I just saw this on Shacknews.com and thought it would be relevant to post here. Penny Drennan is doing research in computer games for her PhD at the University of Queensland and has put up a questionaire for all gamers to fill out..
"This questionnaire is designed to gather opinions about the behaviour of non-player characters (NPCs) that lessens player engagement in games. Engagement is the feeling of being deeply involved in a game, to the point that you may not notice time passing. Engagement also means enjoyment, being challenged at a level you are comfortable with, being emotionally involved in the plot of the game as well as feeling a need to win. Disengagement occurs when elements of the game frustrate or annoy you, drawing you out of the game experience and lessening your emotional involvement. This study is part of my PhD research and the results of this questionnaire will be used to design NPCs that increase player engagement in a game. For the purposes of this questionnaire, an NPC is any character (or AI) in a game that is not controlled by the player."
It'll only take you a few minutes to fill out, so hop on over there!