is in my opinion is often closer to GoT then most other genres that I ve read.
A quick series that I can think about, that perhaps has a bit of a similar vibe to ASOIAF is Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord series.
It really depends on what exactly you like about ASOIAF.
Grandmaester Flash,
no but I didn’t mind dorne
where would you have put that?
Im curious
what did people put as “their most memorable moment , one they tell others”?
Boudica,
Big fan of raymond ? feist magician apprentice series
Boudica,
Is this the same series as the “the last kingdom”?
I bought a few books from that series, I will eventually get the rest but ihavent started it
I am currently reading The name of the wind
Took me closer to 2 hours. I’m winning! (Or am i losing?)
Dee Stark,
It was difficult to narrow it down so I picked The Hound coming back. It gave me such joy so I went with it.
Aryamad,
That’s an awesome unexpected answer
mine was hard, but I picked HARDHOME
Done!
As far as asking where I stand on politics well I’m from the N.E. USA and I ticked middle, both candidates suck really, and as much as a lot of females especially in the press / TV news are priding themselves on HRC, she really isn’t the best, Elizabeth Warren is better, and I was ready for a female president all the way back to Patricia Schroeder sp?
Black Raven,
As an American… I can certainly see why you would call Trump a “moron”, however… Clinton is a shitbag of the highest degree, and I wish 2020 was next year… Im not getting into who is better, but niether are worthy of the title…
plop_plop,
Trump’s Campaign is just a ploy to ensure Hilary wins.
NOBDOY is that stupid.
Dee Stark,
**NOBODY
apparently, I am and cant spell
Hi Dee, I answered that comment saying when Drogon flew into the arena and Dany flew off with him.
There has been so many scenes that were memorable, but for me that one was epic and unexpected.
plop_plop,
I agree with your comments. I often watch CNN and this whole business has become a fucking circus – Its just become a slagging match between the pair of them! As you say, neither candidate is suitable to hold the office of President, but I guess Clinton even with her failings would be the ‘safer’ choice?
It just scares me shitless that someone with the ‘gung-ho’ mentality of Trump if elected President would have access to the nuclear launch codes 🙁
I finally finished the survey!! It took me a while because I read an essay in each “open box”, but I really enjoyed it!! 🙂
Black Raven,
Don’t worry: far more dangerous people have access to the nuclear launch codes and there is little difference who sits in the Oval Office.
Silly me, I meant “I wrote an essay…” 🙁
What does “Winter” mean to you? wow.
All of our divisiveness has been useless. We’ve been playing this foolish game of thrones for so long that we’ve let ourselves be enslaved. We are now ripe for takeover. The next Age of our world will come with a vengeance and with shock. We will be sent back to the dark ages…those of us who survive.
Nicely put!
Yay! A survey in which I did not have to scroll all they way up or down to get to my age.
umuckurlife,
That’s a brilliant answer and well put. That last question:
And finally: “Winter is coming” – surely the series’ most famous saying. Ah, but what exactly is “Winter”? What does it make you think of?”
I wrote something pretty basic like: Winter is Coming and the dead come with it! – i.e. The petty wars between the regions of Westeros for whoever sits on the Iron Throne will pale in comparison to the war to come. The final battle between good and evil.
Not very imaginative, but that was all I could think of 🙂
Black Raven,
Thanks,
The funny thing is that I answered all of the ‘how do you relate Game of Thrones as a narrative to our world’ as, basically, ‘I use GoT to get away from the social narratives and current events’. Then the final question turned me all upside down. It was a good question. 🙂
I wrote winter is the death of the present and old, with spring as a rebuild and renewel of the future.
I picked the Hound & Arya having a friendly chicken dinner with Polliver & his gang.
Elizabeth Warren would have been my first choice as well. Bernie Sanders was my second choice. I don’t really like Clinton much, but I’ll vote for her because I think she’ll be basically “more of the same”, not really fixing the fundamental problems we have, but not really making things worse either.
