I propose a set of user stories be created around fundamental player characteristics. Each story is a unique list of attributes that creates a "type of user".
By building user stories, any feature or game play can be examined through many unique lenses, to better-understand impact.
Note that some circumstances cannot cater to all types, and some circumstances might be best to cater to specific types only, and explicitly exclude or ignore other types. If something does not cater to enough types, maybe that something needs improving or removal. For example, if player death uninstalls the game and deletes C:\windows\system32 and that doesn't seem fun to any type, then maybe don't implement that. Note that "fun" is purposely vague herein; I'll post another topic on that.
What I'd like from the community is to understand your type, to see if it can be described simply. By doing this, you can hold the characteristics up against any feature to know why you do or do not like something. I hope to make things clearer with some examples.
Maybe you know about the political chart. It is a misused and dumb notion to pigeonhole you into a group. Walking way away from that, psychology has the idea of personality traits. One well-studied example are the Big Five personality traits.
There are two kinds of people, and the one either doesn't know about or doesn't understand the other. I had thought of it from other angles before, but it's most easily described thusly:
In writing/authoring there are gardeners and architects. Gardeners (I don't like the term) explore while they write. Their initial work doesn't have a plan, and discovers characters and story needs as they happen. Architects create a roadmap with chapter elements and requirements. They plan and execute with expertise.
It's spirituality versus reason. It's beauty versus function. There are additional axes that can be applied to understand nuances elsewhere, but that'll get me cancelled. All of these things have a provable basis in biology and are provably modified by experiences and modifiable by free will. I'm not making this up, and you know it.
Now I'll try to describe some things and keep it valuable to a game.
Skilled or Unskilled (e.g. "experienced")
Patient or Impatient
Aesthetic (I can't think of a word) or Mechanical
Are there other attributes?
I think the above can be modified by:
Shy and Introverted (These are not the same but I link them here) or Social and extroverted (These are not the same but I link them here)
Time availability (This is different from being impatient)
Having a community (This is different from being social)
Examples:
User 1: Unskilled, Patient, Aesthetic -- Shy, Lots of time, No community
This person has doodled in notebooks since childhood, but doesn't show anyone. Now in school break, maybe a game would be nice to try. This game looks pretty but is also very customizable which seems cool. Maybe fan art will be nice to make. It's popular, so maybe it'll be fun to try a bit.
Feature to test that user against: Character selection
This user would most appreciate an extremely complex character selector. A good interface would be nice, but the more options the better. With lots of time and interest, every nuance will become understood and be rewarding.
Moreover, when I think about this, I can already think about more things. Auto-save and have save slots so the person can tinker around with many different combinations before deciding on one. Have an import/export feature. Have graphics settings be accessible right here, even without leaving the character customizer. Have a photo mode which has it's own user-selected graphics settings. Let the character selector be "played" in a whitebox environment to run, jump and look at from various angles. Give it guns as well.
User 2: Skilled, Impatient, Mechanical -- Shy, Lots of time, Community
This user is a member of a Discord server. It was founded for another game but became a general social hub with people playing various games. Em8er has been discussed by others and some respected members say they will check it out. This user decides to do that immediately because the other games being played are between expansions and got grindy and boring.
Feature to test that user against: Character selection
Imagining the above "User 1" really decked-out character selector. From the perspective of User 2, it is overwhelming, pointlessly fancy, and a waste of time to slog through to get to see the actual game. Somewhere back in this user's mind will miss watching Let's Play videos or a livestream before purchase. Once logged in, they immediately look for things to shoot and and will want to bother with customization of abilities and gear once they get a feel for the game's "handling".
This player can cope with ignoring all the functionality and would appreciate a randomize button including a random name selector. This is an example of making a necessary feature that very strongly impacts one personality but is useless or potentially negative for another.
If the experience is positive enough, this user will come out of lurking and reply on Discord with "hey I have a copy, who else is playing?". Others ask for it to be streamed. An admin sees, makes a specialized text channel, makes this user a mod (which is slightly horrifying). This user is on the way to having and inviting friends. By walking further through this user's story, it becomes obvious that there is an opportunity to implement features to make it easy for "skilled, community" to find one another immediately on login, form a group, or found a guild.
I'll separately write an idea about how to really address this sort of player in a way that other games never have.
So again I ask for replies describing attributes that could help craft an imaginary user.
It's also possible to walk backwards. Describing a feature, share an opinion then understand the angles to argue for/against or modifications to the feature. For example:
"I hate corpse running" points to impatience.
"Durability is bad because I'm melee" indicates a problem of fairness between melee and ranged players.
