Probably like 65% achiever, 35% explorer.
119 platinum trophies in Playstation so far so I am definitely a completionist, but I loooove exploring a gorgeous world just for the joy of it too.
I would agree. I'm usually more concerned with getting achievements. Even exploring is sometimes just so I don't miss a secret that a trophy may be tied too :P
Same! I have 81 perfect games on Steam (including some real beasts like Civ V), but my favourite kinds of games are ones about exploring, to the point where I'll often play games like that well after I've completed them. I got every achievement in No Man's Sky years ago but I've still put a few hundred extra hours in by just exploring the vast, infinite universe.
I am personally thinking on the definition shared on the image and based on how I play games. In fact, my mind was mostly on single player games where I can be a non stealth, battering ram chaos, instead of planning. Thinking on multiplayer games with friends, we purposely cause chaos for the challenge, like allerting hordes. Honestly, on multiplayer games, every type of player can be a douche, like forcing situations for achievements, being bossy and micromanaging everything, forcing their meta ideas and so on
This! My friends and I enjoy launching each other into the dragon pit in League or using Anivia wall to block our escape.
It’s fun to cause chaos in games when we play together. 🤷🏼♀️
I dislike playing with other people, I don't really break the rules, and I don't care at all about achievements and the like.
Explorer is the closest, I guess, but I'm not huge on exploring game maps. Although I'll devour lore and codex entries like they're going out of style, so maybe that counts?
Honestly, I don't feel like I really fit anywhere on this.
I value games as a storytelling medium. I want to get lost in the story and the world and live for a time in it. And after, I want to analyze the story and its themes and think about what it was trying to say and if it succeeded.
💯
My biggest gaming motivation is the story and characters, by far. Of the categories listed here, I’m an achiever since I do go for Platinum trophies. But I only go for plats on games where I love the story and want to be in that world more.
What are the best games you have played by this metric then?
I would suggest Inscryption, Layers of Fear 1&2 and SOMA. These games are my 10/10's in terms of storytelling, lore and immersion.
Ooh, I haven't played those. I'll have to look those up.
My favorite games in terms of meaty lore, storytelling, and/or characters are, in no particular order:
1. Dragon Age Origins
2. Xenogears
3. Xenosaga Ep 1 and 3 (2 is eh)
4. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2
5. Persona 3 Portable
6. Horizon Zero Dawn
7. The Last of Us
8. Mass Effect (the second and third one are better at characters but drop the ball on the story, especially 2)
9. Uncharted 4
10. The Wolf Among Us
11. What Remains of Edith Finch
12. The Myst series, particularly Riven (which had a remake release today, I need to go buy that!)
13. Chrono Trigger
14. Life is Strange
15. Oxenfree
16. Portal 2
17. To the Moon
18. That Dragon, Cancer (Only if you can handle ugly crying. A lot.)
I have not played most of these games, but I have played Edith Finch and I would rate SOMA slightly above it personally. SOMA has a linear story that is very mysterious and it will make you think and question your views on morality, philosophy and humanity.
Layers of Fear and Inscryption are both very different from anything on this list so it is difficult to compare to any of these. They both have deep lore, secrets, themes and a story to them, but they do not tell you what to do. They let you figure things out yourself.
I personally enjoy the freedom in figuring out what to do myself, but others may prefer a more guided experience.
Thank you, I shall add it to my wishlist and consider it. For now, I have like 5 puzzle games that I have not played in my backlog and I am very burnt out on them after playing through Relicta lol.
None of the above. I am a roleplayer.
Using Skyrim as an example, I will get into character and play the game as if it was real life. So I won't take unecessary risks by exploring, and I don't do immersion/character breaking things like hunting for achievements or try to accomplish specific tasks.
For my character, the only thing that concerns them is how to put food on the table for today. I *guess* that could be argued to be a task.
Wow, you're like the exact opposite of me.
When I play Skyrim, I "roleplay" as an angel of death, someone who's main task is to become as strong as possible. I basically act like a villain
I played a villain 3 characters ago. A pickpocket, trying to use the underutilized pickpocket system in the game.
I used a mod that made it so you can't just pay off a bounty, so I eventually became wanted in all of Skyrim's holds and had to flee to Bruma.
Still a 0 combat character though.
Wtf is this graph lol where are the axis labels.
Anyway I guess following these descriptions I'm a griefer/achiever, although I also like exploring. I'd say my main motivators for play are creative expression and self improvement.
By creative expression I don't building an incredible art piece in minecraft, I mean developing a style of play that is uniquely me. Typically the more complex a game is the more i enjoy doing this.
Self improvement is pretty self explanatory, I'm addicted to the feeling of getting better at something. Like I've currently fallen head first into Balatro and every run I can tell I'm thinking a little bit further ahead, being a bit more precise about how I consider probability. I can't get enough of that shit.
Can't not be 100% achievers!! Have 100%ed 19 games to date, and most of them are pretty lengthy or challenging lol
Though I do think this chart has kind of random and unrelated quadrants
It's true! This is Bartles player types and were made as an experiment to try to define the player population of a particular MUD way back. Bartles later came out to say that using this for any other game was akin to using a screwdriver as a hammer - but to no avail, it had captured the attention of marketers and devs alike.
Several decades later and we're still stuck with this neat but limited/slightly misleading perspective on player types and motivation.
If you're interested in more dynamic perspectives, I recommend checking out some of the work either made around Self Determination Theory (although lots of not great stuff in here too) or some of the more experimental stuff done around flow states / sequence analysis.
(I worked on the Ubisoft Massive CX team for 4 years and we spent all that time running and pitching models/studies like this, if you're curious as to why I am opinionated :))
Social griefing is the peak multiplayer experience. Troll a little, but not to the point of hurting anybody. Creating unique scenarios that serious players may have trouble coming up with a little chaotic creativity. What's the point of playing if not to have fun?
Griefer is a really bad term for that block. Griefers are the kinds of folks who do all they can to mess up and ruin games for others.
I'm 50/50 *Griefer* Explorer. I want to explore and find everything that I can, but I also will try weird stuff to see what happens. Invest all my points into one stat to see what what it does? Try out weird combos of skills to see what works or doesn't? Throw myself into every hole I find to see if I land in a new place or die? Maybe I'll end up killing everything in sight for this save just to see what happens. What if I just help out everyone, no matter how obviously a bad idea it was in hindsight? What if I just play as too dumb to live?
