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July 17, 2007
I Do It All Over. And You?
Over at WoWInsider, Mike Schramm asks what kind of Bartle gamer you are.
The Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology tests the play-style and interests of players of role-playing (primarily) games. It was developed (appropriately enough) by games researcher and designer Dr. Richard Bartle, whose blog, QBlog, is a hoot to read. Looking back at that sentence, it doesn't really come across as a very serious endorsement of Bartle, does it? Hmm... sounds like a topic for a future post.
I am an ESAK. That means that my gameplay interests and skills most closely match the Explorer scale (73.33%), followed by the Socializer scale (66.67%), the Achiever scale (46.67%), and finally the Killer scale (13.33%).
According to the test:
People with high Explorer scores tend to enjoy finding all of the unique areas of the world, often enjoying the immersion of the experience. Finding a place with unique monsters and seeing what those monsters do is usually more fun for an Explorer than defeating the monsters themselves.
And that's actually true for me. In World of Warcraft, I enjoy seeing new zones, taking my low-level alts (alternate avatars) to new places for which they're grossly under-leveled, and picking up new flightpoints. This doesn't help me to level very quickly, but it does keep the game feeling like a fresh series of challenges for me.
For instance, when I started playing my first avatar, a druid, I used the druidic power of invisibility to sneak all over the planet. I had a great time, but I was constantly asking myself how classes without invisibility (which is most of the other classes in WoW) could stand having to be seen all the time. Now I know, as I (slowly) advance my two non-invisible alts -- a mage and a warrior. And the challenge of getting my level 33 warrior into and out of the level 51-58 Western Plaguelands to pick up the flightpoint at Chillwind Point (which I did last night) was great fun. Did I kill anything? No way. Anything I would have seen there would have stomped me and used my torso for a planter. Was it a great achievement? Only in my mind. But in my mind, it was pretty darn cool.
Take the test yourself here. I'm curious to know what the rest of the universe finds interesting in role-playing gaming. I'm also curious what those of you who don't game (or who don't game much) would find interesting, in the Bartle schema.
Posted by reparent at July 17, 2007 9:34 AM
Comments
Hi, I'm coeurlion and I've recently been diagnosed an AESK-Achiever, although just barely not an Explorer. I now recognize that I do have a problem, and I've decided to give over my mortality and my hit points to a higher power.
I'm not addicted to MMORPGs. In fact, I don't play any of these lovely games. I took the quiz 'cause you told me to. I had to guess and hypothesize at some of the responses I gave.
It kinda felt like taking the MMPI, where they ask you the same damn questions several times, in different ways, just to see if you're lying or faking it. In my case, I guess I was kinda faking it. But you made me do it.
I quote:
"AESK players are interested in the player-versus-environment aspect of the game more than anything else. They are often soloists who want to achieve and see what the world has to offer. Often, they find groups cumbersome and PVP to be more an annoyance than a feature.
"Breakdown: Achiever 66.67%, Explorer 60.00%, Killer 26.67%, Socializer 46.67%"
P.S. What's a PVP?
Posted by: coeurlion at July 17, 2007 7:06 PM
An excellent question! PvP is the acronym for "Player vs Player" gaming. That is, when players compete directly against each other instead of playing against the game world and the game's monsters.
Since I started playing WoW, I think I have only participated in one world PvP battle (Warsong Gulch, which was pretty dull), and two duels. (I lost the first, and won the second.) In short, homey don't play that.
Posted by: Richard ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://reparent.blog.uvm.edu/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 18, 2007 10:39 AM