Has WolfQuest Taught You Anything About Wolves?

[Dorken]

Apologies if anyone has already made a topic like this, but I haven't seen one so far.

I've just been wondering lately - has WQ ever taught anyone else anything about wolves that they didn't know before? For example, I was originally unaware that wolves do indeed head to rendezvous sights when the pack's latest litter is around 6-8 weeks old. I picked up a little bit on wolf socialization too.
So has anybody else learned anything about wolves from this game? And if so, what was it?

[alethe]

Not really, to be honest. I was playing it just to play it at the time and all the info in there seemed like common knowledge to me.

[Koa]

Sure, but moreso within the forums. I've learned a lot, mainly from other users and (earlier on) some team/IWC members. I think the first thing I learned was about the absence of hierarchies, then pup development (straight from the IWC fact sheet), and then it snowballs from there. Keeping an eye on posts in User Writings also helped a lot, and of course, checking previous posts in Wolf Q&A. The wolf boards and the users that have posted there, in general, have helped so much.

The game hinted at certain ideas and concepts, and the forums clarified those for me.

[alethe]

Sure, but moreso within the forums. I've learned a lot, mainly from other users and (earlier on) some team/IWC members. I think the first thing I learned was about the absence of hierarchies, then pup development (straight from the IWC fact sheet), and then it snowballs from there. Keeping an eye on posts in User Writings also helped a lot, and of course, checking previous posts in Wolf Q&A. The wolf boards and the users that have posted there, in general, have helped so much.

The game hinted at certain ideas and concepts, and the forums clarified those for me.

Oh yeah, I completely forgot about the forums. I have learned a lot from the articles posted here.

[Nor-easter Forecast]

I would say that the game has taught me a little about wolves, and the forum a lot. The game is actually pretty educational when you stop and read all the blurbs/instructions, but from my experience people usually don't do that. The forum is by far the best–I've learned so much here. I wish the Q&A topics were more active, but they are very informative.

[Nordue]

• Great topic Dorken!
  
  I have learned things about wolves from the game, the forum, and related offsite components. Without going into too much depth, I will agree with those above me that a foundational knowledge can come from the game. However, more details can be found on the forums, in the way of links to other articles or data sources (like the International Wolf Centre), or fact sharing. Even more valuable is when either the game of the forum inspires one to do their own research and engage in constructive conversations with other members of the community using said knowledge.

[_Nimbus_]

The game: No.
The forum: Yes.

100th post for the win.

[loboLoco]

FWIW, the summative evaluation of the game found substantial success at our educational goals:
http://informalscience.org/images/evalu ... Report.pdf

(Especially when you consider that the evaluation was done before WQ Slough Creek was released.)

[SolitaryHowl]

Interesting. Thanks for the report, Dave!

The game taught me a little bit (episode 2 moreso than episode 1), but I learned mostly on my own by doing my own research (like looking into David Mech's books, browsing the forums, etc)

[Sambhur]

FWIW, the summative evaluation of the game found substantial success at our educational goals:
http://informalscience.org/images/evalu ... Report.pdf

(Especially when you consider that the evaluation was done before WQ Slough Creek was released.)

Oh wow, I just skimmed over that and found it really interesting. That's cool, thanks for posting it Dave! I'm gonna read more of it later for sure.

[valkea]

FWIW, the summative evaluation of the game found substantial success at our educational goals:
http://informalscience.org/images/evalu ... Report.pdf

(Especially when you consider that the evaluation was done before WQ Slough Creek was released.)

Thanks for sharing that! Glad I went through it all, really interesting to read.

As for the topic at hand, I don't think the actual game has taught me much about wolves, though the forum definitely has. Particularly User Writings, since I don't actually seek out information that much but can pick up things from corrections given (and from looking for information about wolves so I can give realism corrections) to realism in that board.

[Jeames]

Actually, yes. Everything I know mow about wolves was taught to me by the game and by the moderators and other people on the site, because of me asking questions or reading answers to questions others had asked here on the forum.

[Nor-easter Forecast]

FWIW, the summative evaluation of the game found substantial success at our educational goals:
http://informalscience.org/images/evalu ... Report.pdf

(Especially when you consider that the evaluation was done before WQ Slough Creek was released.)

Whoa, that is a cool study. I've already posted here but I saw this and had to talk more. Thank you for bringing it to our attention! Now that I think about it the study is right about the fact that the game gets the ball rolling for further research; and also that it can teach things indirectly as a player tries to figure out how to beat the game. I was focusing too much on the text in the game and not the actual playing experience, which apparently has more educational value than I thought.

More in the line of the topic, I have to agree with Katserin Kynsi about User Writings teaching me a lot. People underestimate the knowledge one has to have to write effectively in that board. I certainly spent more time getting corrected by Songdog than I did writing. I'm glad WQ had a creative, but very educational outlet like UW.

[loboLoco]

Here's my favorite anecdote from the evaluation: We had a popup survey on the forum, which (among other things) asked people if they'd be willing to talk on the phone about WolfQuest. For those that said "yes," one of the researchers then telephoned them within 15 minutes. One time, the researcher got a girl on the phone who was so excited to get a phone call from WolfQuest, she was truly speechless for a minute. Tthe researcher had to wait until she collected herself and could answer some questions.

[Jeames]

Here's my favorite anecdote from the evaluation: We had a popup survey on the forum, which (among other things) asked people if they'd be willing to talk on the phone about WolfQuest. For those that said "yes," one of the researchers then telephoned them within 15 minutes. One time, the researcher got a girl on the phone who was so excited to get a phone call from WolfQuest, she was truly speechless for a minute. Tthe researcher had to wait until she collected herself and could answer some questions.

Awww, that's truly adorable. xD