Gamer Motivations

Video games are meant to be just one thing. Fun. Fun for everyone! -Satoru Iwata

Suppose you’re a game designer. You have made it your objective to create a game and make it fun. Perhaps you’ve taken inspiration from the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. Maybe it’s because you’re a working professional, and you believe that a game that’s more fun will sell better. (It certainly has to be “fun enough”!) Or maybe you’re an artist, or a hobbyist with a loftier goal: doing what you can to make the human experience a little bit better by creating that elusive feeling of fun. There’s just one problem.

What is “fun”?

One way to answer the question is to be as literal as possible. Fun entails a physiological response. It is a perception of novelty that stimulates the brain into releasing a communication chemical (or neurotransmitter) called dopamine. The dopamine stimulates the amygdala, a cluster of the brain that processes memory and emotions. Fun is something that tells your brain to create a pleasant feeling, and associate that feeling with the memory of the fun activity.

To the creator of art, this is somewhat helpful to know. There are a million ways to stimulate the brain, and fun could be a part of any one of them. If we think about the word “fun” itself, it describes something pleasant, personal, yet unpredictable. If you repeat something fun too often, it stops being fun; watch your favorite movie three times in a row to see how. A strong focus on goals and external rewards can turn a fun activity into a job. It is the nature of fun to defy easy definition.

I propose this: let’s flip the question on its head. Instead of saying “People want games that are fun. What is fun?” let’s say “Fun is the thing the players want. What do they want?” Why does a person play games? What motivates them to come back to the hobby, time and again? There are a couple older models worth mentioning, like the Bartle Taxonomy and ”Timmy, Johnny, and Spike,” but I want to focus on Marc LeBlanc’s “Eight Kinds of Fun” and the “Gamer Motivation Model” developed by the market research company Quantic Foundry.

Eight Kinds of Fun §

Game designer and educator Marc LeBlanc proposed the following non-exhaustive list to explain the different kinds of fun.

1. Sensation: sense-pleasure
2. Fantasy: make-believe
3. Narrative: story
4. Challenge: obstacle course
5. Fellowship: social framework
6. Discovery: uncharted territory
7. Expression: self-discovery
8. Submission: pastime

You can see these explained in context in Hunickle, LeBlanc, Zubek (2004). This paper explains something called the MDA framework, a formal way of looking at how people take in game artifacts. In simplest terms, a designer implements Mechanics (rules) that interact to create Dynamics (a system) that evoke in the player certain Aesthetics (desirable emotional responses, “fun”).

(This use of the word “aesthetics” is different from its common use, where it refers to something’s visual style.)

To a game designer, fun is a desirable emotional response; any feeling that motivates play. It could be one of these eight kinds, or something totally different. It might even include some negative emotion to accentuate a positive, like fear leading to excitement, frustration leading to satisfaction, or sadness leading to catharsis.

Let’s break each of these down further.

1. Sensation. The game as sense-pleasure. The game is a joy to touch. It is so pretty to look at and pleasant to listen to that a player can’t help but smile.
2. Fantasy. The game as make-believe. This means you’re able to play a role you’re not able to in real life, like a dragon-slaying heroine, a fast-driving outlaw, or the mayor of a village of animals.
3. Narrative. The game as an unfolding story. This might be drama you witness, where your game interactions connect you with the world and characters. Or, it might be a plotline that changes depending on your play.
4. Challenge. The game as an obstacle course. This kind of fun is the satisfaction you get from overcoming an arbitrary hurdle. Note that this isn’t synonymous with difficulty. A designer doesn’t always need to give players failure to challenge them.
5. Fellowship. The game as a social framework. As designers, we can express this as Cooperation or Competition. In cooperative fellowship, players work together as a group to achieve a goal in the game. In competitive fellowship, players agree to compete, so they may pursue the pleasure of besting another real human being. Fellowship might also mean chatting and interacting with other people through an avatar.
6. Discovery. The game as uncharted territory. It’s fun to see new things, explore new places, and analyze the intricacies of a game system.
7. Expression. These are games that let you express some aspect of yourself. You might build structures, design outfits, act out a character’s personality, or execute a plan of your own invention.
8. Submission. The game as a mindless pastime. This word might sound scary, like you’re surrendering your free will to a machine. It shouldn’t! In the human experience, it can be very helpful to have something to help pass the time while your mind focuses elsewhere. Some people will enjoy a phone puzzle to pass fifteen minutes while waiting for the bus. At other times, people crave a massive adventure where they can spend hours completing tasks when they are too tired to do anything else.

