Player Archetypes

Every player has their own goals and desires. One player may acquire and accumulate Phenomenal Cosmic Power, but never use it unless they absolutely have to. Another player may hate the very idea of flashy but impractical abilities to the point that they mock other players for using them and even petitioning the game company to remove them. Lastly, there is always the player who accumulates and uses these sorts of abilities because they love their effect.

There have been quite a few archetypes proposed over the years. Most of them are targeted at the stereotypical Male gamer and target a specific genre. I will try to take the archetype into a more general categorization that can be applied across genres and players.

Casual Gamer: This archetype games to hang out with their friends. They aren’t there for the game itself, as they would move on to whatever game or activity their friends moved on to.

Diva: This archetype has to be the center of attention. They tend to become upset and disruptive if they lose their position at the group's center of attention.

Dungeon Crawler: This archetype is interested in killing the monster and gaining experience. Role-play encounters will bore this player, since they just want to get back to the action.

Explorer: This archetype loves to explore the game world. They are happiest when immersed in a detailed game setting.

Funny Guy: This archetype is out for a good time and will do anything for a laugh. As long as they and the other players are laughing, their actions don’t have to be logical or make sense in-character.

Griefer: This archetype plays to have an effect on other players. This can range from annoying the other players to directly attacking the other players’ characters. They get their enjoyment out of Player Versus Player content.

Meta-gamer: This archetype uses knowledge that the player has to advantage their character, even if the character does not have that information. This can include monster stats or the backgrounds of other characters. Sometimes this is intentional. Others it is an inability of the player to separate information.

Power Gamer: This archetype is out to “win” the game, even if the game isn’t designed to work that way. They Min Max their characters and tend to focus on the rules over story content.

Role-Player: This archetypes is interested in developing and portraying a complex character. They prefer to talk through a situation or outthink their opponents.

Specialist: This archetype plays one type of character only; ninja, Jedi, paladin, Elf, etc. This can relate to character class, race or type. They tend to become angry if they can’t play their character type in your campaign, even if it wouldn’t make any sense. An example would be a Drow in Serenity.

Storyteller: This archetype loves games that tell a continuous and involved story. Everything in the game should fit into this story; role-play, combat, etc. They have been known to sacrifice their own characters in the name of story.

Thinker: This archetype has fun by solving challenges through strategy and planning. They love battle maps and puzzles.

For most of these archetypes, combination is likely. Most players do not fit exclusively into one category; you will find a person who is part Role-player and part Meta-gamer, or even part Funny Guy and part Casual Gamer.

EDITED: 04/08/10 12:40 PM