The idea of being whisked away from your life and flung into a world of alien adventures isn’t a new one.
John Carter of Mars is an adventure story written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan, and the character dates back to at least 1912. Edgar Allan Poe published The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall in 1835. Pfaall was not whisked away to an alien planet, he very carefully plotted a voyage to the moon, but the notion of escape is still there.
Today, there’s no shortage of high octane and captivating sci-fi adventure stories. Geek Native’s data, though, shows people who describe themselves are far less likely than non-geeks to want to trade their current for one of alien adventure.
Earlier this year, Geek Native had a copy of the John Carter of Mars RPG to give away. To enter the competition, readers had to complete a poll and decide whether they would swap their life as it was today with friends and family, for one of alien adventure.
Only 25% of respondents who identified as a geek would take the alien adventure route.
In contrast, 60% of respondents who did not consider themselves to be geeky were more interested in escaping their current life.
It’s important to acknowledge this was not a scientifically robust poll. It had less than 100 participants, and everyone who took part was trying to win a prize. It’s possible that people just clicked buttons as quickly as possible and then moved on to another site running another competition.
Nevertheless, the data is still fun and pretty interesting. Why do you think geeks are less likely to seek alien adventure? It could be that geeks are more content in their current life? Or perhaps geeks are far more aware of alien horrors than non-geeky readers.
Would you trade your life now for one of alien adventures?
The John Carter of Mars RPG giveaway has finished, but the survey below will remain open so you can compare your response to the trend.
Creative Commons credit: Where am I? by Darius / The Baka Arts.
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