Most of you don't know who Richard Bartle was, but trust me, there's a good chance you wouldn't be playing WoW if it weren't for him. Bartle helped develop some of the first text-based online roleplaying games (MUDs), and a long while ago, he wrote a paper about the social dynamics of players on online games. It's something I've been meaning to post for a long time now, and I keep forgetting.

The paper, found here, is very long, and I know reading is hard, so I'll paraphrase. Bartle identifies four core goals of online games, and thus, four personality types among players -- in other words, one person may believe that the 'main point' of a game is to socialize with friends, whereas another may believe that the 'main point' is to complete quests. Both are right...but each's personality drives them to seek his own goal predominantly.

The four goals, and the personalities that pursue them:

Diamonds are achievers. They seek to complete quests and accumulate treasure. Diamonds give themselves game-related goals, and vigorously set out to achieve them, whether by questing or killing mobs or running raids.

Spades are explorers. They want to know as much about the game as possible, its breadth and depth; whether it's by mapping the full expanse of the game world, by learning the game's esoterica, or by finding every little NPC in every bizarre corner of the game.

Hearts are socializers. They come to the game to communicate, to roleplay, to interact with their friends and fellows. They make lasting friendships in the game medium, and enjoy spending time with those friends more than the details of the game itself.

Clubs are the killers. They're looking for the challenge of fighting other players, not just high-level mobs; they enjoy PvP, and will use their knowledge of fighting to take out, or help out, other players.

Naturally, there's a lot of cross-over. There are Spades with a Diamond streak, who really want to see all the high-end content and learn what's in there and poke around and kill stuff and get the lootz. There are Hearts who like to Club people's faces in battlegrounds while chatting with friends on Vent.


I bring this up for a reason.


Raid leaders and officers are constantly looking for a way to keep all of us happy. That's hard to do, because all of us see the point of the game differently. Some of us are big old Diamonds, and really just want to go kill that last boss until he drops something really awesome. And there's nothing wrong with that. Some of us (like me!) are just hardcore Spades, and we'd be perfectly happy if we just got to go places we'd never been before and check them out, and learn new stuff, and then move on. And there's nothing wrong with that. Some of us are total Hearts, and get upset when there's discord among the ranks, and would be happiest with more fun guild events where everybody just had a good time together. And there's nothing wrong with that. And some of us are major Clubs, and would have the most fun if we all did guild-wide Arena/BG PvP nights. And there's nothing wrong with that.

It's an interesting paper, and moreso when you think about it in terms of WoW and of trying to organize guild events by what kind of player's needs are best met by what.


Spades, baby. All the way.

I'm a heart with a diamond kicker.

Achiever 46.67%, Explorer 93.33%, Killer 13.33%, Socializer 53.33%, Cake 112%, Pie .001%
google bartle test...

Whjat a great post.

I'm a heart with a diamond kicker.

Same.

Achiever 46.67%, Explorer 66.67%, Killer 20.00%, Socializer 66.67%

According to the test site:

The game that has the highest proportion of people like you (SEAK) is Neopets. You chose which which is not amongst the top 10 choices for your type. Perhaps you're a unique snowflake, or maybe we just don't know enough people like you.

Neopets? WTF??

Achiever 66.67%, Explorer 53.33%, Killer 46.67%, Socializer 33.33%

Many answers could have gone either way, but that sounds about right.

So what are the jokers???? We definitely need more!

Hmm.... Spade, with diamond...

I skimmed the article but I can't find the link to the test that you guys are talking about. Or are you just making up figures?

google bartle test...

Or just go here: http://www.guildcafe.com/bartle.php

UNO!

According to the guildcafe test, I am, not surprisingly, EAKS.

Breakdown: Achiever 53.33%, Explorer 100.00%, Killer 26.67%, Socializer 20.00%

YES, I'd rather club you in the FACE than say hi to you. Uh, I mean, hi.

