Compare, Contrast, Control, & Placebos

Some thoughts about items to compare and contrast, control group types and/or use as "placebo" groups.

There will be 3 major types of participant groups (broken into many smaller subcategories later on):

1. RPG participants - those who participate in the regular RPG experiments and testing
2. Placebo participants - those who are given other activities, that are non-rpg, but may have other factors (weekly social gathering, math, problem solving), maybe placebo is the wrong word here, since there are likely to be "real" measurable effects from regular participation in these activities, so what would be a more accurate term?
3. Control group - those who are monitored with testing, but never participate in either RPGing or "placebo" activity

Compare & Contrast:

One (among other) reason for pursuing either metadata analysis or direct research on these comparisons is to attempt to figure out which activities could be used as "placebo" devices.

Just role playing activities vs role playing gaming participants.

Solo game activities vs. standard cooperative group paper & dice RPGing

"Simple" competitive board game participation (chess, checkers, monopoly, sorry, Go, etc.) vs. RPGing

Classic "simple" card games (poker, canasta, bridge, etc.) vs. RPGing

More advanced board games (???) vs. RPGing

More advanced card games, like collectible card games (Magic the gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, etc.) vs. RPGing

Cooperative board games vs. RPGing

Cooperative card games vs. RPGing.

Wargaming (tabletop) vs. RPGing

LARPing vs paper & dice RPGing

Solo computer-based "RPG" gaming vs paper & dice RPGing

Small group (i.e. LAN-based) computer based "RPG" gaming vs paper & dice RPGing

MMORPGing vs paper & dice RPGing

VR-enabled (heavily immersive) role-playing (but not RPGing) vs. paper & dice RPGing

VR-enabled (heavily immersive) RPG vs paper & dice RPGing

Control groups:

Complete non-participation groups, but need to monitor if any end up picking up rpging along the way. Any who do, should be subcategorized accordingly.

Those who participate in "placebo" groups (non-rpging, but other activity that after earlier compare & Contract tests, do not seem to have much impact other than possible placebo effects)

Other types?

Possible "placebos" to use:

Simple solo board games:

• <suggestions?>

"Simple" group participation competitive board games:

• chess
• checkers
• Go
• backgammon
• Monopoly
• Sorry
• chutes & ladders

"Simple" group participation cooperative board games:

• <suggestions?>

"Simple" solo card games:

• Solitaire variants

"Simple" group competitive card games:

• poker variants
• Canasta
• Bridge
• War
• Crazy Eights

"Simple" group cooperative card games:

• <suggestions?>

More on the way soon...