Player Profiles

The other night I was chatting with Oli, a friend of mine, about games he likes and I began to form a sort of profile of his tastes and motivations.

It began when I said that Half Life 2 (PC) was my favourite game, which he thought was nice looking but not such an amazing experience. In order to find out why our opinions different I asked him what other games he did like. Things like Civilization 4 (PC) and Wipeout (PS2) came up, and by continually asking questions I was able to differentiate these to games like HL2 and Guild Wars (PC).

For Oli the interest in games seems to be about making engaging decisions. For Wipeout these decisions might be very simple, but they have to be made very precisely and in time. Civilization offers a different kind of engagement, where the decisions are more complex and can be executed in a far greater timeframe, but which are highly engaging for him anyway.

In Oli's experience, the kinds of decision making required in Guild Wars is much more automatic - one rote learns the optimal method for overcoming a task, then success is merely a matter of pressing the buttons like an automaton.

Also, Oli prefered HL to HL2 as he disliked the way NPCs in HL2 would talk to you as a hero ("The Gordon Freeman!"). He described how he prefers scenarios where he's deposited into an uncaring world, where he has to prove his competance.

I find the diversity of individual's gaming pleasures fascinating, and I look forward to seeing whether any of this literature can help elucidate the topic!

---

Lots of issues about gender in this biliography over at InvestiGaming at Michigan State University.


"Video games and the pleasures of control" Torben Grodal, in
Media Entertainment: The Psychology of Its Appeal
By Dolf Zillmann, Peter Vorderer
Published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000
ISBN 0805833250, 9780805833256
282 pages



@article{KristenLucas10012004,
author = {Lucas, Kristen and Sherry, John L.},
title = {{Sex Differences in Video Game Play:: A Communication-Based Explanation}},
journal = {Communication Research},
volume = {31},
number = {5},
pages = {499-523},
doi = {10.1177/0093650204267930},
year = {2004},
abstract = {In this study, we examined gender differences in video game use by focusing on interpersonal needs for inclusion, affection, and control, as well as socially constructed perceptions of gendered game play. Results of a large-scale survey (n = 534) of young adults' reasons for video game use, preferred game genres, and amount of game play are reported. Female respondents report less frequent play, less motivation to play in social situations, and less orientation to game genres featuring competition and three-dimensional rotation. Implications for game design are discussed.
},
URL = {http://crx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/5/499},
eprint = {http://crx.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/31/5/499.pdf}
}

@article{,
author = {Griffiths,Mark D. and Davies,Mark N.O. and Chappell,Darren},
title = {Demographic Factors and Playing Variables in Online Computer Gaming},
journal = {CyberPsychology & Behavior},
volume = {7},
number = {4},
pages = {479-487},
year = {2004},
doi = {10.1089/cpb.2004.7.479},
note ={PMID: 15331036},
URL = {http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2004.7.479},
eprint = {http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/cpb.2004.7.479}
}

@inproceedings{958735,
author = {Peter Vorderer and Tilo Hartmann and Christoph Klimmt},
title = {Explaining the enjoyment of playing video games: the role of competition},
booktitle = {ICEC '03: Proceedings of the second international conference on Entertainment computing},
year = {2003},
pages = {1--9},
location = {Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania},
publisher = {Carnegie Mellon University},
address = {Pittsburgh, PA, USA},
}

Video Game Uses and Gratifications as Predictors of Use and Game Preference in Playing Video Games: Motives, Responses, and Consequences
By Peter Vorderer, Jennings Bryant
Published by Routledge, 2006
ISBN 0805853227, 9780805853223
464 pages

@article{105157,
author = {David Myers},
title = {A Q-study of game player aesthetics},
journal = {Simul. Gaming},
volume = {21},
number = {4},
year = {1990},
issn = {1046-8781},
pages = {375--396},
doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/104687819002100403},
publisher = {Sage Publications, Inc.},
address = {Thousand Oaks, CA, USA},
}

@article { 3233,
title = {Game Play Schemas: From Player Analysis to Adaptive Game Mechanics},
journal = {International Journal of Computer Games Technology},
volume = {2008},
year = {2007},
note = {online journal},
month = {10/2007},
pages = {7 pages},
abstract = {Schema theory provides a foundation for the analysis of game play patterns created by players during their interaction with a game. Schema models derived from the analysis of play provide a rich explanatory framework for the cognitive processes underlying game play, as well as detailed hypotheses for the hierarchical structure of pleasures and rewards motivating players. Game engagement is accounted for as a process of schema selection or development, while immersion is explained in terms of levels of attentional demand in schema execution. However, schemas may not only be used to describe play, but might be used actively as cognitive models within a game engine. Predesigned schema models are knowledge representations constituting anticipated or desired learned cognitive outcomes of play. Automated analysis of player schemas and comparison with predesigned target schemas can provide a foundation for a game engine adapting or tuning game mechanics to achieve specific effects of engagement, immersion, and cognitive skill acquisition by players. Hence, schema models may enhance the play experience as well as provide a foundation for achieving explicitly represented pedagogical or therapeutic functions of games.},
keywords = {gameplay, schema, game, engagement, attention, script, cognitive model, cognition, patterns, interaction, play, theory, analysis, understanding, experience},
URL = {http://www.hindawi.com/GetPDF.aspx?doi=10.1155/2008/216784},
author = {Lindley Craig A and Sennersten, Charlotte}
}

@inproceedings{1413647,
author = {Dimitri Schuurman and Katrien De Moor and Lieven De Marez and Jan Van Looy},
title = {Fanboys, competers, escapists and time-killers: a typology based on gamers' motivations for playing video games},
booktitle = {DIMEA '08: Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and Arts},
year = {2008},
isbn = {978-1-60558-248-1},
pages = {46--50},
location = {Athens, Greece},
doi = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1413634.1413647},
publisher = {ACM},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
}

@article{,
author = {Griffiths,Mark D. and Davies,Mark N.O. and Chappell,Darren},
title = {Breaking the Stereotype: The Case of Online Gaming},
journal = {CyberPsychology & Behavior},
volume = {6},
number = {1},
pages = {81-91},
year = {2003},
doi = {10.1089/109493103321167992},
note ={PMID: 12650566},
URL = {http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/109493103321167992},
eprint = {http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/109493103321167992}
}

Who plays, how much, and why? Debunking
the stereotypical gamer profile

@article {Williams:July 2008:1083-6101:993,
author = "Williams, Dmitri",
author = "Yee, Nick",
author = "Caplan, Scott E.",
title = "Who plays, how much, and why? Debunking the stereotypical gamer profile",
journal = "Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication",
volume = "13",
year = "July 2008",
abstract = "Online games have exploded in popularity, but for many researchers access to players has been difficult. The study reported here is the first to collect a combination of survey and behavioral data with the cooperation of a major virtual world operator. In the current study, 7,000 players of the massively multiplayer online game (MMO) EverQuest 2 were surveyed about their offline characteristics, their motivations and their physical and mental health. These self-report data were then combined with data on participants' actual in-game play behaviors, as collected by the game operator. Most of the results defy common stereotypes in surprising and interesting ways and have implications for communication theory and for future investigations of games.",
pages = "993-1018(26)",
url = "http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/jcmc/2008/00000013/00000004/art00010"
doi = "doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2008.00428.x"
}