About this study
This survey study is part of the research project ‘Exploring New Dimensions of Game Cultural Agency: From Marginalisation to Empowerment (ENDGAME)’ funded by the Research Council of Finland from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2029. The project is conducted at Tampere University within the Game Research Lab research group. You can read more about the project here: https://projects.tuni.fi/endgame.
The aim of this study is to find out the different ways in which people residing in Finland engage with games and related activities, and if they have experienced inclusion, exclusion, or discrimination in these contexts. The study is open for all individuals who are at least 15 years old and are currently living in Finland. You are invited to participate in this survey study if you fill these requirements. You can fill this survey in Finnish, Swedish, or English. Filling this survey will take approximately 15–45 minutes depending on which questions you choose to answer. All questions are voluntary.
After filling out the survey, you are also invited to separately volunteer for a potential research interview. The interview can be conducted in Finnish or English based on your preference.
Participation in the study
Participation in this study is entirely voluntary, and you have the right to interrupt your participation at any time. In the case of the survey, you can stop filling the survey at any time. If you have volunteered for a research interview, you may receive an interview invitation that you are free to decline. If you decide to participate, you can still interrupt the interview process at any time without any negative consequences.
Any material that has already been submitted (submitted survey responses or a completed research interview) cannot be withdrawn from the study. However, we will protect your privacy, handle the material securely, and present the research findings in a way that individual participants cannot be easily identified (with all direct identifiers removed). You can read more about our data processing and protection practices in the privacy notice below.
Participating in this study offers you an opportunity to include your views and experiences into the overview of game cultural participation and inclusion in Finland produced in this study that will be reported in publications, presentations, a museum exhibition, and related communications. There are no known harms or risks related to participation in this study. Participants will not receive financial compensation.
Use and publication of the research material and results
The results of this study will be presented in academic conferences and other research talks and published in peer-reviewed research journals. All research publications will be made openly available and shared on the project website and we will communicate about the research results through various channels. The project will also collaborate with the Finnish Museum of Games to create a museum exhibition based on the material. After the research project has been completed, the survey and interview data will be anonymised and archived in the Finnish Social Science Data Archive.
Contact information
If you have any questions regarding this study, they will be responded by ENDGAME project’s Principal Investigator (lead researcher) Academy Research Fellow and Assistant Professor Usva Friman: usva.friman@tuni.fi.
Privacy notice for this study
This privacy notice describes how we process your personal data in compliance with data protection legislation. In data protection legislation, the term ‘data subject’ refers to the person whose personal data are processed. In this privacy notice, we refer to data subject as ‘you’ and controller as ‘we’.
This privacy notice may be updated or edited if necessary. You will be notified of any significant changes as mandated by data protection legislation.
This privacy notice came into force on 16.2.2026.
1. Controller
The controller of the research project is:
Tampere University Foundation sr. (Tampere University)
Business ID: 2844561-8
Kalevantie 4 FI-33100 Tampere, Finland
The contact person for questions about data processing is the research project’s Principal Investigator Usva Friman, who can be reached at usva.friman@tuni.fi.
If you have general questions about data protection at Tampere University, please email our Data Protection Officer at dpo@tuni.fi.
2. Scope and purpose of data processing
Your personal data will be processed to conduct a survey study within the research project ‘Exploring New Dimensions of Game Cultural Agency: From Marginalisation to Empowerment (ENDGAME).’ This research project will last until 31.8.2029. The project is funded by the Research Council of Finland.
The aim of this study is to find out the different ways in which people residing in Finland engage with games and related activities, and if they have experienced inclusion, exclusion, or discrimination in these contexts. The research group working in the project will process the personal data that you have shared with us in your survey responses and in a potential additional research interview for this purpose. The project’s Principal Investigator Usva Friman is responsible for overseeing the research project, including the processing of personal data.
The findings made from this survey and interview material will be presented in a way that individual participants cannot be easily identified (all direct identifiers will be removed). The results of this study will be presented in academic conferences and other research talks and published in peer-reviewed research journals. All publications will be made openly available and shared on the project website and we will communicate about the research results through various channels. The project will also collaborate with the Finnish Museum of Games to create a museum exhibition based on the material. After the research project has been completed, the survey and interview data will be anonymised and archived in the Finnish Social Science Data Archive.
