About the Add On Marauder

The Marauder add on contains the scripts that drive game play, generating quest windows, driving quest logic (e.g., is everyone standing in the right location to solve the puzzle?), and generating text overhead (much like Deadly Boss Mods). It also generates a few cutscenes and audio we use in the quest.

The Add On also contains files that record chat and your location, much like Elephant or those trivia add ons that used to be so popular, combined with Quest Helper. It registers and saves your class, race, gender, and stats. It tracks chat and your location *only* when you are in a party with the researcher, and requires a manual start by the researcher that only works when you are in that party. It doesn't record anything else that goes on in your computer, and once you leave the party, it stops doing anything. It will *not* capture anything before you join the party, nor will it capture anything you do outside the party or outside WoW, even during sessions. Add ons are unable to access logins, passwords, or any other personal information.

The way we save the chat and location data is by sending messages to the researcher's toon while you're still in game. The add on doesn't send or do anything at all remotely. Once you leave the study session, no data are recorded or sent anywhere. Unlike add ons such as Auctioneer, our add on doesn't combine or apply the data it records with data from other sessions.

The add on follows Blizzard's guidelines for add ons, their EULA, and ToS very carefully. This is federally funded research, and it is being conducted by academic researchers, and we have rigorous review processes to protect your privacy and rights. We will soon be posting the add on to Curse.com (once changes that result from the pilot tests are complete) and will follow their guidelines, as well.

You will play this custom game on one of Blizzard's PvP servers, Smolderthorn, with researchers present, led by either Seddrik or Sedrick.

Instructions to install the Add On

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This is an academic study conducted by the University at Albany, Colorado State University, and the Air Force Research Labs according to Federal guidelines. Participating in this study is voluntary and open to those 18 and over only.

This research is Federally funded, and not affiliated with Blizzard, Inc.

More about the study.