This blog has evolved into a bilingual log,
This causes me a lot of grief as my ENG articles cannot be graded on digg.hr and my CRO articles cant be graded on digg.com. Nevertheless I see no other option but to proceed in this manner.
In spite of that, I welcome this situation as an opportunity for me to brush up on my foreign language skills. Until I do, please bear in mind that ENG is my second language.
02.12.2008., utorak
The psychology of gaming Bartle types
The psychology of gamers, Bartle types.
Mr.Richard Bartle, who received a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from the University of Essex, which is where he created MUD along with Roy Trubshaw, in 1978., is the first person from the MMO industry to take a look at the bigger picture. He noticed that todays games are no longer simple games that serve to take the load of your busy mind (Pac-Man) but they have become something much more.
With the addition of multiplayer to the games, games became a thriving melting pot of people. People who have different subconscious desires (needs) come together and form more or less cohesive groups - because only through grouping they can ever hope to achieve what their heart desires in a typical MMO game.
Grouping means setting some standards for interpersonal relations, and because of this a lot of collateral phenomena ensue. Sociology and psychology of an individual comprising the body of one guild come into play, with all the repressed anger and unresolved complexes lurking between the collective unconsciousness and ones subjective subconsciousness.
Today's games are both a modern day mythology - they have replaced the apparent lack of mythology (some may think of Star Wars as being the latest mythology mankind invented, some may even mention Matrix trilogy). Mythology has (in the past) been used both to explain some fundamental truths to the young - like for an instance the simple truth that sun (sun gods, like Mitra, Jesus, Dyonisius, Ra, Superman?) - sun gives life (that's the myths educational role) and to satiate ones psychological need for meaning, mental health and self-actualization.
Because of this, games have already been used to cure phobias (example: virtual reality based confrontation with the "trigger" of panic response), to serve as general analgesia thanks to taking ones mind off his pain (be it physical or emotional), and as a tool to educate people.
Educational aspect of gaming becomes apparent in children s need to play. Human children and animal young both have an almost insationable need to practice the skills they will need in the future by PLAYING. We all become fit for life through playing. Why is playing that important? Because it tricks us into practicing skills without risking the failure and punishment. Lion cubs practice their hunting skills under the watchful eye of their parents. This helps them prepare for future survival.
Humans have no genetic memory unlike animals, so we use educational system to pass along the past experience (like scientific advances) - and our "growing up" period lasts for YEARS. We retain the ability to learn through play throughout our adult lives. One important component of motivating people to learn is to allow them to perceive learning as having fun, its easiest to have children learn something if you have them play as they do it.
Jung on the other hand states that humans DO in fact have a genetic memory in the form of objective (collective) unconscious mind, from which come our dreams, and all our myth-making in terms of archetypal images.
The repertoire of Sigmund Freud's and C.G.Jung's work on this subject matter is too vast to cover at this point. Suffice it to say that for most practical purposes of learning (by using the conscious mind) - we do not possess genetic memory.
As you can see, games have an ability to change ones perception of the world through teaching him alternatives to how he perceives his surroundings and alternatives to responding to outside stimulae.
This means that games are the #1 tool to change the individual, and through domino effect - change the world. If games are that powerful, how comes many a game developer aren't educated in terms of psychology (Jung's ideas, Freud's ideas etc.)? Education in those fields would allow them to produce better (more addictive?) games, and earn more money.
Richard Bartle is well aware of the power of psychology and myth-making in this new educational medium (gaming that is). Mr. Mike Sellers held the lecture at GDC (games developer conference) stating the following:
I should probably make something of a disclaimer here: ten years ago I gave a talk at GDC entitled "The Alchemy of Addiction: Creating Games That Keep People Playing." This was just after the point when we had to argue hard for a flat-rate subscription model, since our publisher saw huge dollar signs at the many hours people would rack up playing our game, and actively supported what we glibly called "the heroin strategy" for game design.
I still support designs that bring people back -- but also ones that send them away. The last thing I want is a game that rewards someone for playing to the exclusion of having a life (or even one that just becomes a part-time or full-time job!).
I would not give that talk again.