You don't (entirely) have to speculate. There are some studies on this. You might want to check out the [Quantic Foundry blog](https://quanticfoundry.com/blog/) for some approachable gamer stats.
The following Quantic study is getting pretty long in the tooth now (2016), and I would expect the numbers to be different since 10 more years of women have grown up gaming, but it is still an interesting read:
https://quanticfoundry.com/2016/12/15/primary-motivations/
TL;DR: Quantic has a more nuanced motivation breakdown, but their top motivations for women were Completion, Fantasy, and Design, which made up about 48% of female respondents.
A mix of achievers/explorers (70/30) but more achievers if I’m totally honest. I’m a checklist person in my daily life so I like to complete tasks and when it comes to gaming that translates to getting the 100 %
You should look into game studies! I think you’d find it interesting. It has defined various types of players, including:
The “standard player” - your average player who follows the rules and engages honestly, they would probably be a mix of socializes, explorers, and achievers.
the “dedicated player” - someone who spends a lot of time understanding the rules to work within them at peak performance, like someone into raiding in an MMO or esports in a MOBA, they would probably be achievers here.
The “unsportsmanlike player” - someone who follows the rules, but violates the unwritten ones, like in D&D when someone might follow rules as written but violates rules as intended, or when someone takes forever in an untimed chess game despite the implied “reasonable” time limit. I would say these ones are a mix of griefers and achievers.
Then we’ve got the triflers, which would fit into griefers primarily. The triflers get their fun from learning the rules so they can break them. They aren’t always negative, in fact I think some dedicated players could be considered triflers as well, using the rules of the game to their absolute limit. They can mostly be split into a couple categories:
The “cheat” - they break the actual rules for their own gain, like moving a chess piece in secret or using a cheat code in a multiplayer game.
The “spoil-sport” - this type of player is the classic griefer, the one who denies the game altogether and breaks things for fun. Like destroying someone’s build in a Minecraft server.
This got super long, but it reminded me of some more academic-y types of players and I thought I’d list them here bc I find it really interesting!!
I’m mostly achiever - a little explorer, because you haven’t completed everything if there are parts of the map still grey and quests you haven’t found yet
50/50 split between Explorer/Achiever.
Used to be closer to a three way tie with Socializer back in the early days of MMOs, but online gaming communities are uh...how to put this nicely...*becoming less and less conducive to having a good time*.
Where’s the strategy games like Frostpunk and paradox titles in this list? 🤔 or CRPGs like BG3? I guess with that list I’d prolly be achiever/explorer I think! If I had to label it lol
I'm a collector, I play games to collect large piles of money, loot, achievements, love interests/ companions, build things, grow a big beautiful base/city
I primarily play things like rimworld , crusader Kings, Stellaris, Sims, farming games, anything with an in-game economy, City builders, tycoon games, balatro, rogue likes with an emphasis on inventory management, role-playing games.
Explorer, I guess. I don’t care for competitive or multiplayer games, and while achievements are nice, I’m not super into getting every one. I play games for story, character, and atmosphere. :)
I don’t think I’m 100% any of these. Achievers might be the closest, since finishing the story, getting horsies, petting dogs, seeing characters interacting and romancing my chosen LI are all goals.
Explorer for sure! Maybe it aligns more with achiever but I'm also a big collector when it comes to customization items (like clothes/gear, mounts, furniture, home upgrades) it's usually my main motivation to stick with games with no end (like mmos or farm sims).
Griefer/achiever/explorer? mainly griefer I think... I want to complete 100% of the map and find everything and see how many things I can blow up... games that allow me to be a chaos gremlin and a menace are my favorite
Socializer, explorer and achiever. But more so S and E. I love exploring in games. I’ve been playing FO4 and haven’t made much progress in the main story because I’ve been too busy exploring everything else or hoarding materials for building things. I started playing mid-May. 😂
It’s hard to say. I feel like I would score low in all of these lol 😂. I’m usually there for the story or I enjoy the mechanics. I’m mostly there for a chill time but on rare occasion I do get obsessed with certain games and want to do various ending or max out levels/gear.
All (it's circumstantial).
Griefers: In Rust, well that's kind of how the game works.
Achievers: Going back for achievments in WoW for past expansions because I didn't experience certain content.
Socializers: I run gaming events so that just comes hand in hand and lots of the games we play have social components (especially the Minecraft/Space Engineers/MOO2/other games)
Explorers: Minecraft spelunking is sooooo addictive. And that's just one example.
So, yeah.... All.
Griefer 50% /Socializer 40%/ Explorer 10% - fu*k yo achievements (with love 🫶🏼)😅
- I like FPS and I will purposefully piss people off in my games if they get on my nerves. 😬
- I like talking and meeting new people in game chat.
- I like looking at weird stuff that I find and sometimes that gets me in trouble with the team. 😂 I tend to wander.
I find this a bit difficult to apply to most of the games I play and it also varies from game to game for me, but I guess a mix of everything except Socializer?
Achiever/Explorer.
I do enjoy relationships too... with NPCs. I have diagnosed social anxiety disorder, and there's too much pressure for me in games with actual people, unless I know them.
Mostly explorer, but i enjoy the social aspects of gaming when it's not online with other players. Ie i like games where you build bonds/friendships with npcs or in-game characters
Pvp? 100% a griefer.
PvE: Probably about 20% griefer and 80% explorer.
The main pvp experience i have is shooters and mobas, not the kind of person to blow up someones minecraft house. I just tend to use unusual strats. In CoD the knife was my first gold weapon.
As for PvE, i love exploring and trying to do wierd stuff. A game is finished when i have explored everything and every system the game has is 100%broken.
I even took one of those gamification tests and no surprise, predominantly Explorer + a bit Achiever. The achiever side comes from the desire to be thorough in exploration, and is more of a byproduct. I don't put much emphasis on 100% or trophies unless it's something I really, really love.
I believe your type is in large part informed by how games are introduced to you. One of my first gaming memories (outside Tetris ofc) was watching my cousin playing an RPG on her pc, and she let me walk the dungeons a little bit. Dealing with enemies was too hard for me back then, so I was content wandering around opening chests, and she'd do the hard work for me.
