Introduction to Game Design Syllabus - The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game - page 101

Figure 7.2
Richard Bartle ' s four player personality types.

There is no need to go into great detail here. Bartle s book, Designing Virtual

Worlds , examines the four major player types and their relationships to a virtual
world and other players. Simply put, they are the following:

'

n Killers. These players would rather fight than talk. They prefer PvP to
PvE. This is not, as some suggest, a negative category. It is one of the
primary homes of those who play for the competition.
n Achievers. Achievers play for extrinsic rewards, such as levels and loot.
They can be equally strong competitors.
n Socializers. Their enjoyment springs from interacting with other players.
The game matters less than the social experience.
n Explorers. Explorers play to discover new things; to go where others
have not yet gone; and to lead the way for others through maps or hints.

Few players of MMOs are entirely one type. However, we can often be identified
primarily by one type. I am an explorer. Writers are explorers

—

leading the way,

finding new paths.