By building user stories, any feature or game play can be examined through many unique lenses, to better-understand impact.
Note that some circumstances cannot cater to all types, and some circumstances might be best to cater to specific types only, and explicitly exclude or ignore other types. If something does not cater to enough types, maybe that something needs improving or removal. For example, if player death uninstalls the game and deletes C:\windows\system32 and that doesn't seem fun to any type, then maybe don't implement that. Note that "fun" is purposely vague herein; I'll post another topic on that.
What I'd like from the community is to understand your type, to see if it can be described simply. By doing this, you can hold the characteristics up against any feature to know why you do or do not like something. I hope to make things clearer with some examples.
Maybe you know about the political chart. It is a misused and dumb notion to pigeonhole you into a group. Walking way away from that, psychology has the idea of personality traits. One well-studied example are the Big Five personality traits.
- openness to experience (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious)
- conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs. extravagant/careless)
- extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved)
- agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. critical/rational)
- neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. resilient/confident)
There are two kinds of people, and the one either doesn't know about or doesn't understand the other. I had thought of it from other angles before, but it's most easily described thusly:
In writing/authoring there are gardeners and architects. Gardeners (I don't like the term) explore while they write. Their initial work doesn't have a plan, and discovers characters and story needs as they happen. Architects create a roadmap with chapter elements and requirements. They plan and execute with expertise.
It's spirituality versus reason. It's beauty versus function. There are additional axes that can be applied to understand nuances elsewhere, but that'll get me cancelled. All of these things have a provable basis in biology and are provably modified by experiences and modifiable by free will. I'm not making this up, and you know it.
Now I'll try to describe some things and keep it valuable to a game.
Skilled or Unskilled (e.g. "experienced")
Patient or Impatient
Aesthetic (I can't think of a word) or Mechanical
Are there other attributes?
I think the above can be modified by:
Shy and Introverted (These are not the same but I link them here) or Social and extroverted (These are not the same but I link them here)
Time availability (This is different from being impatient)
Having a community (This is different from being social)
Examples:
User 1: Unskilled, Patient, Aesthetic -- Shy, Lots of time, No community
This person has doodled in notebooks since childhood, but doesn't show anyone. Now in school break, maybe a game would be nice to try. This game looks pretty but is also very customizable which seems cool. Maybe fan art will be nice to make. It's popular, so maybe it'll be fun to try a bit.
Feature to test that user against: Character selection
This user would most appreciate an extremely complex character selector. A good interface would be nice, but the more options the better. With lots of time and interest, every nuance will become understood and be rewarding.
Moreover, when I think about this, I can already think about more things. Auto-save and have save slots so the person can tinker around with many different combinations before deciding on one. Have an import/export feature. Have graphics settings be accessible right here, even without leaving the character customizer. Have a photo mode which has it's own user-selected graphics settings. Let the character selector be "played" in a whitebox environment to run, jump and look at from various angles. Give it guns as well.
User 2: Skilled, Impatient, Mechanical -- Shy, Lots of time, Community
This user is a member of a Discord server. It was founded for another game but became a general social hub with people playing various games. Em8er has been discussed by others and some respected members say they will check it out. This user decides to do that immediately because the other games being played are between expansions and got grindy and boring.
Feature to test that user against: Character selection
Imagining the above "User 1" really decked-out character selector. From the perspective of User 2, it is overwhelming, pointlessly fancy, and a waste of time to slog through to get to see the actual game. Somewhere back in this user's mind will miss watching Let's Play videos or a livestream before purchase. Once logged in, they immediately look for things to shoot and and will want to bother with customization of abilities and gear once they get a feel for the game's "handling".
This player can cope with ignoring all the functionality and would appreciate a randomize button including a random name selector. This is an example of making a necessary feature that very strongly impacts one personality but is useless or potentially negative for another.
If the experience is positive enough, this user will come out of lurking and reply on Discord with "hey I have a copy, who else is playing?". Others ask for it to be streamed. An admin sees, makes a specialized text channel, makes this user a mod (which is slightly horrifying). This user is on the way to having and inviting friends. By walking further through this user's story, it becomes obvious that there is an opportunity to implement features to make it easy for "skilled, community" to find one another immediately on login, form a group, or found a guild.
I'll separately write an idea about how to really address this sort of player in a way that other games never have.
So again I ask for replies describing attributes that could help craft an imaginary user.
It's also possible to walk backwards. Describing a feature, share an opinion then understand the angles to argue for/against or modifications to the feature. For example:
"I hate corpse running" points to impatience.
"Durability is bad because I'm melee" indicates a problem of fairness between melee and ranged players.
Likes:
Myst and Pandagnome
