Several people emailed me during the competition indicating that they would be interested 
in seeing the data I collected concerning paths players chose in The Erudition Chamber. I 
was very happy to hear this because my plan from the start had been to do just that - 
collect and release data about how players approach IF. Of course this is in no way 
scientific, the puzzles were written arbitrarily to fit the game and sometimes the 
distinguishing features of a solution are blurry indeed. (Is burning down an obstacle 
truly any different than chopping it up with an axe?)

Below are the individual data points I was sent, 15 in total. At the bottom of the list is 
a set of totals. The results were very suprising to me and I've made comments to that 
effect at the bottom of this post.


Seer: 2
Warrior: 0
Alchemist: 0
Artisan: 2

Seer: 3
Warrior: 0
Alchemist: 0
Artisan: 1

Seer: 3 
Warrior: 1 
Alchemist: 0 
Artisan: 0 

Seer: 0
Warrior: 0 
Alchemist: 1 
Artisan: 3 

Seer: 3
Warrior: 0
Alchemist: 1
Artisan: 0

Seer: 0
Warrior: 0 
Alchemist: 3 
Artisan: 1

Seer: 2
Warrior: 0 
Alchemist: 0 
Artisan: 2

Seer: 4
Warrior: 0 
Alchemist: 0 
Artisan: 0

Seer: 2
Warrior: 1 
Alchemist: 0 
Artisan: 1

Seer: 3
Warrior: 1 
Alchemist: 0 
Artisan: 0

Seer: 2
Warrior: 0 
Alchemist: 1 
Artisan: 1

Seer: 2
Warrior: 0 
Alchemist: 1 
Artisan: 1

Seer: 3
Warrior: 0 
Alchemist: 0 
Artisan: 1

Seer: 4
Warrior: 0 
Alchemist: 0 
Artisan: 0

Seer: 3
Warrior: 0 
Alchemist: 1 
Artisan: 0


Totals:

Seer: 36
Warrior: 3
Alchemist: 8
Artisan: 13

From these totals it becomes obvious that the Seer path is by far the most often used, 
while Warrior is barely touched. If the results were any less clear cut I would say there 
was nothing to be learned from this data since the collection method was so loosely 
defined. However with such an obvious trend I feel like the results merit some discussion.

I find it somewhat amusing that Artisan lagged behind Seer as far as it did. When I 
entered the game in the competition I felt sure that the Artisan path would be the most 
used simply because of the puzzle solving background I expected the average IF player to 
enter the game with. However it seems that the exploration instinct is the stronger one 
since I believe it is the desire to explore that was the driving force behind the large 
number of Seer solutions. On the other hand, comments from players seem to indicate that 
while the Artisan solution was not the most often used, it was the most satisfying - so 
take from that what you will.

The low number of Warrior solutions is apparently deliberate on the part of the players. 
Quite a few of the emails I received indicated that the player saw the Warrior solution 
but chose not to use it. Apparently the average IF player dislikes breaking things. I 
suspect this comes as a result of viewing destruction as inelegant, and a last resort 
when the player has failed to come up with any other way around the problem. 

I'd be interesting in hearing other people's thoughts on these totals. Obviously I didn't 
approach the game as a player so my conclusions from the numbers may be different than 
yours. I suppose it could be possible that the Seer solutions were the easiest and the 
Warrior's the hardest and there is nothing more than that to the numbers - but I rather 
doubt that's the case.