Also known as “Diamonds”, these are players who prefer to gain “points”, levels, equipment and other concrete measurements of succeeding in a game. They will go to great lengths to achieve rewards that confer them little or no gameplay benefit simply for the prestige of having it.
2. Explorer
Explorers, dubbed “Spades” for their tendency to dig around, are players who prefer discovering areas, creating maps and learning about hidden places. They often feel restricted when a game expects them to move on within a certain time, as that does not allow them to look around at their own pace. They find great joy in discovering an unknown glitch or a hidden easter egg.
3. Socializer
There are a multitude of gamers who choose to play games for the social aspect, rather than the actual game itself. These players are known as Socializers or “Hearts”. They gain the most enjoyment from a game by interacting with other players, and on some occasions, computer-controlled characters with personality. The game is merely a tool they use to meet others in-game or outside of it.
4. Killer
“Clubs” is a very accurate moniker for what the Killer likes to do. They thrive on competition with other players, and prefer fighting them to scripted computer-controlled opponents.
Me, I am mostly an Explorer, with some Achiever tendencies. I definitely like finding new places and solving quests (tho elaborate overcomplex puzzles will typically bore me). To a certain extent I enjoy finding gear, tho when a game is too Monty Haulish in that respect I tend to lose interest (since I have to constantly lug that shit around and try to sell it somewhere to get below any encumbrance penalties).
I have little interest in being a Killer, mainly because to get that good I have to play one game over and over to glean every little gameplay edge and to hone my skills to a fine razor’s edge-but there will always be some punk somewhere who has found more exploits and such than I have and who can consistently own me. But I have had success in racing in online racing sims (those which have few bugs or exploits to take advantage of) and online air combat sims.
I also care little for socializing-on some past games I recall some players (MP air combat sim) would prefer to sit around texting each other vs. actually going up into the air (two were have a virtual affair with each other while married to other people).
I love open world games. The best part of Far Cry 4 for me was finding all the hidden shit on the map. And I’m a city builder from way back. I’m all over Cities: Skylines these days. And yes, I mod it to the gills. I could care less about the tax rates for dense residential zones and I want access to every goddamed thing I can get my hands on when I want it and I want it all for free!
Explorer and Achiever. Socializer can be left right out of my games. I don’t want to play with anyone other than maybe my husband. Most people online are stinky anyway, although I do love interacting with the in-game characters. I also don’t like to fight with other players, but I will do that occasionally in a game like Chivalry.
Largely Explorer with a shake of achiever and social. Obviously, most everyone likes achieving a bit if only because new armor or skills lets you explore more but I’ve never cared much about leader boards or achievement badges unless they came with an entertaining perk (City of Heroes titles, Team Fortress 2 weapon unlocks, etc).
The only time I seem to care about achievement rankings is if they’re somehow weird and thus tie into the Explorer mindset. A weird Steam achievement that only 0.7% of the players have is appealing to try for because it’s “new”, not because it makes you the best.
On the socialization front, it’s a gamble from day to day if I want to sit around with other players in a dungeon or doing a quest but I also enjoy active guild/clan chatter. I’m probably happiest when I’m on my own to do what I want to do but with a steady stream of background guild chatter to keep me company.
Killer, I rarely have much interest in. I’ll play one-off PVP games like first person shooters but I don’t have the skill or inclination to practice at being competitive in an MMO environment.
I have over 30,000 hrs in one game, probably over 60,000 if you double count playing multiple accounts at once, several single player games with over 500 hrs… I have had no motivation to play recently not having time to achieve (I went from 18 hrs a day to less than 8 hrs a week.)
“Be good at one thing or suck at everything.”
I have been this way my whole life with everything I have ever done, but I’m starting to learn, akin to the “there’s always someone better” lesson, growing up is accepting the need to concede being so extreme as to not end up a mental case.
