On why we game

Have you ever stopped to wonder why it is that you game?

I don’t just mean tabletop RPGs or wargames, either. It could be board games, card games, or video games.

In order to examine why we game, we need to first decide on what a game actually is.

The dictionary defines a game as:

An activity providing entertainment or amusement

But it is a little more than that, isn’t it?

Games are

Interactive
Players need to be able to compete with each other on a variety of levels.

Subsets of Reality
Of course games aren’t “real”. That’s why they are games. They need to create a deliberately simplified representation of emotional reality.

Based on Conflict
Direct or indirect, violent or non-violent, games must have an amount of conflict.

Safe
A game is a safe way to experience reality. Gamers can amass huge financial empires and lose them in an hour without risking their bank account. They can lead great armies into desperate battles on which hang the fate of mankind, all without shedding a drop of blood.

Kinds of Gamers

In 1989-90, Richard Bartle hypothesized that there were four MUD player types. His long but amusing summary is below:

…labeling the four player types abstracted, we get: achievers, explorers, socializers and killers…

i) Achievers regard points-gathering and rising in levels as their main goal, and all is ultimately subservient to this. Exploration is necessary only to find new sources of treasure, or improved ways of wringing points from it. Socializing is a relaxing method of discovering what other players know about the business of accumulating points, that their knowledge can be applied to the task of gaining riches. Killing is only necessary to eliminate rivals or people who get in the way, or to gain vast amounts of points (if points are awarded for killing other players).

Achievers say things like:

“I’m busy.”
“Sure, I’ll help you. What do I get?”
“So how do YOU kill the dragon, then?”
“Only 4211 points to go!”

ii) Explorers delight in having the game expose its internal machinations to them. They try progressively esoteric actions in wild, out-of-the-way places, looking for interesting features (ie. bugs) and figuring out how things work. Scoring points may be necessary to enter some next phase of exploration, but it’s tedious, and anyone with half a brain can do it. Killing is quicker, and might be a constructive exercise in its own right, but it causes too much hassle in the long run if the deceased return to seek retribution. Socializing can be informative as a source of new ideas to try out, but most of what people say is irrelevant or old hat. The real fun comes only from discovery, and making the most complete set of maps in existence.

Explorers say things like:

“Hmm…”
“You mean you don’t know the shortest route from to ?”
“I haven’t tried that one, what’s it do?”
“Why is it that if you carry the uranium you get radiation
sickness, and if you put it in a bag you still get it, but if
you put it in a bag and drop it then wait 20 seconds and pick it
up again, you don’t?”

iii) Socializers are interested in people, and what they have to say. The game is merely a backdrop, a common ground where things happen to players. Inter-player relationships are important: empathizing with people, sympathizing, joking, entertaining, listening; even merely observing people play can be rewarding – seeing them grow as individuals, maturing over time. Some exploration may be necessary so as to understand what everyone else is talking about, and points-scoring could be required to gain access to neat communicative spells available only to higher levels (as well as to obtain a certain status in the community). Killing, however, is something only ever to be excused if it’s a futile, impulsive act of revenge, perpetrated upon someone who has caused intolerable pain to a dear friend. The only ultimately fulfilling thing is not how to rise levels or kill hapless drips; it’s getting to know people, to understand them, and to form beautiful, lasting relationships.

Socializers say things like:

“Hi!”
“Yeah, well, I’m having trouble with my boyfriend.”
“What happened? I missed it, I was talking.”
“Really? Oh no! Gee, that’s terrible! Are you sure? Awful, just
awful!”

iv) Killers get their kicks from imposing themselves on others. This may be “nice”, ie. busybody “do-gooding”, but few people practice such an approach because the rewards (a warm, cozy inner glow, apparently) aren’t very substantial. Much more commonly, people attack other players with a view to killing off their personae (hence the name for this style of play). The more massive the distress caused, the greater the killer’s joy at having caused it. Normal points-scoring is usually required so as to become powerful enough to begin causing havoc in earnest, and exploration of a kind is necessary to discover new and ingenious ways to kill people. Even socialising is sometimes worthwhile beyond taunting a recent victim, for example in finding out someone’s playing habits, or discussing tactics with fellow killers. They’re all just means to an end, though; only in the knowledge that a real person, somewhere, is very upset by what you’ve just done, yet can themselves do nothing about it, is there any true adrenalin-shooting, juicy fun.

Killers says things like:

“Ha!”
“Coward!”
“Die!”
“Die! Die! Die!”

(Killers are people of few words).

Bartle notes that like all stereotypes, these categories don’t necessarily apply exactly to all individuals, but still have predictive power. He goes on to suggest some specific game mechanics that game designers can employ to encourage one class of player over another.

Nick Yee later tested this anecdotal hypothesis by polling thousands of MMORPG players with a list of 40 statements (e.g. “I like to feel powerful in the game”, “I like to be immersed in a fantasy world” etc). After grouping the responses and eliminating non-predictive factors, he found five key motivations:

Achievement: The desire to become powerful in the context of the virtual environment

Immersion: The enjoyment of being in a fantasy world and being “someone else”

Escapism: Using the virtual world to temporarily avoid, forget about and escape from real life stress and problems

Relationship: The desire to interact with other users, and to form meaningful relationships that are supportive in nature

Manipulation: Inclination to objectify other users and manipulate them for personal gain and satisfaction. Enjoy deceiving, scamming, taunting and dominating other users.

I have discovered that in my years of gaming, most of the tabletop gamers I run into fall into the Immersion and Escapism categories, with an emphasis on explorers and socializers.

It isn’t just as simple as saying, “I game to have fun”. The students in the gaming club often give this as their very first answer – because they can’t yet see that gaming is an informal learning environment.

“Because it is fun” is a quick and easy way out of looking into exactly why it is fun. As we grow older, we’re able to see exactly what it is that makes gaming fun.

As personal examples, when I have a shit day and I’m pissed at someone, I pop HALO to my 360. If I am in the mood to relax, it is Magic: The Gathering. If I am feeling competitive, Warhammer 40K is my go-to wargame. If I want to “get away” for a while with friends, there is always Star Wars Saga Edition or Pathfinder. Agreed, they are all fun… but there’s obviously more too it than that if you look closely at my examples.

I think that instead the “experts” who still wish to see the negatives about gamers – be they fundies or neo-cons – need to consider the fact that games are increasingly complex, and not merely black or white absolutes. For the last couple of decades, critics have warned us about the dangers of playing D&D. Yet, as the popularity of RPGs has increased, we have not seen dramatic increases in violent crime. In fact, American statistics suggest that violent crime has been decreasing for some time.

Ask us why it is that we game. You might be surprised.