Gamification is the use of game mechanisms by integrating them into non-game areas to observe behavior change and performance increase in a certain audience. Recognizing the target audience and arranging the content to motivate this audience play an important role in gamification designs, as they are designed specifically for a specific audience, unlike games. In 1996, Bartle defined 4 different types of players as achievers, explorers, socializers and killers, taking into account the characteristics of the players and the types of games they enjoy playing in order to determine player profiles. Although Bartle has made this player type classification for multiplayer online games, these player types also appear in gamification projects. While making this classification, Bartle focuses on two questions:
- Does the player focus on the game world or on other players?
- Does the player care most about acting or about interacting?
Achievers often value status. Their focus is entirely on achieving the goals set at the beginning of the game. In this way, they want to display the status and success they have achieved. No matter how important it is for them to succeed, their motivation decreases when they cannot demonstrate this success.
Killers are interested in gaining the upper hand over other players. They constantly want to stay ahead of their competitors and be in constant competition. In the game, the leaderboard is usually one of their favorite parts.
Explorers want to explore the unknown in the game, go to areas where no one has gone, and explore new areas with new missions. Winning or losing doesn’t matter to them. The important thing is to scan and explore every aspect of the game.
The sources of motivation for socializers are the interaction they have with other players. Being a team, spending time with other players is more important to them than completing the game. The idea of helping other players and being a community are reasons to enter the game.
Achievers and explorers are more individual player types, while killers and socializers are more interactive. If you want to know which type of player you belong to, you can take the quiz at http://matthewbarr.co.uk/bartle/.