As you can see from that qoute, and if in addition you understand that makers of todays games want to earn money, you will be able to easily add up 2 and 2 and come to the conclusion that getting people addicted to the game is the way to go. In order to achieve this one has to understand the basics of how unsatiated emotional needs of humans affect their money spending habits. To gain more knowledge on this particular subject matter, please go to youtube and watch the documentary called "The Century of Self: Happiness Machines part 1"
Now you may begin to understand the sheer power of gaming. When you combine gaming as #1 tool to educate people (or on the dark side of things - introject them via propaganda?) and as #1 tool of un-inhibiting their underlying and dangerous subconscious energies you get today's MMO games. The games have already become a medium of marketing, there already are commercial messages to be found in games (Vote for Obama for an example) - its only a question of time when an Internet Eddie Bernays will step up and cater to players emotional needs by selling them his services.
Time mark : 0:38
Let us now focus on trying to explain the differences between people in terms of what they need from games. In order to achieve this goal one has to find some sort of classification of human beings. Many famous scientists have battled this problem, and personally I think it was C.G.Jung who nailed it right when he published his 1921 book: "Psychological Types". I have had some experience in using games as tools to further behavioral modification in children (dyslexic, neurotic, ADD - attention deficit disorde, not Advanced Dungeons and Dragons lol children), I have even designed a pen and paper role playing system called "Avatar" for the specific purpose of working with children. Due to all the years spent researching the matter I have a pretty good idea of which theories actually work and which don't. MBTI works.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.
Attitudes: Extraversion (E) / Introversion (I)
Functions: Sensing (S) / iNtuition (N) and Thinking (T) / Feeling (F)
Sensing and Intuition are the information-gathering (Perceiving) functions. They describe how new information is understood and interpreted. Individuals who prefer Sensing are more likely to trust information that is in the present, tangible and concrete: that is, information that can be understood by the five senses. They tend to distrust hunches that seem to come out of nowhere. They prefer to look for details and facts. For them, the meaning is in the data. On the other hand, those who prefer iNtuition tend to trust information that is more abstract or theoretical, that can be associated with other information (either remembered or discovered by seeking a wider context or pattern). They may be more interested in future possibilities. They tend to trust those flashes of insight that seem to bubble up from the unconscious mind. The meaning is in how the data relates to the pattern or theory.
Thinking and Feeling are the decision-making (Judging) functions. The Thinking and Feeling functions are both used to make rational decisions, based on the data received from their information-gathering functions (Sensing or iNtuition). Those who prefer Thinking tend to decide things from a more detached standpoint, measuring the decision by what seems reasonable, logical, causal, consistent and matching a given set of rules. Those who prefer Feeling tend to come to decisions by associating or empathizing with the situation, looking at it 'from the inside' and weighing the situation to achieve, on balance, the greatest harmony, consensus and fit, considering the needs of the people involved.
These are the basic functions of every human being, there is usually 1 of these traits showing itself as dominant, and 3 as less dominant (all four are present at all times in every individual)
ENTPs are frequently described as clever, cerebrally and verbally quick, enthusiastic, outgoing, innovative, and resourceful. ENTPs are motivated by a desire to understand and improve the world they live in. They are usually accurate in sizing up a situation. They may have a perverse sense of humor and sometimes play devil's advocate, which can create misunderstandings with friends, coworkers, and family. ENTPs are ingenious and adept at directing relationships between means and ends. ENTPs 'think outside the box,' devising fresh, unexpected solutions to difficult problems. However, they are less interested in generating and following through with detailed plans than in generating ideas and possibilities. ENTPs are quick to see complex interrelationships between people, things, and ideas. These interrelationships are analyzed in profound detail. The result is an in-depth understanding of the way things and relationships work, and how they can be improved.
Pretty accurate.
Bartles typology
Based upon MBTI Richard Bartle has devised a typology of his own; which has become well known as - Bartles types.
At http://www.gamerdna.com/quizzes/bartle-test-of-gamer-psychology you will be able to fill out Bartles test of gamer psychology.
These were my results:
As you can see, according to this, 1 year ago I was a gamer interested only in killing (PvP) and was actively avoiding guilds and people. The usual 14yr. old type with severe case of frustrations, unfortunately at that time I was 28 yrs old :)
My personality type has changed since and as soon as gamerdna.com becomes fully operational you will witness the power of it ;) (excuse the Star Wars pun).
What it all boils down to is that even though World of Warcraft developers haven't got a clue about mythology and how it would improve their game (they could certainly learn from Joseph Campbell, George Lucas did - and now we have Star Wars), and in spite of them not knowing anything about psychological types they somehow (probably through the collective sub-c) managed to produce a game that happens to cater to all the gamer types.
