[MUD-Dev] 3rd Axis for Bartle's 2 axis theory of MUD players

[Richard A. Bartle]

On 14th October, 2002, Paul Boyle wrote:

> I propose that there's a third axis that, when added, adds a
> better description for player behavior we see today.  I call this
> axis 'faces and numbers'

You're attempting to use the degree of immersion that a player
experiences as an extra dimension. Less immersed players, you're
calling 'numbers' and more immersed ones you're calling 'faces'.

It's good that you've recognised this, but things are a lot more
complex. Immersion is more a facet of player development than their
style of play. The 'classic' progression through the HCDS player
types is: killer to explorer to achiever to socialiser.  This
matches the increasing immersion of the player in the virtual
world. Adding immersion as a third dimension is a little odd in this
context, as it's non-orthogonal.

> The extreme Face Heart players are the hard core role players
> The extreme Number Heart player is the AOL chat user.
> The extreme Face Diamond players are the fame players.
> The extreme number Diamond players are ... the power players.
> The extreme Heart Club players are the PvP folks
> The extreme number Club players ... are the 'harassment' style players
> the extreme Face Spade player is the do-it-yourself explorer.
> The extreme number Spade player ... wants to know everything about the game

These make my point. Face socialisers are different to number
socialisers in a dissimilar way to how face killers are different to
number killers. The former concerns the degree of assimilation into
the virtual world, whereas the latter concerns consensuality. For
achievers, I'm not sure fame is an achiever issue (many killers do
it for the fame). For explorers, I wouldn't call your number spade
combination explorers anyway, they're opportunistic achievers.

The key to understanding the HCDS approach is to remember the axis
labels. Are players acting or interacting mainly on/with the world
or their fellow players? How do we read your axis? It seems to be to
do with the sense of presence that players have in the virtual
world, but that itself is a "world" thing that doesn't mean a great
deal to the players side of that axis.

I suppose I should at this point fess up and admit that I'm
currently on chapter 4 of an 8-chapter book I'm writing about
virtual world design, and that chapter 3 goes into the HCDS model in
very, very great detail. I do add an extra dimension to it, but it's
to do with whether action takes place in an implicit or explicit
fashion. Unfortunately, it's not something I can really go into
details about here or my publisher will get cross.

Suffice to say, though, that the essence of your extra dimension -
the degree of immersion - is a consequence of progression through
the different player types (well, in my theory it is - I could well
be wrong!). You have the right idea, but the wrong implementation.

		Richard



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