[MUD-Dev] wherefor in-game artists?

[Sean Howard]

"Richard A. Bartle" <richard at mud.co.uk> wrote:
> On 01 September 2004, Paolo Piselli wrote:

>> Where, if anywhere, do creative types fall in Bartle's player
>> types

> It depends why they are creating. It's possible to conceive of
> people creating for reasons that fit into any of the player types.

The problem with your player types is that you describe results,
rather than motivations. People can have the same effective
behaviors but for very different reasons. People can fit into
multiple groups precisely for that reason - one motivation can lead
to multiple types of behavior at the same time. The only way those
four types become of any use at all is by making them all viable,
just to different degrees. I'm mostly killer with a side of
explorer.

In this case, it can't be used to describe the motivations of people
described as creators. Creators fits into that model at the same
level of abstraction, rather than above it or below it. You've got
five player types at that level, probably a lot more. That level
seeks to sum up a player's actions. Things which are out of
character, but not as frequent, are pretty much thrown out as
non-issues. Worse yet, it cannot predict future behavior or how
certain types will respond to new and unseen game features.

A motivation based description is much more accurate and useful for
matters of design and understanding players.

- Sean Howard
www.squidi.net
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