3. Lawful basis for processing personal data
The lawful basis for processing personal data is Article 6(1)(e) GDPR (task carried out in the public interest), as specified in Section 4(1)(3) of the Finnish Data Protection Act and Section 2 of the Universities Act. Special category personal data are processed under Article 9(2)(j) GDPR for scientific research purposes, subject to appropriate safeguards.
4. Sources and types of personal data
We will collect personal data directly from you with a research survey and a potential interview. We will not process any personal data that you have not given to us in the survey or an interview. You can decide what personal data you will share with us.
We will process the following types of personal data:
- General personal data: age, place of residence, primary language(s), name (if volunteering for a research interview), email address (if volunteering for a research interview), voice and video (if interviewed)
- Special category data (sensitive personal data): health data, racial or ethnic origin, immigration status, gender identity, sexual orientation
5. Transfer and disclosure of personal data
In addition to the project’s research team, your personal data may be processed for survey response translation or interview transcription by a company with whom the university has concluded appropriate data processing agreements.
Your personal data will not be transferred to a third country or an international organisation located outside the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA).
6. Protecting personal data
Your personal data will be protected using appropriate technical and organisational measures. We will protect your data through technical measures, including antivirus software, firewalls and regular software updates. Users who can access personal data are required to log in with a username, password, and multi-factor authentication. Material including special category personal data (i.e. sensitive personal data) will be stored on personal work laptops and a Microsoft OneDrive server provided by the university in an encrypted format. The software that we use in processing your data is provided by the university and suitable for material including special category personal data.
We will also protect your data through organisational measures. Our staff are obligated to maintain confidentiality, and access to data is restricted. Any physical documents will be safeguarded by storing them in locked facilities.
Survey material will be collected without direct identifiers. Interview registrations and interview recordings will include direct identifiers, and these will be securely stored separately from the analysis material and only stored until the interviews have been conducted and transcribed. Any direct identifiers will be removed from the material before it will be analysed, and all results will be presented in a way that individual participants cannot be easily identified.
7. Retention period for personal data
We will retain your personal data for only as long as necessary, as determined on a case-by-case basis. The retention period also depends on the requirements set out in data protection legislation. We will adhere to our Data Management Plan and all applicable legislation when determining the retention period of personal data.
Your personal data will be retained until the planned research publications based on this material have been published, estimated to be by the end of 2029.
After the research project has been completed, the research records containing personal data will be anonymised and archived in the Finnish Social Science Data Archive without personally identifiable information.
8. Profiling and automated decision-making
We will not use your personal data for profiling or automated decision-making.
9. Data subjects’ rights and how to exercise them
Data protection legislation affords certain rights to data subjects, depending on the lawful basis for processing their personal data. Under certain circumstances, your rights may be restricted, for example, due to our legal obligations or if personal data are processed for scientific research, statistical or archiving purposes. If your rights have been restricted, we will implement appropriate and necessary technical and organisational measures to protect your privacy. As a data subject, you have the following rights which you can exercise by sending us a request.
Right of access
You have the right to request confirmation of whether we hold your personal data and to receive a copy of the data we hold.
Right to rectification
You have the right to request that any incorrect or incomplete personal data we hold about be revised or supplemented. You can also request to have any unnecessary personal data erased from our records.
Right to restrict processing
You may have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain cases defined by law. For example, this right may apply if you believe the personal data we hold about you is incorrect or that your data are being processed in violation of data protection legislation, or if you have opposed the processing of your data.
Right to object
In certain circumstances, you have the right to object to the processing of personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation.
Right to data portability
Under certain circumstances, you have the right to request that the personal data you have provided be transferred to another system.
Right not to be subject to automated decision-making
You have the right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing (such as profiling) that produce legal effects concerning you or otherwise similarly and significantly affect you. However, there are exceptions to this prohibition.
Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority
You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (Data Protection Ombudsman), if you believe that the processing of your personal data violates data protection legislation.
Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman
Street address: Lintulahdenkuja 4, FI-00530 Helsinki, Finland
Postal address: PO Box 800, FI-00531 Helsinki, Finland
Switchboard: +358 29 56 66700
Fax: +358 29 56 66735
Email address: tietosuoja@om.fi