Games and gameplay: different types of players

In the world of games, there is a gradation - “casual” games with simple mechanics, midcore - games are a bit more complicated, and hardcore are real, “hardcore” games that require the player to understand the mechanics and speed of reactions. Each of us has our favorite genre and our favorite. In addition, the gradation exists in the world of players. There are players who are not non-players at all. There are cool players - "whales"; they not only regularly pay for games, but also tell friends and promote the product they like on forums. In general, different types of players - the sea, as well as typologies. What do we know about them?

The typology of Richard Bartle's players is quite popular in the gaming industry. Its categorization is based on MMM, multiplayer worlds, the predecessors of modern MMORPGs, based on texts and stories. Not the closest relative of mobile games, but still. Recently, Bartle applied his theory to the design of mobile games - over the years, his original typology was developed and thought out by the best minds among gamers and game designers. However, sometimes Bartle’s typology simply does not work , especially when other player typologies come into play. Bart Stewart did a great and thorough work in the analysis of various typologies and presented a Generalizing Model that includes both character traits and player styles.

Bart Stewart "Personality and style of play: a generalized model"

Stewart's approach is very interesting, as well, for example, like Jason Tochchi's Five Baits, where the emphasis is on those factors that attract different types of audience. We do not think (and certainly the authors, too) that developers should treat such typologies as a strict set of rules. Having understood the presented theories, you quickly catch the pattern - many types of games, players or "baits" overlap with each other. They are not mutually exclusive and do not mean that the player falls into only one category.

Remember the games you play - if they are all too similar, and the feeling of satisfaction arises in the same way, you will most likely quickly abandon them.

What does all this mean for developers? Many developers are repelled by the idea that is associated with the basic gameplay model - runner, puzzle, shooter, RPG, etc. Understanding the behavior of the players does not necessarily turn your strategy upside down, because in any case, you almost know what kind of game you want to get at the end. However, these typologies will be useful for guiding in the direction of such things as storylines, additional functions, monetization model, IAP types and marketing.

If you do not want to dive into all these theories and spend hours analyzing them (although why not), we have collected for you our favorite models and tips for using them.

General model

Bart Stewart "Personality and style of play: a common model"

We have identified some features of the gameplay associated with each type of player from the Stewart model (based on his research), which can be used in the game development process. This is especially useful if you imagine a person in the real world who falls into several categories. For example: Amateur of achievements, the Discoverer and Socializing - a person who likes to build worlds and grow characters (for example, animals), constantly pump levels, join teams and fight against other players. This separation seems a bit far-fetched, however, if you think about how this happens in life, you will find many examples from personal experience. It is important to understand what and how can be combined to attract different users from different categories.

Craftsman / Killer / Experimenter - action, speed, risk, arousal, perpetual motion, missions, battle, use of weapons, vehicles, manipulations with gameplay, attempts to deceive the system.

Guardian / Amateur achievements / Gambling - the desire to reach a certain level, to become a leader, take first place, clear goals and lists of achievements, collecting, competition, guild.

Rational / Discoverer / Lover of simulators - puzzles, construction, epic stories and knowledge.

Idealist / Socializing / Narrativist - interaction with the community, roles, narration, socialization, real-time events, decorating, animals and creating your own world.

"Five baits"

Jason Tochchi in his study talks about five types of "bait", which "peck" different users. In his understanding, the types of players are quite a limiting category and it is difficult to compare a certain type with how people actually play games. Instead, Tocci offers an idea where "people show different preferences and behaviors in different games or in different social contexts." He gives a funny example where his brothers sat together and tried to jump off a cliff on a crossover in GTA III, although they usually play one by one. Tochchi distinguishes the following five categories:

• Achievement - includes external and internal rewards, as well as completion, bringing to the ideal, domination over other players, luck.
• Imagination - storytelling and pretense; entertainment, leadership, role-playing and research.
• Socialization - friendly social interaction, talk, cooperation and generosity.
• Rest - putting in order of physical, mental and emotional states, mood management, distraction, contemplation and tension (energy accumulation as a result of the game)
• Subversion - violation of social or technical rules; provocation, disruption (finding weaknesses in the game and exploiting them) and transgression (Tochchi defines it as “playing the devil”, for example, by killing teammates)

* taken directly from the article tochchi

Interestingly, the approach of Tocci gives the right to exist and legitimizes these types of players, which are often called cheaters or killers of all fun. He also encourages developers to treat all types of gameplay as equal and important, and create games for every taste. It's funny that the category “Leisure” is becoming more and more applicable to mobile games - let's remember at least Pokemon Go, which combines mobile game and physical activity.

