How do you categorize players?

Just because you enjoy playing the same games as someone else does not mean you have the same reasons. My wife and I both enjoy Skyrim, but she plays the game wrong... Ok, not wrong, just different. I play to progress through the different battles and puzzles and earn achievements. My wife plays to explore the game world and pick a bunch of plants (or something like that... I don't understand it but I love her anyway). There's nothing wrong with either approach. It just highlights the different motivations players can have.

Richard Bartle categorizes players as achievers, explorers, socializers, and killers.

Personally, I'm more of an achiever with killer tendencies (I enjoy a good PVP battle).

My wife is an explorer who typically plays games to socialize.

When you're building a game it's important to think of your players and their motivations for playing your game. You might offer something for everyone, but you can also niche down on a specific kind of player.

Games on blockchain are no different. As I've said before, they're just games with a different technology behind the scenes. The whole point is giving more freedom to your players. Not squeezing them for every last dollar (that's loot boxes).

From what I've seen, the blockchain community is largely populated by achievers/killers. There's definitely plenty of explorers/socializers, but too many dApps ignore these groups. If you're building yet another challenge PVP game or winner-take-all DeFi protocol, think about what you can do to make blockchain more accessible and enjoyable to a different kind of person.

​

-Luke

​

P.S. Don't worry, my wife and I get along great ;)