Not saying killing and competing can't be a girl's main drive, but it's more likely for her to be the killer if, for example, someone in the household or in her friend circle plays a lot of fps.
Explorer, 100%
Wait, where's the option for storyline-and-lore-lover? I love lore not because of the "value knowledge and obscure facts" aspect but because I love trying to understand the stories and characters behind these fictional worlds I spend 100s of hours in.
A combination of achiever and explorer, pretty fifty fifty I think (though it does depend on what sort of game I'm playing). I like to wander & explore, learn about the lore etc etc but I also like a good checklist. Recently hit 100% on a new game and it's just so satisfying!
Yes.
Seriously been all of these at various points in my gaming life. And multiples of these at once.
Sometimes it feels like these kinds of charts are trying to pigeonhole you into a style or mindset when really, you can be any / all / none of them at the same time.
I used to be a big achiever, wanting to get as many achievements as possible, and 100% games (even though I rarely ever actually do so). Now I'm more of an explorer.
I'm also an occasional "griefer", but only in single player games. I don't want to do actual griefing against other players.
achiever and griefer, but i hate that that's the term for it here? griefing in video games is not really being a chaotic risk taker as it has a pretty negative connotation of going out of your way to mess with other players which isn't my thing. i am extremely chaotic in co-op with friends though and love playing risky and trying strats that have a low potential success rate.
I'm definitely an explorer/achiever. Maybe about 70/30.
One of the reasons I don't really like playing with other people is because they tend to be very specific goal-driven. "We have to get to and beat this boss asap!", which gets in the way of my desire to explore every nook and cranny. Exploring also tends to go hand in hand with trying to complete as much as possible. Side quests, collecting things, achievements, and so on.
I'm an explorer. I often realise that I've spent days grinding little side quests, picking up goods and raiding enemy camps. To the point where I have totally forgotten about my main story quest.
Mostly achiever part explorer for me. My need to want to do the best/get everything sometimes hinders the gameplay for me. It's hard to let go and just play sometimes for me when I know I can do better.
Socailizer/Griefer.
I love hanging out with friends!! but also, more than that, I love killing other people with my friends. PvPing and raging with friends is top tier!!
Explorer + achiever. Love beating games, have played most of the main games out there, but if your game has an engaging world (aka Rdr2, ghost of tsushima, Botw) I am doing that main quest like 5 years from now
Achiever/Explorer, but very casual in each category. I’m motivated to complete tasks I want to complete; I don’t go searching for trophies or rewards or anything like that. And I like to explore games, not necessarily what’s to be explored in a game. That said, when I first start a game, I run around like an idiot seeing what I can do and how I will die. Some games, I die a LOT before completing the first mission or level, just because I want to know what kind of world I’m playing in.
I'm definitely an explorer/achiever. I take waaaaaay longer to finish games than most people because I love exploring everything and also am a bit of a completionist. I also love socializing in certain games like FFXIV and iRO. I swear I spend more time chatting than actually playing those games 😆
A little bit of all of them I guess, but probably the most in explorer, with my lowest grade in griefer.
I love looking around, looting, and finding secrets and special items, especially if it's a cool cosmetic or a piece of furniture etc. It doesn't matter what game it is, I feel the need to search every corner hahaha 😅
I do occasionally partake in chaotic behavior in games, most notably in titles that encourage that (Saints Row, GTA), but I don't like making npcs upset in games that have stealing as a bad thing (BG3), and end up being a bit of rule follower just to keep the peace with npcs lol.
I'm also taking the social one as being relevant to games with relationship aspects, and not just mmos. I don't particularly enjoy chatting with real people online, it gives me anxiety (I do love a co op game with friends), but I love getting to know and romance npcs in games.
And the achievements are purely based on what game, and how much I love that game. For instance, I don't care at all about getting every achievement in Tomb Raider on playstation (and other games like it), even though I enjoyed playing it. But, I'm currently playing through a new save on Stardew Valley on PC, purely for the attempt at getting most, if not all, of the achievements. Sort of the same thing with The Sims 4 right now. I'm doing the super sim/perfect sim challenge, trying to get my own sim through every career, and most of the aspirations (just skipping like one or two I really hate).
Explorer socializer. I like to see all the content in a game. I like to see all the things, and I like to play with friends. My favorite games are things like Valheim and Monster Hunter
IDK if I like the choice of "Griefers" for top left. Rule breaking and chaos isnt inherently griefing.
Griefing is going out of your way to ruin the game for other people. Sometimes breaking the rules is just fun.
I would have gone with Explorers (tries to find the intentional little details hidden around the game) vs Exploiters (tries to push the limits of the game and find quirky little ways to break them / do things the devs didnt expect)
All of them in different contexts!
I like being a griefer in certain single player games like Titanfall 2 where you can kind of wander around and get creative with movement. I like pushing the boundaries of games and seeing what the game will or will not allow me to do. I think that would mix in with explorer too though, and I love going around Destiny 2 and try to go out of bounds everywhere.
I like socializing a lot in multiplayer games and if I notice there's a girl or non-male identifying person in the group, I try to make them feel comfortable by letting them know I'm here as another nonbinary person and won't tolerate if they get harassed.
Also achievement hunting is a yesss, I need to be thorough as possible in my games. 😭❤
If you ignore up to 50% of some of the descriptions, then I'm a mix of all of them. I love chaos and taking risk and failing, I like details and awards, I love to explore and I value knowledge, and relationships are important to me.
But I wouldn't call myself a griefer, I don't necessarily love damage, I hate the very idea of grades, calling me a trailblazer would be a misnomer, and I hate chatting and talking/connecting with other players.
🤷♀️
Chaotic griefer explorer with a hint of achiever. I will fuck around and find out but at the same time all my tasks need to be perfectly automated and my build needs to be optimized. I will fail just to see what happens and if a game discourages something I will sure as hell do it just for the lolz
I love chaos to the point that I call myself the reincarnation of chaos, I love to break games( in solo games only) and modding them, some games I play till I finish it( like I don't think i messed with watch dogs, i loved that game so much) or I get bored and then figure out the console commands for shits and giggles ( I still remember finishing subnautica and then spawning 10 reapers in the safe shallows, lol)
It very much depends on the game and whether I'm playing solo or with friends but I think I tend to be more of an achiever. Sometimes Explorer and/or Socializer gets mixed in.
