Why players play
Meet the three needs games feed, the different kinds of players, and how one game can serve several.
THREE NEEDS
Competence, autonomy, relatedness
Psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan found that people are motivated from the inside when three needs are met (their Self-Determination Theory). Researchers such as Scott Rigby and Ryan later applied it to games:
- Competence: feeling that you're getting better. The clean jump you kept missing ten minutes ago.
- Autonomy: making choices that matter. Which path, which character, which order.
- Relatedness: connection with others. Playing as a team, a group of friends online, even caring about a character.
A game that feeds all three at once: a co-op puzzle game where you and a friend (relatedness) choose how to split the work (autonomy) and slowly get faster at the tricky parts (competence).
Two reasons to keep playing
Extrinsic · for something outside
Points, prizes, a daily login bonus, a badge to show off. It works, but it tends to fade: once the prize stops, so does the playing.
Intrinsic · for the play itself
It's fun, you're getting better, you chose it. This kind lasts longer. Good games use rewards to point at the fun, not to replace it. Lesson 8 goes deeper.
Check yourself
Match what each player said to the need it feeds
Show the answer
- "I finally beat the boss I kept losing to." → Competence
- "I picked my own route through the mountains." → Autonomy
- "We won because we covered for each other." → Relatedness
DIFFERENT PLAYERS
Bartle's four player types
In 1996 Richard Bartle studied players of early online text worlds called MUDs and described four broad types:
- Achievers want points, levels and completion.
- Explorers want secrets and to find out how things work.
- Socializers want the people: chatting, helping, belonging.
- Killers want to compete with, or bother, other players.
It's a rough lens, not a personality test. Most people mix types, and the mix changes with the game and the day.
In the same online game, one player grinds for a rare sword (achiever), one maps every cave (explorer), one runs a friendly guild (socializer), one hunts other players (killer).
Check yourself
Mina spends an hour pushing on every wall of a castle because she's sure there's a hidden room. Which Bartle type is she playing as right now?
- Achiever
- Explorer
- Socializer
- Killer
Show the answer
Explorer
Yes. Looking for secrets and figuring out how the world works is what explorers enjoy most.
Check yourself
Bartle's types sort every player into exactly one fixed personality.
Show the answer
False
False. They're a rough lens for design, not a personality test. Most people mix types, and the same person can be an explorer in one game and an achiever in another.
MDA: mechanics, dynamics, aesthetics
Mechanics are the rules. When people play by them, dynamics appear: what actually happens in play. Dynamics produce aesthetics: what the player feels, such as challenge, discovery, fellowship, fantasy or expression. The designer builds from the mechanics end. The player meets the game from the feeling end.
A designer writes "one player is 'it'". A player just feels the thrill of the chase.
Tag, read through MDA
Mechanics one player is "it"
touch someone and they become "it"
Dynamics chasing, dodging, teaming up,
teasing "it" from a safe distance
Aesthetics the thrill of the chase,
laughing togetherTwo short rules, and a playground full of feelings.
Nobody wrote "tease from a safe distance": it emerged.Read it downwards and you're the designer. Read it upwards and you're the player, who notices the feeling first and may never think about the rules.
Check yourself
In the MDA framework, which part does a player usually notice first?
- The mechanics, because they're written in the rules
- The dynamics, because they happen on screen
- The aesthetics: what the game makes them feel
- All three at exactly the same moment
Show the answer
The aesthetics: what the game makes them feel
Right. Players meet a game through the feeling: tense, curious, part of a team. The designer works the other way, starting from the rules.
ONE GAME, MANY PLAYERS
Minecraft serves almost everyone
Minecraft keeps very different players busy in the same world. Explorers dig into caves to see what's down there. Achievers hunt rare materials. Socializers build together on shared servers. And many players simply express themselves by building. Its rules don't push one kind of fun; they leave room for several.
A small game doesn't need to serve everyone. But knowing which players you are serving helps you choose which rules matter.
Check yourself
Minecraft: which player type does each activity appeal to most?
- Collecting a full set of the rarest armour
- Digging down to see what lies under the map
- Building a village with friends on a server
- Winning fights against other players on a PvP server
- Working out how a strange machine someone built works
- Getting every achievement in the list
Show the answer
Achiever: Collecting a full set of the rarest armour, Getting every achievement in the list
Explorer: Digging down to see what lies under the map, Working out how a strange machine someone built works
Socializer: Building a village with friends on a server
Killer: Winning fights against other players on a PvP server
Lesson recap
- Games feed three needs (Deci and Ryan's Self-Determination Theory): competence, autonomy and relatedness.
- Intrinsic motivation, playing for the play itself, lasts longer than points and prizes.
- Bartle's types (1996): achievers, explorers, socializers, killers. A rough lens; most people mix them.
- MDA: mechanics create dynamics, which create aesthetics. Designers start from the rules, players from the feeling.
- One game can serve several kinds of players, as Minecraft does. Decide who yours is for.
- Notebook: write the one feeling you want your future paper game to give.