Microsoft Asks for Your Help to Make PC Gaming Better

Microsoft's track record in the PC gaming space isn't exactly golden. Now, as the company prepares to release the Play Anywhere Xbox One/PC feature soon, it has launched a new survey in an attempt to find out what's important to users as it relates to PC gaming.

"We aim to build the best Windows yet for gaming, so we're reaching out to understand what's important to you in PC gaming," reads a line from the survey's introduction. "Your opinions are very important to us, and we appreciate your help."

The survey starts off with personal questions such as where you live. It also asks what gaming platforms you own and use; options include Windows and Mac desktops and laptops, as well as mobile phones, tablets, and a variety of consoles (from Microsoft and competitors alike). The survey also asks how many hours you spend playing games on these devices.

If you mentioned that you play games on PC, the survey also wants to know the specs, manufacturer, and rough price of your system. It also asks if you bought a pre-confirgured rig or built your own. Another question asks about peripherals you might own, including monitors, controllers, and headsets (audio and VR).

The survey also asks what kinds of games you play on PC, with options covering all the major ones including MMO, FPS, MOBA, RPG, etc. It also wants to know how much time you spend playing these games.

Another question asks about how much you play free-to-play or subscription-based games, and how often you buy traditional pay-once games. It also asks how often you acquire games for free through torrent sites; the Pirate Bay is specifically mentioned in the survey.

Microsoft notes that all responses are confidential.

"Please know we take your privacy extremely seriously. Your responses are not associated with you individually unless you choose to provide your Microsoft account email," Microsoft said.

There are a number of open-ended questions as well, one of which asks, "What would improve your PC gaming experience? What changes or new features would make it better?"

Another asks: "Now, specifically thinking about the operating system on your gaming PC, what changes or features can you think of that would make the gaming experience even better?"

For these questions, your response can be up to 1,000 characters long.

The survey also wants to know how important certain game elements are to you. It asks you to rank things like graphics, gameplay mechanics, story, setting, and character design (among lots of other things) on a scale of 1 (least important) to 5 (most important).

Question 30 on the survey asks respondents to match up the words and characteristics that they associate with a number of top gaming brands, including Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam. Oh, to see the results of this question...

The survey also contains questions about how likely you'd be to buy a virtual reality headset and how interested you are in eSports.

These are just a few of the questions the survey asks. You can take the survey here.