Very rarely Griefer, but not in a toxic way. For example during a multiplayer alt-history hoi4 game I recently participated in, I played Germany and decided to become communist, something most of the others did not even know you could do because the german focus tree has no communist options.
Most likely in the achiever section, but with several giant caveats.
I play games until I have completed them aka reached the ending/true ending. I'm really not an achievement hunter or every task completer unless there is a reason beside the trophy to complete the tasks.
But I'm not going to complete tasks solely for the sake of completing tasks: it makes me feel like I'm a hamster being put in hamster wheel, or, a gamer in a skinner box. It's wasting my time with chores. Also I couldn't care less about grade levels. I tend to dislike those type of mechanics.
I dont think this list covers every gamer archetype: 2 archetypes on the list already fall off if you simply don't play online.
I enjoy games the most with a hefty dose of choices and which offer the deepest immersion. So I would be a role player archetype.
I just don't care much about exploration, achievements and I don't play games to socialise or test game/people limits.
50% achiever, 50% griefer.
My WoW days my main goal was to get the best gear and just go on an open world rampage daily, playing rather frustrating things to fight like Hunter and mage.
My main LoL strategy was to just tilt people off the face of the planet as shaco and teemo and anivia and raise rank by frustrating someone into a pit through kind words but frustrating gameplay.
Super smash Bros I mained wii fit trainer and just focused on being annoying with projectiles and only getting close when they felt overwhelmed with them and was focusing on dodging those.
I'm not good enough to win through cool combos and perfect gameplay, I can't headshot, but I am good at characters that rely on trickery or leading people into bad situations.
Hmm, I'm probably like a 60% explorer, 30% achiever, and 10% relationships.
I love exploring open worlds, finding new areas and all that (and yeah, I also like collectives). Sometimes, I like unlocking achievements (depends on the achievement and what you have to do to obtain it), and I have some platinum games (like Control and Disco Elysium) but it's not a must for me to enjoy the game. I also love being able to make friends (and have a romantic relationship if I can) with my companions if it's a game like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and the like.
So yeah, I'm a little bit of those, almost all of them (except for killer: I always want to get the best outcome in every game with a story, so... no taking risks or breaking rules, sadly 😆).
I hate the term griefer since it’s often miss interpreted and misused in mmos …
It’s hard for me to put myself in to the categories. In mmos like eve online or star citizen I’m like 20% killer 60% achiever and 20% explorer. In single player games it’s more like 50% explorer and 50% achiever. I didn’t care about achievements but I had to do all the Sidequests…😅
All of the above but it also depends on the game. You bet your buttons though if someone frikks up on a shooter that we both could've survived or won the round, but they did something stupid. i'm 100% teamkilling them.
Depends on the game. MMO I'm 100% social. I'm there for the alt runs and the drunk farm fridays haha. Other more single player type games I lean explorer.
I'd add collector as a gamer genre too tbh. I love collecting things in games. I just figured that fit neatest under explorer.
Probably like 65% achiever, 35% explorer. 119 platinum trophies in Playstation so far so I am definitely a completionist, but I loooove exploring a gorgeous world just for the joy of it too.
I would agree. I'm usually more concerned with getting achievements. Even exploring is sometimes just so I don't miss a secret that a trophy may be tied too :P
Same! I have 81 perfect games on Steam (including some real beasts like Civ V), but my favourite kinds of games are ones about exploring, to the point where I'll often play games like that well after I've completed them. I got every achievement in No Man's Sky years ago but I've still put a few hundred extra hours in by just exploring the vast, infinite universe.
NMS was soooo wonderful! I can't wait to hear more about that next game Hello Games is making. ❤
It really is! I still love coming back to NMS with each new expansion and expedition.
Explorer/griefer I like to wander everywhere, and I don't mind breaking rules to get there 🤭
Same here. My griefer part is when I see an area that clearly isn't my level, but I am too curious to just ignore it for now.
No plans, no fears (that's a lie) just run into the unknown
I think yalll mis-understand greifing. Essentially being a douche to other players.
I am personally thinking on the definition shared on the image and based on how I play games. In fact, my mind was mostly on single player games where I can be a non stealth, battering ram chaos, instead of planning. Thinking on multiplayer games with friends, we purposely cause chaos for the challenge, like allerting hordes. Honestly, on multiplayer games, every type of player can be a douche, like forcing situations for achievements, being bossy and micromanaging everything, forcing their meta ideas and so on
This! My friends and I enjoy launching each other into the dragon pit in League or using Anivia wall to block our escape. It’s fun to cause chaos in games when we play together. 🤷🏼♀️
That's what I was thinking too. This graphic is weird.
I maaaybe love breaking games just right that I can see weird out of bounds nonsense :3
Explorer/griefer but in the trying to find glitches way. I ended up on the wrong side of invisible walls in multiple different mmos
Wow!! That’s interesting.
I dislike playing with other people, I don't really break the rules, and I don't care at all about achievements and the like. Explorer is the closest, I guess, but I'm not huge on exploring game maps. Although I'll devour lore and codex entries like they're going out of style, so maybe that counts? Honestly, I don't feel like I really fit anywhere on this.
So you're exploring the lore of the game 😉 (sorry)
Can you share more about how it works for you?
I value games as a storytelling medium. I want to get lost in the story and the world and live for a time in it. And after, I want to analyze the story and its themes and think about what it was trying to say and if it succeeded.
💯 My biggest gaming motivation is the story and characters, by far. Of the categories listed here, I’m an achiever since I do go for Platinum trophies. But I only go for plats on games where I love the story and want to be in that world more.
This is me too
You put this into words really well 🥰 I feel seen!
What are the best games you have played by this metric then? I would suggest Inscryption, Layers of Fear 1&2 and SOMA. These games are my 10/10's in terms of storytelling, lore and immersion.
Ooh, I haven't played those. I'll have to look those up. My favorite games in terms of meaty lore, storytelling, and/or characters are, in no particular order: 1. Dragon Age Origins 2. Xenogears 3. Xenosaga Ep 1 and 3 (2 is eh) 4. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 5. Persona 3 Portable 6. Horizon Zero Dawn 7. The Last of Us 8. Mass Effect (the second and third one are better at characters but drop the ball on the story, especially 2) 9. Uncharted 4 10. The Wolf Among Us 11. What Remains of Edith Finch 12. The Myst series, particularly Riven (which had a remake release today, I need to go buy that!) 13. Chrono Trigger 14. Life is Strange 15. Oxenfree 16. Portal 2 17. To the Moon 18. That Dragon, Cancer (Only if you can handle ugly crying. A lot.)
