005 - The B.A.Rtle Taxonomy of Players
By Guest Editor Jodie Marie Smith
GM MØRNING misfits 🖖,
Gen Z is obsessed with gaming, accelerating the slow-burn cultural shift that’s resulted in gaming becoming the largest sector in the entertainment industry. At the same time, we now all know our sun, moon and rising signs, we’ve identified our love languages, and have chosen our ‘mood’ for the summer (vampire mode for us) - now it’s time to get familiar with player types…
The Bartle Taxonomy of Player Types (think: the Myers-Briggs personality test but psychographic profiles for gamers) is based on a 1996 paper by Richard Bartle which classifies player types within multiplayer online games. Rooted in character theory, Bartle identified four criteria of character motivations and behaviours: Achievers, Explorers, Socializers, and Killers.
As gaming media widens its reach, brands must expand their horizons and show up where their desired audiences are. Predicting how different player types may navigate, interact and behave within these spaces is a new frontier for consumer insights.
Achievers: (You might be an Achiever if: you’re already a niche internet microcelebrity in your own right.)
Achiever Archetype: Ludwig Ahgren is an American YouTuber and former Twitch streamer who gained notoriety as an esports commentator and competitor. Notably, before leaving Twitch he streamed his life continuously for 31 days straight, attracting so many viewers that he became the most followed streamer on the platform at that time. He also broke the world record for the fastest completion of Mario Party Superstars, a game comprising 100 mini-games.
Achievers want to be recognized as ‘the best' and know gameplay strategy inside-out.
These by-the-book players follow the rules of the world they’re in, striving to be recognized as successful by peers.
This player type is motivated by challenges, so the harder and more complex the tasks required by the game, the better for Achievers.
Achievers spend as much time as possible in their preferred worlds and often, they become obsessed with bettering their past performances.
When building worlds - whether offline or IRL - incorporate playful, interactive challenge features which keep consumers entertained and create an organic reason for them to return. Not everyone wants to passively share footage of an immersive exhibition on social media (but Socializers probably do).
Explorers: (You might be an Explorer if: you got really into Minecraft and The Legend of Zelda.)
Explorer Archetype: Cecilia D’Anastasio covers the games industry for Bloomberg Technology, and was named SXSW’s first Game Industry Journalist of the Year in 2020. Writing about the creator economy, platform governance and esports, her vast experience of the entire gaming landscape allows her to dig deep into its culture, as well as crafting hot takes:
These players want freedom to create and move around expansive online worlds that offer them escapism as entertainment.
For Explorers, prescribed structure is often unappealing.
This player type prefers to discover features acting autonomously rather than being led by an exhaustive series of challenges and suggested activities.
Explorers enjoy complex, unique, attractively created worlds which keep their interest and feel pleasurable to visit.
*MØRNING team in OTHERWORLD
At MØRNING we’re big advocates for exploration. Virtual worlds from Decentraland to RPGing Discord are all unique, so immerse yourself in these communities and take field notes on your findings, like we did for HUNTER.
Socializers: (You might be a Socializer if: your internal dialogue is obsessed with FOMO and deeply impractical fashion accessories.)
Socializer Archetype: Taylor Lorenz is a digital culture writer, currently working as a technology columnist for The Washington Post covering gaming, politics and social media (Fox News, Newsweek and the NY Post all ran stories on her exposé of the popular Libs of TikTok account.) With over 510k TikTok followers, 330k twitter followers and using 30 IG accounts, Lorenz represents the perennially online player types who wouldn’t necessarily identify as ‘gamers’ because they understand gaming is an important form of media influencing the world at large. To get the vibe, watch her play 2022’s smash game Elden Ring with reporters on the Washington Post Gaming YouTube channel - with many gaming streamers, it’s really about the commentary and camaraderie.
For these player types, their biggest motivation is seeking connection and community through gaming.
Games which are optimised for sharing appeal to these types of players, whether they’re driven by team challenges, or designed with much more relaxed storyline structures and informal goals.
These players are looking to experience the joy of connection through online worlds, so need common spaces where they can interact freely with other players.
Are you already experimenting with new platforms? There’s no better way to gauge how your audience is feeling than hearing it first hand, in situ. Get into the spaces you’re expanding into and get talking to whoever you can, however you can.
*Killers: (You might be a Killer if: you object to the term ‘crypto bro’ but yes, you are the one sermonizing to Socializers about the downfall of TradFi at parties.)
Killer Archetype: Nick Kolcheff aka Nick Mercs describes himself as “a fellow gym rat, who streams mostly Competitive Shooters!” He streams his gameplay daily on YouTube and Twitch to a combined total of over 10 million followers.
These player types are highly competitive.
On the chaotic good/neutral/evil end of the gaming world spectrum,
Killers can be either skilled gamers who are bored by rigidity and/or annoyed by authority, or low skilled players whose frustration manifests in creating chaos.
For killers, the relative anonymity of online gaming allows for low stakes destruction.
They tend to be excited by militaristic games where they get to flex their intellect and strategic insights, particularly when they can enjoy the thrill of the hunt. For them, winning is an aggressive, destructive act, so many prefer shooter games.
Whether gamifying an app, repositioning the social TOV, or soft launching a new brand in the metaverse: know the rules inside out, learn optimum strategies until they’re a reflex.
*We want to acknowledge that the language used by Bartle when defining and identifying this player type feels especially uncomfortable at this moment, and that real world violence is often intertwined with discourse on gaming media.
Drawing parallels between Bartle’s player types and figures from the gaming community - whether journalists, professional gamers or content creators - showcases the breadth of personalities and motivations that drive the audience engaging with gaming media. Categorising everyone who interacts with gaming content under the umbrella of ‘gamers’ is an outdated way to engage with this complex, multifaceted, growing consumer base. Choose your player type, now’s the time for brands to start the game.
Guest Editor: Jodie Marie Smith
Imagery supplied: @harriet.blend