I guess I’m mostly an explorer, but not really the way it’s described. I enjoy seeing an unfolding story and interacting with the environment. But I don’t create my own maps, and I couldn’t care less about easter eggs or glitches. It’s about immersing myself in an alternate reality for a while. Like a book or a movie with more interaction and (hopefully) a little control over the outcome.
I sometimes go for achievement or accumulation, but it’s mostly in service of the story - I often don’t even bother to finish a game once I get to the final battle if I already know how it ends.
I’m not a socializer or a killer. I don’t understand why I’d play a computer game with other people. The last computer game I enjoyed playing competitively was Tetris, on the original Nintendo. (When I want to play with others, I pull out books and dice and put on my game master hat.)
Depends on the game, but out of the choices, mostly Killer. I enjoy competing against other people. One of the best games of Overwatch I had recently was me on one side with five pubs and my six friends on the other team, heh.
I certainly enjoy games more with my friends, but I don’t play the game simply to socialize - I tend to only talk with people I’m already friends with.
I do explore sometimes (this was basically what I did when I played GW2 - just tried to 100% each area) but tend to shy away from open-world games.
Right away though, I can see some aspects missing. I’m a big fan of playing story-heavy RPGs like FF7, Mass Effect, Dragon Age; or the single-player campaigns in games like Starcraft or Doom. Mainly to enjoy the story/experience… doesn’t seem to fall in any of the four categories.
75-85% Explorer depending on the game, most of the rest Achiever, ~1% Killer/Social at most. I haven’t played cooperatively in years and I’ve never much liked shooters or PvP, participating only for social reasons with friends in old-fashioned LAN parties ages ago. Maybe in part because I tend suck at them on anything but the easiest settings :D.
For me it is all single-player RPGs ( of various subtypes) and strategy games.
Of those 4 I’m an achiever, but I mostly play racing games (Forza series in particular), so racing all the available races necessarily gets most of the achievements. I don’t necessarily go out of my way to get them unless they’re easy or completion is the actual goal.
I’m about 90% achiever and 90% explorer, and don’t see all that big of a difference between them. Earning achievements is just another way of exploring the limits of a game. I’m also a fair bit theorycrafter, which I guess that classification would file under “explorer”, even though most explorer-types would probably be bored stiff by theorycrafting.
And back in the day before formal achievements, I tended to create my own, like playing all of the missions in the original Starcraft without losing a single unit (yes, including on the mission where Kerrigan is lost), even though that didn’t give any recognition whatsoever.
I was about the make a post about roughly the same thing. I don’t have friends that game any more, so I’m mostly into Hearthstone and Street Fighter, but “getting into” a game that doesn’t have a competitive aspect is really alien to me.
I also have a soft spot for games like Portal and Undertale. I suspect that those kinds of games don’t fit neatly into the Bartle Taxonomy because they’re not really about the “game” per se, but the story and narrative. In that sense they may be more akin to reading a good book or experiencing a good movie rather than “playing” (i.e. making conscious decisions about) a game.
Actually, my greatest accomplishment on that Starcraft mission was to kill all of the Zerg units, complete the mission, and then kill all of the Zerg structures, too, still while not losing any units or buildings. Basically, I finished off the last Protoss structure while the nukes were falling. Of course, even with all of the zerg dead, you still get scripted huge waves of zerg at the end.
And that link puts me at 93% explorer (no surprise), but only 40% achiever. I’m not sure how to square that with the fact that I’m at 90+% achievements in most of my favorite games. It also puts me at 53% social, which is surprising given that I never play with people I don’t already know.
Oh, and the total is 200%, because every question is binary.
I think this is the first post of mine that’s inspired a thread.
I’m mostly an achiever with a side of explorer. I generally hate the socializer part and will often turn off chat in games so other people don’t bother me.
I’ll do a little PvP, but not much and honestly I find it a little boring. Which is probably because I’m not that good at it. Also I get annoyed when the game objective is “capture the flag”, but my team is spending time trying to kill the other team and ignoring the flag, while I sneak around the back and get the flag for the team. If all you wanted to do was shoot people why are you playing CTF?!?