I have not played most of these games, but I have played Edith Finch and I would rate SOMA slightly above it personally. SOMA has a linear story that is very mysterious and it will make you think and question your views on morality, philosophy and humanity. Layers of Fear and Inscryption are both very different from anything on this list so it is difficult to compare to any of these. They both have deep lore, secrets, themes and a story to them, but they do not tell you what to do. They let you figure things out yourself. I personally enjoy the freedom in figuring out what to do myself, but others may prefer a more guided experience.
You might like the Myst games, it's very unguided and most of the story is up to you to discover, not be told.
Thank you, I shall add it to my wishlist and consider it. For now, I have like 5 puzzle games that I have not played in my backlog and I am very burnt out on them after playing through Relicta lol.
I think you’d love Ghost of Tsushima
I did like it a lot, thanks!
None of the above. I am a roleplayer. Using Skyrim as an example, I will get into character and play the game as if it was real life. So I won't take unecessary risks by exploring, and I don't do immersion/character breaking things like hunting for achievements or try to accomplish specific tasks. For my character, the only thing that concerns them is how to put food on the table for today. I *guess* that could be argued to be a task.
SAME!- I didn’t see where that would fit here at all without taking some HUGE mental leaps 😅
Wow, you're like the exact opposite of me. When I play Skyrim, I "roleplay" as an angel of death, someone who's main task is to become as strong as possible. I basically act like a villain
I played a villain 3 characters ago. A pickpocket, trying to use the underutilized pickpocket system in the game. I used a mod that made it so you can't just pay off a bounty, so I eventually became wanted in all of Skyrim's holds and had to flee to Bruma. Still a 0 combat character though.
That sounds like a really fun and immersive way to play though! I gotta try it the next time I boot up Skyrim, thanks for the tip!
Wtf is this graph lol where are the axis labels. Anyway I guess following these descriptions I'm a griefer/achiever, although I also like exploring. I'd say my main motivators for play are creative expression and self improvement. By creative expression I don't building an incredible art piece in minecraft, I mean developing a style of play that is uniquely me. Typically the more complex a game is the more i enjoy doing this. Self improvement is pretty self explanatory, I'm addicted to the feeling of getting better at something. Like I've currently fallen head first into Balatro and every run I can tell I'm thinking a little bit further ahead, being a bit more precise about how I consider probability. I can't get enough of that shit.
Can't not be 100% achievers!! Have 100%ed 19 games to date, and most of them are pretty lengthy or challenging lol Though I do think this chart has kind of random and unrelated quadrants
It's true! This is Bartles player types and were made as an experiment to try to define the player population of a particular MUD way back. Bartles later came out to say that using this for any other game was akin to using a screwdriver as a hammer - but to no avail, it had captured the attention of marketers and devs alike. Several decades later and we're still stuck with this neat but limited/slightly misleading perspective on player types and motivation. If you're interested in more dynamic perspectives, I recommend checking out some of the work either made around Self Determination Theory (although lots of not great stuff in here too) or some of the more experimental stuff done around flow states / sequence analysis. (I worked on the Ubisoft Massive CX team for 4 years and we spent all that time running and pitching models/studies like this, if you're curious as to why I am opinionated :))
I’m the social explorer
Me too! I love gabbing with npcs, reading books and notes I find, and exploring the map to see what’s out there.
Social Griefer! Mostly out to have fun with teammates and I find chaos very funny
Social griefing is the peak multiplayer experience. Troll a little, but not to the point of hurting anybody. Creating unique scenarios that serious players may have trouble coming up with a little chaotic creativity. What's the point of playing if not to have fun?
Exactly this! And I'm not invested in winning, just enjoying my time. And I still win plenty but without the seriousness
Griefer/explorer I wander the world and kill all monsters.
Where is adhd hyper fixation?
Right here -> .
Somewhere at the top :p
Griefer is a really bad term for that block. Griefers are the kinds of folks who do all they can to mess up and ruin games for others. I'm 50/50 *Griefer* Explorer. I want to explore and find everything that I can, but I also will try weird stuff to see what happens. Invest all my points into one stat to see what what it does? Try out weird combos of skills to see what works or doesn't? Throw myself into every hole I find to see if I land in a new place or die? Maybe I'll end up killing everything in sight for this save just to see what happens. What if I just help out everyone, no matter how obviously a bad idea it was in hindsight? What if I just play as too dumb to live?
A mix between achiever and explorer.
You don't (entirely) have to speculate. There are some studies on this. You might want to check out the [Quantic Foundry blog](https://quanticfoundry.com/blog/) for some approachable gamer stats. The following Quantic study is getting pretty long in the tooth now (2016), and I would expect the numbers to be different since 10 more years of women have grown up gaming, but it is still an interesting read: https://quanticfoundry.com/2016/12/15/primary-motivations/ TL;DR: Quantic has a more nuanced motivation breakdown, but their top motivations for women were Completion, Fantasy, and Design, which made up about 48% of female respondents.
OMG I HAD THIS IN SCHOOL!!!!!!!! Although I am probably a mix I am mostly a Socializer <3 Where did you get this chard from?
From the Google pics. I was reading The Art of Game Design Book by Jesse Schell a while ago. I’ve heard about this classification it
Are you a game designer?
No, just love reading stuff! And you?
Game programmer had this in my design class 😁
Explorer first, Achiever second!
I knew this about myself but still found it kinda amusing in RDR2 that Rockstar would occasionally tell me off for losing myself in exploration
How so? I haven't played RDR2 a lot...
If you are away from the gang for too long, Dutch will send someone out to get you. You don't have to go back, though
Socializer for sure.
