Introduction
The objective of the experiment is to improve users’ understanding of how cryptography and cipher tools work in a fun and engaging way, as more traditional ways of learning cryptography may seem boring and thus users may lack the motivation to learn cryptography.
If you have not filled out the mandatory consent form, please click on the link on the right to download. Please complete and email it to me (ad116@hw.ac.uk).
This website works best on a computer. It is not designed to work on phones.
The experiment will involve users playing through a web browser game that has two main game modes, a User vs User game mode called Play User and a User vs Computer game mode called Play Computer. Afterwards, please complete the questionnaire related to the game. A link to it is on the right.
You will be required to play both game modes (Play User and Play Computer) at least once each, as well as answer the questionnaire after you have played the two game modes.
For the User vs User game mode Play User, I would appreciate it if you could play two games in this game mode, one using the Caesar cipher and another playing the Vigenère cipher. This is optional and would help me further analyse the Caesar cipher and the Vigenère cipher.
Read About the Different Ciphers
To start with please go to About Ciphers and read about the 7 different ciphers that are covered on this website. That is where you will learn how each cipher works and then you will be able to play the 2 game modes.
Play Computer
When you go to Play Computer, you will be asked to enter a nickname. It will only be used for the scoreboard. Once you have done that, click on the Play Computer button.
The computer will select at random which one of the 7 ciphers you will be decrypting.
You get 5 minutes to answer each question. If you answer within the first minute you will get 5 points, this goes down by a point after every minute that passes.
If you get a question wrong or run out of time, your game will be over. If your score is one of the top 10 highest, you will appear on the scoreboard.
Play User
When you go to Play User, you will be asked to enter a nickname. Once you have done that, you click on the name of the opponent you wish to play from the list of available players.
You will then be taken to the next screen where you will select if you want to play using Caesar or Vigenère cipher. Caesar cipher is the easier one to start with.
You take turns being the defender that asks the question (encrypting) and being the attacker that answers the question (decrypting). The player that starts the game will start as defender. The system checks that you have done the encryption correctly. You alternate between defender and attacker after each round. There are 10 rounds, 5 as attacker, 5 as defender.
There are 4 minutes for the defender to ask a question and 4 minutes for the attacker to answer the question.
Questionnaire
Once you have played the different games, please complete the questionnaire. A link to it is on the right. Thank you very much for taking part!