Every player is unique, but it’s impossible to assess and cater to each type of personality. Taking a step back and starting by figuring out who you’re dealing with based on player types, can be a good way to get closer to your audience.
Player types
Everyone has their own motivations for playing any given game and they will be developing their personalized approach to it. However, it’s nearly impossible to cater to each type of unique personality within every aspect of your game. Hence the need for a taxonomy and some kind of assessment system.
The Bartle Player Types are based on theory and behavior; it’s meant to establish player personality types based on behavioral patterns, goals, and motivations for playing the game. Different types seek different kinds of enjoyment.
Player types are divided into four categories, but note that no player will fit into one particular category. Most players overlap more than one of them.
The 4 player types in short
- Killers: Enjoy the competition and are playing to win against their peers, while often enjoying challenging authority by attempting to alter the functioning of the game’s world
- Achievers: With a goal to accumulate status, levels, loot, equipment and points by winning various battles. Unlike killers, they often stick to the rule of the game.
- Explorers: Discovering the world with its hidden places is the melody of the Explorer, who gladly creates maps and explores the technicalities of the world in order to take advantage of it fully.
- Socializers: Are in it to form connections with other players by storytelling, sharing tactics, and teamworking. The game is often a tool used to meet others in-game as well as outside of it.
Player type: Killer
Killers take the winner mentality to a new (and much darker) level. As long as they win in the end, other players’ experiences are of little importance to the killers. If the world is on fire and full of chaos, it won’t really matter to them.
Connecting with others in the game is not interesting, if it doesn’t serve them. Defeating bosses, raiding others, and figuring out loopholes that give them a bigger advantage is great fun, to a killer.
Killers tend to fancy games that include raiding, defeating enemies and/or offering abilities to exploit things through cheat codes, easter eggs, and special loots. They are driven by taking control over and dominating the world around them.
Killers in game and community
Don’t give killers the pleasure of loopholes or bugs that they can exploit, if it isn’t a planned benefit of your game. If there is extra loot or easter eggs, expect the killers to find it and use it to their advantage over other players.
Killers are neither considered the most lucrative players nor the most likable members of the community, so creating a game targeted toward them might be fun and exciting, but likely not financially beneficial.
Compared to other player types (perhaps luckily) there are not too many in the killer group.
Player type: Achiever
Top of the leaderboard, the teacher’s pet, collecting more points than anyone else, and having the highest score. It’s all about status.
The leaderboard is the prime interest of achievers and often at the expanse of all else, besides possibly collecting loot. Achievers can easily be persuaded to view ads, spend massive amounts of time on quests, or grind for days, as long as it gets them to the top of the leaderboard.
Achievers in game and community
The only thing an achiever wants is to win. If they achieve victory by collecting points, loot, or grinding weeks in a row, isn’t of big importance. The coolest skin, most rare loot, or unique borders might be tickling their curiosity, but in the end – numbers matter most.
Unlike killers, achievers tend to be appreciated members of the community. Besides taking the lead on quests and challenges, they are often consistent in their gaming – often in order to maintain their status.
Player type: Explorer
Building maps, creating worlds of their own, and discovering boundaries of any kind, is the true melody of an explorer. They get intensely excited about large virtual worlds and enjoy having knowledge of a game’s ecosystem, especially if no one else has it.
Explorers socialize with other players mainly to discover even more new things and secrets of the world around them. They are the ultimate insiders, who don’t care too much about points or winning. Exploration and discovery is their goal.
The enjoyment of secret surprises and hidden features is probably the largest among the explorers. They tend to be the type who will wander around for hours in search.
Explorers in game and community
Trigger an explorer by giving them ways to uncover secrets. Whether it’s levels, areas of the world, loot, or items, the explorer will be cheering.
Explorers are often appreciated members of a game’s community because they share their explored secrets, create maps, and engage others. Online tutorials for newbies are often created by explorers.
Besides being a likable actor in the community, explorers can (and likely will) spend a lot of time wandering around in the game if it amuses them. Not seldom do they also become part of the game’s extended community in online forums and social media.
Player type: Socializer
“Is this where the party’s at?” said the socializer who loves connecting through games. Other aspects of gameplay are of less importance, for the socializer, who prioritizes messaging, networking, and engaging with others.
In the causal gaming realm, socializers tend to make up the vast majority. They have a lot of empathy for other players and spend more time in-game chatting than interacting with the game content.
Socializers often bring their in-game connections to the real world and create more in-depth relationships with fellow gamers. Their primary motivation is interacting and they enjoy collaboration. Socializers aren’t uncompetitive, but compared to killers and achievers, there are bigger drives for them than winning.
Socializers in game and community
Socializers will easily fall in love with your game if it is possible to connect and interact with others in it. In-game chats, newsfeeds, friend lists, and even voice communication will make the socializer happy.
In-game and on a community level socializers can function great as the link between a group of people or the peer that gatherers them. They will often form groups of their own if given the opportunity.
Much like in the real world, socializers enjoy cool skins, outfits, and gear that can express their individual personality, and are likely to purchase them in-game.
Player interests and motivations
By getting to know and understanding different player types, a game designer can build experiences that motivate a variety of different players. They can modify the game to appeal to their target group and tweak certain parts of the game to appeal more to some, than to others.
Learning the primary interest of each player type is essential to succeed in game design. The primary interests are often categorized into two types – content and control.
