Second post in a day, not very SEO clever, I know.
I wanted to take a moment to explain my view on User and Player types and their use in gamification.
First up, some bullets so you get the idea quickly.
What User Types are not;
- Perfect
- Applicable to every situation or project
- The same in all contexts
- Pure science
What User Types are;
- A tool in an overall toolkit
- Easy to use and get your head around
- Useful if you understand their limitations
- In my case based on motivation (eg Self Determination Theory), observation and research
I created the my User Types, because I wanted to use something in my thinking and design that focused on users, but was not built for games. I had been using Bartle’s types, but they just did not fit well with gamification – this is something he repeatedly tells people! It was also very hard to talk to people in enterprise about killers (i.e. people who take pleasure in the harm they can cause others). I also wanted to approach my types from the perspective of what motivated people rather than how they behaved.