<3

Achiever 46.67%, Explorer 86.67%, Killer 13.33%, Socializer 53.33%

:D

Achiever: 46%, Explorer: 93%, Killer: 6%, Socializer: 53%.

Guess that explains my love of PvP. :)

Achiever 66.67%, Explorer 80.00%, Killer 20.00%, Socializer 33.33%

I don't PvP much now that I've switched to a PvE server, but that bit about 'someone just killed me -- time to plot my revenge' probably pushed me a bit higher there. I spent a lot of time chasing around this one Tauren hunter on my old server as we leveled in parallel. Probably a good 10% of my honor kills were him. :) (And vice versa... :doh:)

I'm a bit surprised that Explorer isn't higher. I think I spent an entire afternoon one day figuring out how much of the Barrens you could cliff-walk and where you could 'shortcut' to from there.

Achiever 66.67%, Explorer 80.00%, Killer 20.00%, Socializer 33.33%

Flowerpicker 110.00%

ESAK (Achiever 40.00%, Explorer 86.67%, Killer 13.33%, Socializer 60.00%)

Sounds about right, though a few of those questions could have swung either way. I also answered them with my rogue in mind... a different character would illicit a different response, especially in regards to PvP LoL.

All in all though it's accurate LoL Family came over yesterday during the All in One Day Kara run and they kept laughing at me because I was all "Oh oh I haven't been here yet!!!". And you guys suck, because now I realize just how much I miss playing :(

AKSE.

Breakdown: Achiever 80.00%, Explorer 33.33%, Killer 46.67%, Socializer 40.00%

But I didn't really like the test. Most of the questions had answers that I wouldn't really have answered that way. IE, neither of the answers were even close to what I would have said if it hadn't been multiple guess.

But I didn't really like the test. Most of the questions had answers that I wouldn't really have answered that way. IE, neither of the answers were even close to what I would have said if it hadn't been multiple guess.

You're just mad because there was not a pie answer option.

You're just mad because there was not a pie answer option.

You are more correct than you can possibly imagine.

Achiever 73.33%, Explorer 46.67%, Killer 46.67%, Socializer 33.33%

How in the hell do I total up to be 200%? Is this taking into account 100% of me in real life and 100% of my toons life? WTF?

Regardless... seems about right. Though I would have figured Killer and Socializer would have been switched.

Achiever 73.33%, Explorer 46.67%, Killer 53.33%, Socializer 40.00%

AKES players like to be the best-of-the-best at everything the game has to offer. They like to be high on the ladders of whatever metrics the game uses, including PVP. They like the best gear, the most power, and they love being the 'first' at something. Their prowess in PVP is generally supported by a large degree of understanding and posession of the best equipment and skills.

hummm ok I agree I hit the "AKES" description but Im with Rap on this one... my Q&A stats add up to 213.33%... Heh I guess I'm a little more than twice the fella I thought I was :P

You're not meant to add up the percentages. The percentages are just telling you how much of an Achiever you are, how much of an Explorer you are, how much of a Killer you are, how much of a Socializer you are. For instance, on the scale of Achievers, you are 73.33% of 100%. You're more or less 3/4 as much of an Achiever as you can be.

On the other hand, I was 100% of 100% on the scale of Explorers. I was all of the Explorer that I could be, but of course, I still had to get scores in the other areas too. Your score in one is independent of your score in the others, because it's only telling you how much of that area you scored.

Breakdown: Achiever 40.00%, Explorer 100.00%, Killer 13.33%, Socializer 46.67%

My lack of love for PvP is accurately noted. XD

But like Beam, there was a bunch of stuff on there where my answer was, "I would never do either of those things."

I think my favorite day that I wasted a bunch of time puttering around alone was in that undead mage town in Outland where you find the ghosts like, their favorite hats and cloaks and stuff. LOVED. IT.

And I think I got all teary eyed when one of them is all, "Yay, my hat! I can't POSSIBLY move toward the Light without my favorite HAT!"

SHUT UP DON'T JUDGE ME.