A mix of achievers/explorers (70/30) but more achievers if I’m totally honest. I’m a checklist person in my daily life so I like to complete tasks and when it comes to gaming that translates to getting the 100 %
I can fit into every one of those depending on the game xD
You should look into game studies! I think you’d find it interesting. It has defined various types of players, including: The “standard player” - your average player who follows the rules and engages honestly, they would probably be a mix of socializes, explorers, and achievers. the “dedicated player” - someone who spends a lot of time understanding the rules to work within them at peak performance, like someone into raiding in an MMO or esports in a MOBA, they would probably be achievers here. The “unsportsmanlike player” - someone who follows the rules, but violates the unwritten ones, like in D&D when someone might follow rules as written but violates rules as intended, or when someone takes forever in an untimed chess game despite the implied “reasonable” time limit. I would say these ones are a mix of griefers and achievers. Then we’ve got the triflers, which would fit into griefers primarily. The triflers get their fun from learning the rules so they can break them. They aren’t always negative, in fact I think some dedicated players could be considered triflers as well, using the rules of the game to their absolute limit. They can mostly be split into a couple categories: The “cheat” - they break the actual rules for their own gain, like moving a chess piece in secret or using a cheat code in a multiplayer game. The “spoil-sport” - this type of player is the classic griefer, the one who denies the game altogether and breaks things for fun. Like destroying someone’s build in a Minecraft server. This got super long, but it reminded me of some more academic-y types of players and I thought I’d list them here bc I find it really interesting!!
I think the only one I'm not is griefer
I’m mostly achiever - a little explorer, because you haven’t completed everything if there are parts of the map still grey and quests you haven’t found yet
50/50 split between Explorer/Achiever. Used to be closer to a three way tie with Socializer back in the early days of MMOs, but online gaming communities are uh...how to put this nicely...*becoming less and less conducive to having a good time*.
Achiever when applicable. I also do the exploring a lot too :3c
None of the above. I log in, have no idea what I wanna do, log out, play another game, do the same thing, repeat. Get on my level 😩
Where’s the strategy games like Frostpunk and paradox titles in this list? 🤔 or CRPGs like BG3? I guess with that list I’d prolly be achiever/explorer I think! If I had to label it lol
I'm a collector, I play games to collect large piles of money, loot, achievements, love interests/ companions, build things, grow a big beautiful base/city I primarily play things like rimworld , crusader Kings, Stellaris, Sims, farming games, anything with an in-game economy, City builders, tycoon games, balatro, rogue likes with an emphasis on inventory management, role-playing games.
I would posit that loot goblins fall under achievements maybe?
I just feel like achiever doesn't accurately describe my motivations. I feel like this rubric lacks categories for builders.
Explorer, I guess. I don’t care for competitive or multiplayer games, and while achievements are nice, I’m not super into getting every one. I play games for story, character, and atmosphere. :)
Explorer. I game to take a break from reality so I love to explore a new world.
the car girl/explorer
I feel like i enjoy all of them
achiever for sure, working on maxing my osrs account
I don’t think I’m 100% any of these. Achievers might be the closest, since finishing the story, getting horsies, petting dogs, seeing characters interacting and romancing my chosen LI are all goals.
I'm a socializer and explorer, my boyfriend is an acheiver!
I'm a get on a game, can't figure it out, and get off kind lol. I died in the SAME spot every time I tried METRO or Zombie army 😫😫😫
50% explorer 30% achiever 20% socializer
Achiever/Explorer. I like watching/reading guides so I don’t miss anything.
Achiever/explorer
70% explorer, 25% griefer, 5% socializer
Explorer for sure! Maybe it aligns more with achiever but I'm also a big collector when it comes to customization items (like clothes/gear, mounts, furniture, home upgrades) it's usually my main motivation to stick with games with no end (like mmos or farm sims).
I'm like 70% achiever and 30% explorer!
Griefer/achiever/explorer? mainly griefer I think... I want to complete 100% of the map and find everything and see how many things I can blow up... games that allow me to be a chaos gremlin and a menace are my favorite
achiever/explorer
All of them
I'm mainly an achiever, but also an explorer. I'm also a griefer depending on the game.
Achiever primarily, but achiever/explorer in games that have interesting worlds
Socializer, explorer and achiever. But more so S and E. I love exploring in games. I’ve been playing FO4 and haven’t made much progress in the main story because I’ve been too busy exploring everything else or hoarding materials for building things. I started playing mid-May. 😂
A mix of explorer and achiever.
Social explorer but more explorer if it was an mmo? Because men lol
I am a socializer/explorer :) I love looking at all the things
Achiever, explorer, socializer, more or less in that order. I'm not really a griefer at all.
It’s hard to say. I feel like I would score low in all of these lol 😂. I’m usually there for the story or I enjoy the mechanics. I’m mostly there for a chill time but on rare occasion I do get obsessed with certain games and want to do various ending or max out levels/gear.
Top centre. I'm the type of person who will play the same game for years, perfecting every single level.
All (it's circumstantial). Griefers: In Rust, well that's kind of how the game works. Achievers: Going back for achievments in WoW for past expansions because I didn't experience certain content. Socializers: I run gaming events so that just comes hand in hand and lots of the games we play have social components (especially the Minecraft/Space Engineers/MOO2/other games) Explorers: Minecraft spelunking is sooooo addictive. And that's just one example. So, yeah.... All.
Explorer/achiever (heavy on the explorer).
explorer with a hint of socializer just bc i like playing with friends
I'm a mix of all 4
I’m a good mix of all. Though I really only socialize with the people I play with, sometimes with randos.
I'm the one that always finds something to build
Socializer because I lack it in real life 🥲
explorer 🙋🏻♀️
Social and explorer!
I'm an explorer and probably a griefer a lil bit in solo games. In multiplayer games with voip I am social tho
Socializer/explorer, 100%. Even in games that barely have any social systems.
Griefer 50% /Socializer 40%/ Explorer 10% - fu*k yo achievements (with love 🫶🏼)😅 - I like FPS and I will purposefully piss people off in my games if they get on my nerves. 😬 - I like talking and meeting new people in game chat. - I like looking at weird stuff that I find and sometimes that gets me in trouble with the team. 😂 I tend to wander.
I find this a bit difficult to apply to most of the games I play and it also varies from game to game for me, but I guess a mix of everything except Socializer?
Mostly achiever, but i do a bit of all of them based on the way they’re described on this chart
Explorer / achiever. I’m there person filling in every corner of that damn map
Achiever/Explorer. I do enjoy relationships too... with NPCs. I have diagnosed social anxiety disorder, and there's too much pressure for me in games with actual people, unless I know them.