Trump on the other hand seems to be a greedy, thin-skinned, vindictive asshole who panders to the most obnoxious elements of society, and Mike Pence is a religious fanatic. I think Game of Thrones has taught us something about keeping fanatics away from political power. I don’t really trust Congress to be willing and able to keep them in check.
Dee, you wasn’t so far off the first time re Trump 🙂
Certainly the first 3 letters (NOB) is an apt description (re dickhead) of the guy! It just beats me how someone like Trump who has never been a politician or held any position in the US government/senate has risen to be a presidential candidate.
A man thinks there is something shitty going on here 😀
don’t forget his ties to russian finacial leaders, also I think there were reports of some mob ties that been out for a while or his putting American workers back to work again in Pennsylvania or Ohio how does he do that if his buildings are Chineese steel and aluminum ? But CNN and Fox just do spins on their canidates and forget about news everywhere else.
I was watching France 24 , BBC and Sky News and they all said basicly; what’s wrong with Americans, their unemployment rate is under 5% ( which they said most of Europe would kill for those numbers) 73 straight weeks or months of growth may not be as high as we would want but it’s in the right direction.
I believe rich people deserve a piece of the pie, just not 90% more like 33%, middle class 33% and the disadvantage 33%, damn real life is getting more depressing then GOT.
I picked Jaime’s and Brienne’s bath in Harrenhal. It was very powerful: beautiful cinematographically and the acting was suberb. It presented us moral dilemmas regarding vows/oaths and also provided some insight into why Jaime is the way he is: cynical and jaded but, at this lowest point in his life, also desperately trying to reach out to another human being like never before. “Jaime. My name is Jaime.”
Heh, I know some will not agree because for them Jaime’s character was forever sealed when he flung Bran out the window. I, however, think that he’ll get some redemption in the end, in the eyes of many fans, though probably not all. 😉 However, it’ll be bittersweet, along the lines of dying doing something good or heroic but people in Westeros will never know or believe it and he’ll be forever known as the Kingslayer.
I think the university made this survey so they know if a sequel/prequel to the TV Series could be a success.
So I suggest: Take the survey! xD
This was my choice as well for that question!
Close second would have been one of the many Awesome Dany moments but since I already talked about how she is my fave in the previous question I wanted to give a shout out to this mindf*ck of a scene (though of course I always think of the book version the adaptation here was perfection).
Most memorables were deaths that really affected me (either someone I really liked or hated) and the mammoth and scythe from ep 4.9 ‘cos they looked epic and felt believable. (Not a fantasy fan and dragons and any kind of zombies are two things I really cannot suspend disbelief for. S8 is gonna suck for me!)
I put LF down as the person who plays the game the best and his (I hope impending) death as something that would be really satisfying and memorable which is yet to come.
I glanced at the questionnaire, but we have houseguests and I can’t spend much time on the computer. For favourite moment, I’m drawn to smaller, more intimate ones. I’m leaning towards the Arya-Tywin chats, especially the one where he tells her she’s too smart for her own good or the one where he compliments her and her self-satisfied smile turns to panic as Baelish is suddenly announced. I also like the final chat between Jon and Mance, the Arya-Hound chicken scene, the scene where Dany be-Hands Tyrion, the Ned-Robert scene with the breastplate stretcher, Shireen teaching Davos, and any repartee between Tyrion and Varys.
About the election–Clinton always had baggage and I too preferred Warren or maybe Sanders or even a decent Republican like Jeb Bush. But no amount of white collar AMBIGUOUSLY corrupt moves can do the national and international damage of electing a candidate who’s supported by Putin, the suddenly side-choosing WikiLeaks, a politicised FBI (shades of J Edgar Hoover), the Ku Klux Klan and their ilk. He who must not be named lies, cheats and demagogues his way to fomenting violence, intimidation, and slyly threatened disruption of the peaceful transition of the presidency. If he gets his finger on the nuclear button, will we even live to see the end of GoT and maybe–God and GRRM willing–the end of ASOAIF?
Dee Stark,
Dee this is the most recent post I can find a comment from you in so I want to warn you and others who are avoiding spoilers now. DO NOT GO INTO ANY OF THE POSTS LABELLED SPOILER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES NO MATTER HOW TEMPTED YOU ARE!