What do I mean by this? Well top ranked WoW decision makers are one and all ex Everquest players, and the entire genre of Fantasy Role Playing Games originated from Gary Gygax (Dungeons and Dragons). D&D is a roleplaying system that has been worked on over a lot of years, people have invested a lot of energy and love into it, and intuitively they have projected many of the archetypes which at the time lay dormant in their subconsciousness into it.
Archetypes of D&D:
1) character classes with 4 main character classes (rogue, mage, warrior, cleric), 4 character classes of D&D correspond to the 4 main personality types.
2) hit points and death at 0 HPs, healing and resurrection
3) armor class, cloth wearers and plate wearers, mages cant cast in heavy armor...
4) to hit (Thac0) mechanics, crit mechanics
5) healing specialist who heals the tank but is weak in PvP damage-dealing wise, because hes got healing spells
6) crowd control spells
You can find the trickster archetype in both mage and rogue, the hero archetype in warrior class, the wise old man in both cleric and the mage classes. The evil alignment is a shadow archetype whilst "dinging" is the individuation (achieving personal development, self-healing) archetype.
The Avatar
The entire basic concept behind the success of gaming is in the concept of an avatar. The avatar is a true, intentional (you will it yourself) persona. According to Jung, we all use personas (masks) as tools to interact with our surroundings. You use one persona at your work place to communicate with your boss, another one to communicate to your wife, yet another one for communication with your children. In MMO games, you use an avatar (character) to communicate with the games alternate reality. This is why people simply love this concept. People who are drawn to roleplaying games usually seek them out because subconsciously they realize that they enable them to create and after creation practice using new personas. What they learn from RP games they transfer to real life. This transference can be both positive and negative.
Many people get stuck in a particular persona (mask) and start thinking they ARE in fact that persona. This kind of people bring work back home with them. This is very unhealthy, the entire point of wearing a mask is to take it off eventually.
In role-playing games you can influence the behavior of a player by exposing him to a specific situation (problem) and letting him test out different personas (characters) to see which way of problem solving comes natural to that specific individual. This is called behavioural modificiation through gaming (BMTG?).
The list of archetypes in MMOs could go on forever, each and every RP game of today borrowed a lot from D&D, and this is why all today's games (Everquest) borrowed a lot of archetypes too. Since WoW borrowed a lot from Everquest - it is logical to expect that WoW will have inherited a lot of archetypes. These archetypes remain popular because they ARE archetypes. Archetypal images is a concept that is very difficult to explain to people who are not familiar with the works of C.G.Jung, in order to keep this post as short as possible I will not go into explaining archetypes at this point, but I will provide a link for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungian_archetypes
Therefore, if you really want to understand what I meant by this, read up on archetypes.
Off course, the game caters more to killer/achiever types (arenas and the sheer amount of in game grind show this) and less to socialiser/explorer types with socialiser types coming last. This is a huge error on their part because almost all casual players are dominantly explorer/socializers and secondary achievers. Most females are pure socializers (healer archetypes). Female players are 50% of customer base, and when they bite they REALLY bite, they are EXTREMELY loyal customers. Business oriented individual would seek to cater to the needs of female subscribers, because simply put, this brings in the moneys.
It is unfortunate that after 4 years the game still doesn't cater to socializers, it doesn't allow them to design their looks (clothes), nor to design their houses (you cant own a house in WoW), the #1 socializer avatar of choice in WoW is Druid, due to its various forms and /dance emotes in them.
Unfortunately, these forms have remained the same during these last 4 years. This shows obvious lack of understanding of how things work on Blizzards side.
Bartle types in WoW:
The breakdown of WoW according to Bartle types
As you can see, night elf druids are primarily socializers and they also rank really low at killing (druid class is kinda weak in PvP so normally it will not attract killer achievers). Compare that to rogue class, most of rogue players are pure killers and score low on socializing, this is why in the past I hated my druid and player a rogue instead. Rogue catered to my "killing" phase of life, and druid caters to my "socializing" part of life.
Undead and orcs usually score high on killing and according to this it is clear that orc and undead warriors, rogues, hunters and warlocks are prime choices for PvP oriented players. Hunters turn out to be really well balanced people who successfully balance all their different gaming needs. The lack of balance between various classes also clearly shows that the game is not balanced PvP-wise.
Blizzard has had luck to effectively construct a class for every gaming type, but they still have a lot to learn about properly catering to "Bartle types".