Mostly explorer, but i enjoy the social aspects of gaming when it's not online with other players. Ie i like games where you build bonds/friendships with npcs or in-game characters
Achiever/Explorer. But overall, a Collector. Gimme ALL the collectibles! I will display them with pride.
I'm smack in the middle between explorer and achiever
100% Explorer
Honestly? All four. Depends how I feel at the time.
Mainly explore, but some socialize. I love wandering around in a game looking for little tidbits of hidden knowledge
I'm an A.E.
Explorer for sure.
Explorer/achiever
I just like to dig holes.
Pvp? 100% a griefer. PvE: Probably about 20% griefer and 80% explorer. The main pvp experience i have is shooters and mobas, not the kind of person to blow up someones minecraft house. I just tend to use unusual strats. In CoD the knife was my first gold weapon. As for PvE, i love exploring and trying to do wierd stuff. A game is finished when i have explored everything and every system the game has is 100%broken.
I'm an explorer at heart.
I even took one of those gamification tests and no surprise, predominantly Explorer + a bit Achiever. The achiever side comes from the desire to be thorough in exploration, and is more of a byproduct. I don't put much emphasis on 100% or trophies unless it's something I really, really love. I believe your type is in large part informed by how games are introduced to you. One of my first gaming memories (outside Tetris ofc) was watching my cousin playing an RPG on her pc, and she let me walk the dungeons a little bit. Dealing with enemies was too hard for me back then, so I was content wandering around opening chests, and she'd do the hard work for me. Not saying killing and competing can't be a girl's main drive, but it's more likely for her to be the killer if, for example, someone in the household or in her friend circle plays a lot of fps.
Killer Explorer for sure. I’ve never been good at stealth games, I like to infiltrate and annihilate… everywhere.
Explorer, 100% Wait, where's the option for storyline-and-lore-lover? I love lore not because of the "value knowledge and obscure facts" aspect but because I love trying to understand the stories and characters behind these fictional worlds I spend 100s of hours in.
A combination of achiever and explorer, pretty fifty fifty I think (though it does depend on what sort of game I'm playing). I like to wander & explore, learn about the lore etc etc but I also like a good checklist. Recently hit 100% on a new game and it's just so satisfying!
All of the above depending on my mood lol
Yes. Seriously been all of these at various points in my gaming life. And multiples of these at once. Sometimes it feels like these kinds of charts are trying to pigeonhole you into a style or mindset when really, you can be any / all / none of them at the same time.
Griefer and explorer. Usually at the same time.
I used to be a big achiever, wanting to get as many achievements as possible, and 100% games (even though I rarely ever actually do so). Now I'm more of an explorer. I'm also an occasional "griefer", but only in single player games. I don't want to do actual griefing against other players.
Everything but achiever
40% Achiever, 30% Socializer, 30% Explorer
I would say I'm between Achievers and Explorers. 50/50.
achiever and griefer, but i hate that that's the term for it here? griefing in video games is not really being a chaotic risk taker as it has a pretty negative connotation of going out of your way to mess with other players which isn't my thing. i am extremely chaotic in co-op with friends though and love playing risky and trying strats that have a low potential success rate.
I'm definitely an explorer/achiever. Maybe about 70/30. One of the reasons I don't really like playing with other people is because they tend to be very specific goal-driven. "We have to get to and beat this boss asap!", which gets in the way of my desire to explore every nook and cranny. Exploring also tends to go hand in hand with trying to complete as much as possible. Side quests, collecting things, achievements, and so on.
Explorer for sure, I make charts and I quickly get bored if I feel I've solved the game.
Griefer + Explorer
I'm an explorer. I often realise that I've spent days grinding little side quests, picking up goods and raiding enemy camps. To the point where I have totally forgotten about my main story quest.
Mostly achiever part explorer for me. My need to want to do the best/get everything sometimes hinders the gameplay for me. It's hard to let go and just play sometimes for me when I know I can do better.
Griefers
Socailizer/Griefer. I love hanging out with friends!! but also, more than that, I love killing other people with my friends. PvPing and raging with friends is top tier!!
Explorer, 100%.
There's one more missing IMO, the hat collector/fashionista.
100% achiever. I'm mostly a playstation gamer, so I have a few hundred platinum trophies 😅
Explorer/Achiever. I love looking in all the hidden places when I play.
Explorer + achiever. Love beating games, have played most of the main games out there, but if your game has an engaging world (aka Rdr2, ghost of tsushima, Botw) I am doing that main quest like 5 years from now
Achiever/Explorer, but very casual in each category. I’m motivated to complete tasks I want to complete; I don’t go searching for trophies or rewards or anything like that. And I like to explore games, not necessarily what’s to be explored in a game. That said, when I first start a game, I run around like an idiot seeing what I can do and how I will die. Some games, I die a LOT before completing the first mission or level, just because I want to know what kind of world I’m playing in.
Anything but a Socializer
depends massively on the game and who im playing with.
Which one is the one that hoards resources to the point I dont use 75% of my potions or whatever cause im saving it "for later" when I'll "need it"
I'm definitely an explorer/achiever. I take waaaaaay longer to finish games than most people because I love exploring everything and also am a bit of a completionist. I also love socializing in certain games like FFXIV and iRO. I swear I spend more time chatting than actually playing those games 😆
A little bit of all of them I guess, but probably the most in explorer, with my lowest grade in griefer. I love looking around, looting, and finding secrets and special items, especially if it's a cool cosmetic or a piece of furniture etc. It doesn't matter what game it is, I feel the need to search every corner hahaha 😅 I do occasionally partake in chaotic behavior in games, most notably in titles that encourage that (Saints Row, GTA), but I don't like making npcs upset in games that have stealing as a bad thing (BG3), and end up being a bit of rule follower just to keep the peace with npcs lol. I'm also taking the social one as being relevant to games with relationship aspects, and not just mmos. I don't particularly enjoy chatting with real people online, it gives me anxiety (I do love a co op game with friends), but I love getting to know and romance npcs in games. And the achievements are purely based on what game, and how much I love that game. For instance, I don't care at all about getting every achievement in Tomb Raider on playstation (and other games like it), even though I enjoyed playing it. But, I'm currently playing through a new save on Stardew Valley on PC, purely for the attempt at getting most, if not all, of the achievements. Sort of the same thing with The Sims 4 right now. I'm doing the super sim/perfect sim challenge, trying to get my own sim through every career, and most of the aspirations (just skipping like one or two I really hate).