How to use these theories

Any theory or model is useful if applied. Perhaps you have already felt the overload from the article, however, we strongly recommend that you at least briefly review both articles to understand the context, so that these models have more meaning in the overall picture.

Both Stewart and Tochchi have done a tremendous job, citing real-world games as an example and analyzing them using their models. For example, Tocci talks about Demon's Souls, where co-operative and competitive multiplayer mechanics are combined in addition to “lures” using imagination and socialization. To save the desired atmosphere in the game there is no chat. Instead, players can leave messages or interact with each other as ghostly figures. That is, there is socialization in the game, in which the atmosphere is not disturbed.

You can use these models in an unlimited number of ways.

You create races, but you understand perfectly well that ordinary endless races become boring very quickly. Attract the Experimenter with a tense race, Amateur achievements - goals and achievements (records, the number of races won). Make this process even harder with products that cannot be opened just like new cars or upgrades, and let achievements be based on them - for example, the number of races won on certain cars, on certain tracks with a certain upgrade. Here you have an unlimited number of possibilities. Add surprises - make the race in real time, give players the opportunity to play against other players, attracting those Lovers to socialize , and for Lovers of Achievements add a board of honor. For Killers, open any bonus if their car left the track or crashed into another car or random object. EH .

Attract Lovers of Achievement and Gamblers to complement the game with achievements that are not on the official list. For example, in a game where you need to decorate and make craft items, do not show all instructions to players, let them come up with different approaches. This spurs a sense of achievement, as well as socialization - players often like to show off their own achievements online. For Killers, one can always come up with suitable rewards for stealing or breaking the rules of the game - for example, the ability to go beyond the limits of a map or a dialogue with a non-player character. How little people need for happiness!

Create a world of chaos. Let the game be a limited number of goals, actions and unlimited social interaction.

Let some in-game purchases be Mast-havami - suppose they bring great benefits, but can not be obtained through the usual gameplay. Audience, which falls into the category of lovers of achievements will be crazy. You can show segmented purchases of the same type of players - show certain options or change prices depending on how the player interacts with the game. Subscription model may work well for mobile games. For example, you can make a subscription to access the gaming community - Socializing players will be delighted. By the way, none of the articles talked about the types of players depending on the monetization, so it’s interesting to see how you can structure in-game purchases to attract different types of users.

Create a game where you can build worlds. Let the players have the opportunity to participate in the auction, or buy the same goods, or earn them, reaching certain levels in the game. Such an approach will attract both Socialization Lovers , who love chat rooms, and Pioneers , who prefer not to enter into communication, but do not like to be out of business. This way you can attract different types of players and create the most effective monetization strategy.

Create a world of chaos. Let the game be a limited number of goals, actions and unlimited social interaction. Such a game can be sharpened under one player, creating a non-player character who also behaves strangely, unexpectedly, and incites users to different actions. So you apply the "bait" Subversion for those who like to rebel, collect random items, act as if it is not written in the script. Such a model is usually developed for multiplayer games, but they always have players who do not like socializing and communicating, and this knowledge will help developers to attract new audiences with minimal effort.

Conclusion

Yes, the number of games with different gameplay is limited only by your imagination, and the developer can approach the involvement of users in each of them from the point of view of science. In the article, we also tried to come up with “new ideas for games” using these models, although all this has long been invented (we know, we played it ourselves). Therefore, it seems to us that the most important value of such theories is to explore and invent additional unusual functions for already existing game concepts. This, of course, does not mean that you cannot choose different types and start dancing from them in the creation of the game, just as it was said earlier, most people know from the very beginning what kind of game they want to get at the exit.

Such models help to hone existing games, develop a more effective system of monetization, reach the essence of engaging and retaining users, as well as help with branding, marketing and user engagement. Some developers intuitively feel these things and know exactly who their audience is. Others are full of great ideas, but they need help to put everything into a single picture and determine the target audience. Hmm, the division into casual / midcore / hardcore games looks much easier, but now.

Did you use similar models during game development? Have they influenced any decisions? What interesting theories we have not included in the article? Share in the comments!