Students Blog

In the two MMORPGs I played, the player types Bartle explains seem mostly applicable, only they fall short in certain areas, and in some ways are inapplicable.

In Final Fantasy XI, I was, at least according to Bartle’s limited categorizations, largely an achiever, with some explorer tendencies. I liked to explore but did it very rarely, for reasons I will explain. I was never a griefer, or a “killer” as Bartle phrases it; in fact I hate the idea of causing displeasure for someone else. However, I did at some points display a few points of so called Killer behavior. And I was not at all a socializer, for the most part of the definition. What I was, however, falls under a term I have crafted for myself, since Bartle’s list did not include this; a Teamer. All of this I will explain.

First, I was an achiever in the sense that I played the game with the goal of leveling up, getting more treasure, money, loot, and items. I wanted to have the best armor, weapons, and spells that I could get. However, merely acquiring these items is not what I played for. I was in some sense an explorer. I really liked the graphics and scenery of FFXI, but being an explorer in FFXI is tricky business, for a few simple reasons. First of all, every new area that one might explore has a whole new and different slew of enemies. The thing is, some of these are very powerful. And if you are not an accomplished Achiever as well, a.k.a. very high level, then being an explorer could prove very quickly fatal to your avatar. Explore the wrong place and you could end up being eaten by a forest black tiger, smashed by a desert ogre, or killed by a banshee. So the urge to explore was strongly stifled. As for being a “Killer” type of sorts, I happen to share the “helpful killer” behaviors that Bartle said were existant but rare. I liked to help out lower level people than I, getting them started economically, getting them started in terms of leveling, and protecting them from stronger mobs than they. However, one could not actually BE a “killer” in the expected sense because there was no feature in the game that would allow you to perform acts of harm against another player. I was not at all a socializer in the way he meant, because I never got anything out of just talking to people in the game. What made the game fun, and really what earns the game a place as a great game alongside others, was the teamwork. So, I dub myself, a Teamer. I played with the intent on doing things with others. Its not about fighting or exploring or talking or working, it’s about DOING things with them, and around them. I wanted to do the actions of the game, but not alone like an achiever, and I wanted to spend time with my friends, but not just talking like a socializer. I wanted to actually DO things in the game, but I wanted to do them alongside other people.

In Shattered Galaxy, the other MMO I played, the player types come under even more specific circumstances. Myself, I was an achiever this time as well, but only because I don’t fit into any of the other categories. For one thing, you couldn’t really be an explorer much, because most places look very much the same… this is an old game, with sprites and rather repetitive maps sometimes. Not only that, merely moving around the world takes a very long time and probably more work than it is worth. And all the socializers in Shattered Galaxy paid the extra money to be an “elite” member, which entitled them to participation in the political process. So now all the socializers are running the in-game governments. I certainly was not in that group. And for the most part while playing the game I did not come across any griefers. This game is completely opposite from FFXI in that FFXI does not allow PvP at all, and ALL of the combat in Shattered Galaxy is PvP; however, despite the overwhelming emphasis on player killing, I saw no one taking advantage of just going out and killing other players. I think that this stems from the idea that the entire game is about the teamwork of one nation versus that of the other nations.