作者：Andrzej Marczewski

上周我有幸参加了Gamification World Congress 2013，更有幸地能与Richard Bartle进行交谈。很多人都应该知道，他就是Bartle玩家类型的创造者。这些类型经常出现在游戏化的讨论中，并且是我所提出的用户类型的灵感来源。虽然最初是为了MUD虚拟世界中的玩家行为而编写的模式，但是Bartle的玩家类型被用于许多游戏化模式。

这在某种程度上让Richard感到困惑，因为他的玩家类型是针对于MMO游戏，并且他也认为这不适合其它类型的游戏，更别说游戏化了。

一个严重的问题是，大多数正在讨论他的玩家类型以及如何将这些类型应用于游戏系统中的人其实根本就未曾了解过这些类型最初的定义及其真实含义。很多人都是看到一张标志性图表并经过编造而形成自己的定义。例如，他们并未考虑过这些类型是玩家在虚拟世界中的行为和发展的完整模式——例如他们的类型会随着时间的发展而发生改变。当这些类型不适用于其它非MMO系统时，人们便会觉得这是最初模式的弱点，而这也是缺少对模式定义的理解所导致的情况。

4-bartle-player-types（from gamasutra）

Richard Bartle的玩家类型

对于其中的三种类型来说，这并不是个大问题。即探索家，成就者和社交家都是很明显的定义。但是杀手，这一玩家类型却很容易被误解。

我听说过许多有关杀手类型的定义，既有想要做到最好的玩家，也有在最后一枪子弹面前寻求尊严的玩家，以及为了活命而不得不这么做的玩家。

这是关于该类型的最初描述：http://www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm

“杀手是指那些死缠着别人的人”

以及

“并因此带给对方巨大的压力，而杀手会因此而感受到乐趣”

Richard向我解释了这种类型的玩家将会做任何事去摧毁其他人。他们可能会收集点数（就像成就者那样），也可能进行探索（像探索家那样）或社交（像社交家那样），但是这些都只是他们获取更强大武器，找到新方法杀死或掌握对手行动的一种途径。

有些人问过我，为什么不在自己的主要用户类型中添加杀手类型。对此主要有几大原因。一方面，我是按照排序去设置4种基于外部动机的用户类型，即自我探索者，消费者，沟通者和开拓者。这些类型只关心他们能从系统或其他用户身上获得什么。与杀手类型类似的是，他们也会社交，收集点数，帮助别人，创造内容等等，但是这么做都是为了获得他们想要的目标。

但是主要原因还是源于游戏化和特殊企业游戏化的本质。想象你面对的是一家带有游戏化系统的大公司。该系统拥有其自身规则和用户，并且包含了一些杀手类型。这些杀手玩家将会做什么？你并未拥有真正的游戏世界。所以他们没有可杀的对象。但是他们却可以摧毁系统并通过滥用它而让你们感到郁闷——这是我定义中的开拓者也有可能做的事。他们也会按照我的自我探索者的做法去剥削其他用户。如果你的系统允许这种情况，或至少允许这种情况能在某种情况下影响别人，你便需要三思了！还有一点需要考虑的是，是否应该用系统规则或公司规则和政策去覆盖这些极端行为。通常这都包含了有关滥用其他雇员和公司系统的信息（游戏邦注：如电子邮件或社交媒体）。

如果你想要引用其他人的作品，或尝试着重新定位，你就要先理解该作品。虽然我的用户类型最初是受到Bartle玩家类型的启发，但实际上是源于我所谓的RAMP，即关联性，自主性，精通和目的。这是Richard向我展示的，该如何做才能更像他的创造。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Bartle’s Killers . A misunderstood group of people.

by Andrzej Marczewski

Last week I had the opportunity to present at the fabulous Gamification World Congress 2013. Among other things, it was the first and probably only times I would see my face on a 10 foot screen on the front of a building!

Another highlight in a day of highlights, was getting the opportunity to spend a few hours with Richard Bartle.  Many of you will have seen me mention him before, the creator of the Bartle Player Types. These types are often spoken about by people involved in gamification and are one of the main inspirations for my User Types.  Originally written to model the behaviour of players in his MUD virtual world (the grandfather of all MMO’s like World of Warcraft), the Bartle Player Types have also been adopted by many in gamification.

In some ways, this seems to perplex Richard, as his Player Types are very specific to MMO’s and in his mind don’t lend themselves that well to other types  of game – let alone gamification.

The big issue is that most people who are talking about his Player Types and how they apply to a gamified system, don’t seem to have actually read the original definitions of the types and what they actually are.  It seems that most of seen the now-iconic diagram and have made up their own definitions. They don’t, for instance, take into account that they are a full model of how players behave and evolve during their stay in a virtual world – i.e. their type changes over time. When these types don’t work for other non MMO systems, people often feel that this is a weakness of the original model – again, proving a lack of understanding as to what the model is meant to define!

Richard Bartle’s Player Types

For three of the types, this is not a massive problem. Explorers, Achievers and Socialisers are fairly self explanatory. However, there is one type that seems to be very misunderstood – Killers.

I have heard many definitions of the killer type, from players who are determined to be the best, to players searching for respect at the end of a gun, to players driven by survival.

Here is the original description, taken from http://www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm

“Killers get their kicks from imposing themselves on others”

This continues with

“The more massive the distress caused, the greater the killer’s joy at having caused it”

Richard explained to me that this type of player will do anything to cause the destruction of others. They may collect points (like an achiever), they may explorer (like an explorer) and they may even socialise – but these will just be as a way to gain better weapons, find new ways to kill and to gain knowledge about others on how to kill them the most devastating way.

People have asked me why I don’t include the killer type in my four main User Types. There are a number of reasons for this.  One reason is that I do sort of include them in my four extrinsically motivated user types, Self Seekers, Consumers, Networkers and Exploiters. These types are only interested in what they can gain from the system or other users. Similar to the Killer type, they will socialise, collect point, help others, create things etc – but only to get things they want.

However, the main reason is due to the nature of gamification and especially Enterprise Gamification.  Imagine, if you will, a large company with a gamified system. The system has its rules and it has its users and they include a few killer types.  What exactly will they do? You don’t have a real game world. They have nothing to kill. However, they can disrupt the system and cause distress by abusing it – the kind of thing that my Exploiter type may do. They may also exploit other users, in the way my Self Seeker might.  If your system allows this to happen or at least allows it to happen to the extent that others are seriously affected by it, you may need to rethink it!. Another thing to consider is whether  these kinds of extreme behaviours should be covered by your systems rules or the  rules or policies of the company.  Often these would have information about abuse of other employees and the companies systems (like email or social media).

If I have a point it is this. If you are going to quote another person’s work, or try to re-purpose it, you have to understand it first. My User Types are initially based on inspiration from Bartle’s Work, but actually come from the four motivators I talk about in RAMP, relatedness, autonomy, master and purpose. It was Richard himself that showed me how I could make it look and feel similar to his work.(source:gamasutra)