The researchers attempted to compare engagement between The Curse of Monkey Island and The Oregon Trail 5th Edition through lab studies and questionnaires. However, their pilot test found participants were more frustrated with Monkey Island which contradicted its high review scores. This was a "Big Heap o' Fail" because the researchers made wrong assumptions about review scores reflecting engagement and that educational games must be worse. They presented their failed study at a conference but never completed the full paper. The researchers concluded they need methods to better capture affective engagement and acknowledged their model for studying engagement could still be useful despite the study failure.