In the previous post, I looked at Player Types that linked with Extrinsic (Carrot and Stick) motivation.

“For a gamified system we need to tailor our design to the types of players that will be participating. Each of us as individuals have a certain way of looking at the world – we are subjective in our view. For this reason we need to consider what will appeal to our target audience and the sort of motivators that will work best“.

For the purposes of gamification, we will not be primarily focusing on the Extrinsic motivators whilst designing a gamified system but it is important to be aware of them and their Player Types. We focus instead on the Intrinsic motivators and this will be based on the MAGIC motivators (Mastery, Altruism, Greater Meaning, Independence and Community). (READ MORE HERE)
 

Intrinsically Motivated Players

MASTERY

The need to meet and overcome challenges and to ‘master’ skills

Player Types:

Achievers want to improve their skills and achieve mastery of the system. They will be motivated most by feedback as their experience points build, leaderboards and badges. If given the chance to feed back into the system they can help to improve it. They will need increasing difficulty as they progress in order to maintain a state of flow.

Destroyers want to show their Mastery over the system by destroying it and its users. They enjoy the feeling of superiority as the system yields to their actions
 

ALTRUISM

The need to care for and help others

Philanthropists are truly altruistic and thrive on helping others even if it does not necessarily advance them. In the FarmWorld game many users spend more time farming to help others than they do in developing their own farm – these are Philanthropists. However, a Philanthropist may sometimes strive to give help where it is not wanted and lacks the filter to see that they are annoying other players or putting them off. However well-intentioned, these Philanthropists are Misguided.

GREATER MEANING

The need for legacy – to be part of something greater than oneself

Icons and Heroes engage wherever they perceive a Greater Meaning. This may be the drive to be part of an Epic Quest or Storyline or the need to leave behind a personal legacy. Sometimes this can manifest as a single-minded drive for glory or recognition at the expense of all other objectives or players and the Totalitarian emerges.
 

Independence

The need for freedom and ability to make choices

The Free Spirit loves Independence and will explore the system. They enjoy choices, freedom and creativity. In pushing at the boundaries of the system the Free Spirit may find ways to exploit the rules, manipulate the boundaries or just plain cheat if they can get away with it and become a Hacker.
 

Community

The need to connect and socialize with others

The Socializer is driven by Community and interaction with others. Any Social Networking elements will have strong appeal to them. Beware those Socializers who do not like your system though as they may become Fifth Columnists and use Social Media and community connections against your system.
 
 

WORLD VIEW

Whichever system of Player Types you decide to use, it is important to design for user types and consider their world view through a virtual lens or, in other words, to look at your gamified design through the eyes of others. It is also important to realise that few people will fit strictly into one of these player types but will have aspects of each, some more so than others. Consider this as your attributes for your avatar in a game; your character will have so much strength, stamina, magic ability, intelligence, charisma etc etc and you must strike a balance between the attributes to get the best out of your playing experience.

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For a gamified system we need to tailor our design to the types of players that will be participating. Each of us as individuals have a certain way of looking at the world – we are subjective in our view. For this reason we need to consider what will appeal to our target audience and the sort of motivators that will work best.

As there are as many distinct personalities as there are people, we cannot possibly take into account every factor so we need to somehow generalise and group our players. We do this by defining ‘Player Types’, each of which has their own core motivators and views the world in their own way. There are many player classification systems and perhaps the best known one was designed by Richard Bartle.

Bartle’s Player Types consisted of Killers, Achievers, Socializers and Explorers and described how each type preferred to interact with a video game. He later expanded these player types, splitting each category into two to give eight player types in total.

The Bartle Player Types have proven to be effective for video game design but do not always apply well to gamification, where the systems being designed contains elements of video game design rather than being a video game.

I believe that, for the purposes of gamification, player type design is best when linked to the motivators (Extrinsic and Intrinsic). But each Player has its ‘dark side’ or Shadow who may affect the system in a negative manner. For example, someone motivated by Mastery might want to gain the highest levels achievable within the system or even improve it but their Shadow may see destroying or breaking the system as the ultimate expression of their Mastery over it.

Extrinsically Motivated Players

There are four types of extrinsic motivation as defined by Deci and Ryan. These are the ‘carrot and stick’ motivations.

Externally regulated behaviour

This is where the drive comes from an external demand or expected reward. For example working because you’re paid to do so. There is no autonomy (Autonomy = independence or self-determination) for the person and if they are not paid, they will not work unless some other reward or punishment motivates them.

Player Types:

Wage Slave – They are driven by Externally Regulated Behaviour. Reward or Punishment will motivate a Wage Slave but without them they will immediately stop interacting and become a Striker
 

Introjected regulation of behaviour

Here, we’re avoiding feelings of guilt or recrimination. For example “I need to work to support my family”. Although the behaviour is being driven internally by the individual’s need to move away from an undesired state, the cause is very much external and the subject has little autonomy in the situation.

Player Types:

Guilt Tripper – Motivated by Introjected Regulation of Behaviour. They are avoiding feelings of guilt or recrimination however, this needs to constantly apply to their situation. Should the situation they are trying to move away from actually occur at any point, they may no longer be able to function, give up and become Depressed.

Regulation through identification

This form of motivation is driven by a desire to express something that is felt to be ‘important’ to the individual. There is an element of autonomy involved and self-identified ‘values’ such as “I work because I want to do it”.

Player Types:

Believer – Motivated by Regulation Through Identification they are driven by a desire to express something they deem important or fits their self-defined values. However, if they lose or downgrade the importance of these beliefs and values they can easily become Agnostic.
 

Integrated Regulation

Now we are approaching Intrinsic motivation: Integrated Regulation occurs when a set of rules, beliefs or regulations are fully assimilated into the individual’s identity. It is very similar to Intrinsic motivation but the beliefs and models involved have come from strictly external conditioning rather than in inherent joy or inspiration.

Player Types:

Evangelist – Integrated Regulation drives this user and their inner self is the Evangelist, happily carrying out ‘the good work’ in an almost Intrinsic manner. However, if those external rules or beliefs are shown to be false or doubtful then the player could become a Heretic, now opposed to those beliefs and motivated by a different set of beliefs.

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In the second part of this post about Motivation (PART ONE HERE), we’ll explore Intrinsic Motivation.

Intrinsic Motivation

This is where we do things for the sheer enjoyment of the task or the satisfaction we derive from doing it. In Self-Determination theory it is regarded as the purest form of motivation.

For the purposes of Gamification, I have developed my own model of intrinsic motivators and… its MAGIC!

Mastery

The need to meet and overcome challenges and to ‘master’ skills

Altruism

The need to care for and help others

Greater Meaning

The need for legacy – to be part of something greater than oneself

Independence

The need for freedom and ability to make choices

Community

The need to connect and socialize with others

In designing a gamified system we can use these motivators to develop our design. We may use just some or sometimes all of these motivators.

Each will have differing appeal to the individual player; some people prize their independence above all else, others have a strong need to socialize.

This is where ‘player types’ come in and determining the make-up of your target audience of players is vital when building gamification solutions.

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