It is safe to read the post, I’ll explain what’s going on without giving anything away. About a month ago someone posted a detailed outline of S7 on Reddit. Everyone assumed it was fake but we are getting apparent confirmation of parts of it on an almost daily basis at the moment. It doesn’t really give any context, but is basically all the major events of the series, including deaths, entire series arcs etc. Obviously we won’t know until it airs how much of it is actually correct, but we haven’t seen anything which contradicts it and some odd little things which people are unlikely to make up have shown up in leaked photos. So it’s looking more like the real thing every day.
The latest article (pic of Dany with kids) confirms one of the most unlikely sounding things and it looks as if Sue is now asking people just to cover leak-related spoilers within posts, whereas previously she was telling people to stick to the forums and deleting comments within any other posts. Sorry Sue if this isn’t the case please correct me, this was the impression I got. So people are now freely discussing the leaks. They have been spoiler covering them so far but it only takes someone to forget and you see something you really didn’t want to. Some of them are on the scale of being told before S6 that Jon is resurrected by Mel at the end of ep 2.
Sorry to ramble but I wanted to stress the scale of the potential problem. A number of regular posters are already avoiding the site because of it 🙁
Lulus Mum,
Yup, not worth the trouble. I am out, not sure it would make much sense coming back once the show airs.
By everyone.
Lulus Mum,
Thanks for the heads-up, Lulu’s Mum. I wonder how these leaks are going to affect the comment section here when the show airs, since many of the regulars will be aware of what’s going to happen… There will probably be a lot of people, intentionally or unintentionally spoiling the plots to the ones that have been so far avoiding them… Perhaps the safest course of action is to avoid coming to WotW altogether… Which would be a pity, to be honest… ?
A Dornish Tyrell,
You’re welcome 😀 I love spoilers and would happily read the script months in advance if it was available, but I’m really at one end of the spectrum and most others certainly aren’t. Assuming for the moment they are true, we’ve never had leaks on anything like this kind of scale before and it affects the entire S7 plot development.
During S5 episodes 9 and 10 leaked around 24 hours before they were due to air and there were two discussion threads: one each for spoiler readers and the unsullied. The spoiler one was a bit of a free for all while the unsullied was very closely monitored by the mods. I guess this site (and others) will have to go along that route again? In the meantime be very careful what you read. I’m sure Dee can give a masterclass in spoiler avoidance but the problem is of course the more they turn out to be accurate the more likely they are to appear elsewhere, ie non-GoT related places.
Johnny,
Awesome, thanks!
Boudica,
Thanks for the advice – I didn’t think of going non-fiction, but I’ve heard excellent things about David McCullough. I’ll have to look at earlier history, since I’m really taken with Medieval/dark ages stuff.
With fiction, I need the characters to feel like real people, will all of the complexity of people I know. If there’s too much of the author’s political leanings bleeding through (Terry Goodkind ), or the all of the people “feel” like the same person (David Eddings), I tend to get bored.
Dee Stark,
I tend to tell people about the point in book 3 where I literally threw the book across the room. (I did eventually pick it back up.)
Black Raven,
Since I’m knee-deep in survey building for class at the moment, I would guess it’s because GoT has a lot of politics to it – they’re probably looking to see whether people who like GoT tend to fall in a particular part of the spectrum.
Grail King,
I went fairly literal. I’m from the northeast of the US, and there have been winter storms where you couldn’t drive anywhere and the electricity/running water were out for days. Winter is coming, to me, means to always prepare for the hard times, because it isn’t always going to be easy times.
jessie_snow,
I don’t have the type of recommendation you asked for – however, there is a series which has characters and themes from many different genres. That is the Thursday Next series. I think it’s quite funny, brilliant, and added to my appreciation of literature in general.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thursday_Next
Newbietothegame,
I felt the same thing! Especially after just having a birthday where my age group changed. 🙂
Done !
Yes, I know, I am almost 10 days late on reading WotW, difficult to try and read all the comments. 🙂