EverQuest & Medievia
For this week, I decided to compare the games EverQuest and Medievia. To begin with, I have a small history with both of these games, Medievia less so than EverQuest. I played EverQuest for the first time around 3 years ago. My very first character was a dark elf magician named Jibrienne. In Medievia, I played a thief by the name of Saeren. When reading through the article "Players who suit MUDs" as well as "Why We Play", I found that the player type I related the most to is the Explorer player type.
As for the other types of player types, I've found that I have a bit of Achiever and Socializer mixed in. Neither are my main focus, but can be good at times. I would level up if needed, but it wasn't generally my form of fun. I didn't mind getting ahead in the game, and I did not mind the status that came along with becoming higher leveled. As for the social aspect, I was never particularly an in-game socializer as some people are. I don't like some of the fundamentals of the tradional six person party, for example, and playing with other players can get tiresome after awhile. Similarly, I don't feel the need to hang around large crowds of people I don't know. Guilds and other events were ocassionally different, and I did enjoy talking to people through /tells and those in my guild. Once again though, it wasn't really my main focus, however. Lastly, as far as being a killer, I have trouble with player killing and mob-player killing. Though I have played games with player-versus-player design, its generally not my interest. I don't derive fun from someone getting mad at me and returning to later stab me in the back.
Throughout my EverQuest experience, my favorite things to do were in-game crafting, fishing, completing quests, and exploring new areas. Killing monsters to get powerful items and leveling up to me was always secondary. I generally considered it necessary, but not a lot of fun. In order to get around in a game such as EverQuest, you have to be decent strong. This is because a lot of zones can be difficult to explore as a low leveled character. Reading closely into my play style, I realize that I always liked solo play and small groups such as duos. For me, company was welcome, but not a completely necessary part of the in game experience. Simply knowing that people were around to talk to was good enough.
My play style is basically the same in regards to Medievia. I have a friend who plays Med actively. She is one of the few people I know that follow a similar play style to my own. To me, she embodies what it means to be the typical Explorer type. She knows the game and a lot of its small quirks to it due to her somewhat random nature and high level of curiosity. She in turn uses this knowledge to help newbies around the game. Her focus is not on getting extravagantly strong equipment or items, but instead having fun with some of the game mechanics. Similarly, in her not so frequent player-killer experiences, she has the ability to teach any would be killers a lesson if they decide to attack her.
Throughout my gaming experience, I've found that the most common players I run into are of the Achiever side. The main purpose of many of their goals is to simply become the best there is. In both my experience with EverQuest and Medievia, I met very few players who I would consider Explorers. Maybe this is because the Explorers are generally less socially receptive, but I don't remember many people that I would qualify as to being a true Explorer. Similarly, I don't think that the socializer population is overly large for either Medievia or EverQuest. While they do exist at lower levels, generally players that have been around a lot more are less social. At least with complete strangers, such as I would be. Lastly, I don't remember meeting any killer types in EverQuest. This is likely because pvp is not allowed except on specific servers. On Medievia, however, there are player killers. Once again, however, they are not the most social type. You will not meet them unless you go into a pvp zone, and they probably won't talk to you unless they need information from you. Or they're looking to kill you and want to lure you to where they are. Either way.
In general, when designing a game, I don't feel that any type of player should be left out or given more power than another. I've been in several games when it is shifted too greatly to any one side, making it difficult to have fun. Games that are too social lack solo play. Games that are too solo oriented lack player interaction. Games that are too goal oriented lack the concept of having a good time just sitting around doing nothing. Finally, games that focus completely on killing lack the social side. I have yet to play a game that mixes all of these common play styles into one consistent game, but I will keep an eye open for it.