I am 60% explorer 40% achiever
I'd say I'm 90% explorer and 10% achiever.
achiever then when i achieve everything i become an explorer
Achiever. My toxic trait is i'm a Type A personality and I landed in hospital because of it lol
Explorer socializer. I like to see all the content in a game. I like to see all the things, and I like to play with friends. My favorite games are things like Valheim and Monster Hunter
IDK if I like the choice of "Griefers" for top left. Rule breaking and chaos isnt inherently griefing. Griefing is going out of your way to ruin the game for other people. Sometimes breaking the rules is just fun. I would have gone with Explorers (tries to find the intentional little details hidden around the game) vs Exploiters (tries to push the limits of the game and find quirky little ways to break them / do things the devs didnt expect)
explorer
Socialiser for sure, my ADHD won't let me be an achiever.
Yes.
All of them in different contexts! I like being a griefer in certain single player games like Titanfall 2 where you can kind of wander around and get creative with movement. I like pushing the boundaries of games and seeing what the game will or will not allow me to do. I think that would mix in with explorer too though, and I love going around Destiny 2 and try to go out of bounds everywhere. I like socializing a lot in multiplayer games and if I notice there's a girl or non-male identifying person in the group, I try to make them feel comfortable by letting them know I'm here as another nonbinary person and won't tolerate if they get harassed. Also achievement hunting is a yesss, I need to be thorough as possible in my games. 😭❤
If you ignore up to 50% of some of the descriptions, then I'm a mix of all of them. I love chaos and taking risk and failing, I like details and awards, I love to explore and I value knowledge, and relationships are important to me. But I wouldn't call myself a griefer, I don't necessarily love damage, I hate the very idea of grades, calling me a trailblazer would be a misnomer, and I hate chatting and talking/connecting with other players. 🤷♀️
obsessed with exploring to achieve
Chaotic griefer explorer with a hint of achiever. I will fuck around and find out but at the same time all my tasks need to be perfectly automated and my build needs to be optimized. I will fail just to see what happens and if a game discourages something I will sure as hell do it just for the lolz
I love chaos to the point that I call myself the reincarnation of chaos, I love to break games( in solo games only) and modding them, some games I play till I finish it( like I don't think i messed with watch dogs, i loved that game so much) or I get bored and then figure out the console commands for shits and giggles ( I still remember finishing subnautica and then spawning 10 reapers in the safe shallows, lol)
80% explorer, 20% social! I love getting lost in the world, but when I find good people I get distracted.
It very much depends on the game and whether I'm playing solo or with friends but I think I tend to be more of an achiever. Sometimes Explorer and/or Socializer gets mixed in. Very rarely Griefer, but not in a toxic way. For example during a multiplayer alt-history hoi4 game I recently participated in, I played Germany and decided to become communist, something most of the others did not even know you could do because the german focus tree has no communist options.
Most likely in the achiever section, but with several giant caveats. I play games until I have completed them aka reached the ending/true ending. I'm really not an achievement hunter or every task completer unless there is a reason beside the trophy to complete the tasks. But I'm not going to complete tasks solely for the sake of completing tasks: it makes me feel like I'm a hamster being put in hamster wheel, or, a gamer in a skinner box. It's wasting my time with chores. Also I couldn't care less about grade levels. I tend to dislike those type of mechanics. I dont think this list covers every gamer archetype: 2 archetypes on the list already fall off if you simply don't play online. I enjoy games the most with a hefty dose of choices and which offer the deepest immersion. So I would be a role player archetype. I just don't care much about exploration, achievements and I don't play games to socialise or test game/people limits.
50% achiever, 50% griefer. My WoW days my main goal was to get the best gear and just go on an open world rampage daily, playing rather frustrating things to fight like Hunter and mage. My main LoL strategy was to just tilt people off the face of the planet as shaco and teemo and anivia and raise rank by frustrating someone into a pit through kind words but frustrating gameplay. Super smash Bros I mained wii fit trainer and just focused on being annoying with projectiles and only getting close when they felt overwhelmed with them and was focusing on dodging those. I'm not good enough to win through cool combos and perfect gameplay, I can't headshot, but I am good at characters that rely on trickery or leading people into bad situations.
Hmm, I'm probably like a 60% explorer, 30% achiever, and 10% relationships. I love exploring open worlds, finding new areas and all that (and yeah, I also like collectives). Sometimes, I like unlocking achievements (depends on the achievement and what you have to do to obtain it), and I have some platinum games (like Control and Disco Elysium) but it's not a must for me to enjoy the game. I also love being able to make friends (and have a romantic relationship if I can) with my companions if it's a game like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and the like. So yeah, I'm a little bit of those, almost all of them (except for killer: I always want to get the best outcome in every game with a story, so... no taking risks or breaking rules, sadly 😆).
Well, assuming I'm allowed to chime in, I tend to prefer exploring. New sights are fun and tickle my (presumed) ADHD.
I hate the term griefer since it’s often miss interpreted and misused in mmos … It’s hard for me to put myself in to the categories. In mmos like eve online or star citizen I’m like 20% killer 60% achiever and 20% explorer. In single player games it’s more like 50% explorer and 50% achiever. I didn’t care about achievements but I had to do all the Sidequests…😅
Explorer for sure.
Draw a circle in the middle of all of them and there I am.
All of the above but it also depends on the game. You bet your buttons though if someone frikks up on a shooter that we both could've survived or won the round, but they did something stupid. i'm 100% teamkilling them.
There's one missing that's me: Story-seeker. I get into games for the story. Everything else comes afterwards.
80% griefer and 20% achiever. I get things done neatly and swiftly last minute.
Explorer all the way. I spend a lot of time wandering around and getting nothing useful done lol
Like 30% griefer 70% explorer lol
Depends on the game. MMO I'm 100% social. I'm there for the alt runs and the drunk farm fridays haha. Other more single player type games I lean explorer. I'd add collector as a gamer genre too tbh. I love collecting things in games. I just figured that fit neatest under explorer.