Players Who Suit MUD's
~ Richard A. Bartle ~
This article is the result of a lengthy discussion of MUD players that was sparked by the question "What do people
want out of a MUD?"
Players of all play styles and walks of life contributed to the thread and was used to break down what types of players there are within MUD's and games in general. The thread was then broken down to better understand what people seek within the game.
First we break down players into four different types of users, which means different play styles, goals and experience in the game. These are achievers,
explorers, socialisers and killers.
Achievement within the game
Players give themselves game-related
goals, and vigorously set out to achieve them. This usually means
accumulating and disposing of large quantities of high-value
treasure, or cutting a swathe through hordes of mobiles (Ie. monsters
built in to the virtual world)
Exploration of the game
Players try to find out as much as they
can about the virtual world. Although initially this means mapping
its topology (ie. exploring the MUD's breadth), later it advances to
experimentation with its physics (ie. exploring the MUD's depth).
Socialising with others
Players use the game's communicative
facilities, and apply the role-playing that these engender, as a
context in which to converse (and otherwise interact) with their
fellow players.
Imposition upon others
Players use the tools provided by the
game to cause distress to (or, in rare circumstances, to help) other
players. Where permitted, this usually involves acquiring some weapon
and applying it enthusiastically to the persona of another player in
the game world.
Often players can be a mix of different types as we are all different but generally speaking most players have a primary style of play and mix with other styles to advance in their primary style or goal.
Achievers usually set goals for them self, like high-score boards or achievement points. Explorers like to find new things and explore the unknown. Socials are generally more casual and like the interaction with other players more so than the game itself. Killers set goals of killing other players.
The amount of each type of player within a MUD varies depending on the game itself as the player needs the tools to do what they want to do as their primary goal. For example a achiever probably wouldn't play or enjoy a game that has no scoring system he can show off to other players. A killer wouldn't enjoy a none PvP game that was for socializing and exploration.
ACTING
Killers | Achievers
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PLAYERS -------------------+------------------- WORLD
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Socialisers | Explorers
INTERACTING
Group Decision and My Thoughts
This article was written regarding a MUD back between the late 80's and early 90's which at the time was a relativity new game concept using the newly found internet. As this was a very early paper on MUD's the player base was significantly smaller than what we see in today's MUD and MMO games. Its important to remember that this is just a basic taxonomy based on a small amount of users within the game and as today's games have a lot larger player base it brings about different player types and styles depending on the game.
The most important thing for me that I've taken from this paper is the idea of balancing a game depending on your target audience and how each player style can directly and in-directly effect one another. For example how socialisers like achievers as they can help create a social environment and start talking points or how killers like explorers because they can find things within the game to will help the killers kill more.
I personally see myself as more of a achiever within games but find myself crossing over to all aspects at one time or another but for only one reason, to achieve more.