I personally find that a game can be best described as focusing on two to four kinds of fun. This doesn’t mean they are absent of the other kinds of fun; just that they aren’t the focus. Also remember that this taxonomy is non-exhaustive. There might be other kinds of fun—other desirable emotional responses—that aren’t covered by these eight. You might also consider ones that are more specific; you might distinguish between narrative filled with jokes and narrative filled with political intrigue.

Different kinds of fun may come at odds with each other during the design process. For example, increasing the costs of a player’s powerful wizard spells might make the game a more satisfying Challenge. The same design choice will hurt the Fantasy of being a powerful magician. For a second example, lavish visuals and prominent music may add to a game’s Sensation pleasures. Yet that change may reduce the clarity needed for competitors to find Fellowship. You should try to understand which kinds of fun your experience keeps in focus in order to weigh the trade-offs and make better design choices.

Examples §

To better understand fun, let’s take a look at some popular video games and board games and ask what aesthetics they appeal to.

• Super Mario Brothers is about:
  • the Challenge of helping Mario run and jump safely from the start of one level to the next,
  • the Sensation of his expertly-tuned physics and chipper sound effects, and
  • the Discovery of the tricks and secrets hidden in every level.
• Tetris Effect appeals to Sensation with its interactive music and spectacular backgrounds. It appeals to Submission with its simple rules, variety of difficulty levels, and endless challenge modes.
• Red Dead Redemption 2 appeals to:
  • the Fantasy of being a cowboy outlaw,
  • the Discovery of the landmarks and sights of the wild west, and
  • the Narrative of Arthur Morgan’s dramatic quest for survival.
• Earthbound has:
  • a strange, sentimental Narrative about psychic kids trying to stop a covert invasion of space aliens, with
  • the Sensation of its poppy sample-based soundtrack and
  • the Discovery of its distinct towns, funny enemies, and exotic destinations.
• Pandemic is a board game where a Fellowship of friends cooperate to win or lose. They engage with the Fantasy of being a team of medical experts tasked with eradicating a global pandemic. Players must overcome the game’s considerable strategic Challenge by thinking together.
• Key to Magic the Gathering is the Discovery of countless card combinations that players can build into personalized decks. A player might try to make their deck strong or fill it with amusing shenanigans. Some players seek the game’s Competitive Fellowship, honing their tactics and deck construction. Others see their decks as an opportunity for self-Expression by picking the mana colors and card themes they enjoy the most.
• Minecraft is an open-ended sandbox often played for Fellowship in a tight community of players. Each player may choose a different goal, depending on what they find fun. Some may seek Expression by gathering the materials needed to build elaborate homes. Some may try to Discover the world’s natural wonders, villages, or underground resource deposits. Others might enjoy hanging out.
• The Diablo games are action RPGs ideal for Submission. Treasure is plentiful. Character upgrades are frequent but not always predictable. Objectives, usually wiping a bunch of demons and undead, are clear and satisfying. Diablo’s cooperative play supports Fellowship. Its elite monsters and unlockable difficulty levels create Challenge. The variety of playable character archetypes help players fulfill the Fantasy; each can be their favorite kind of gothic hero.

Try analyzing one of your favorite games using these ideas. What kinds of fun does it favor? How might you change the game if you wanted to emphasize a different kind of fun? Using Super Mario Brothers as an example, you could make it a better tool of Expression by including a level editor and allowing players to share their creations with others, and allowing players to unlock more building blocks for their own levels by clearing associated challenges in the game’s platforming mode. A team of designers did exactly this when creating Mario Maker.

Quantic Foundry gamer motivation model from Yee and Ducheneaut §

Quantic Foundry is a video game analytics/marketing research firm. They used data science and a massive amount of survey data (collected from the gamer motivation profile survey, which you can take for free online) to create the “Gamer Motivation Model”; an attempt to describe why people play games and the different preferences of those gamers. This model was developed by the company’s co-founders, Nick Yee and Nicolas Ducheneaut, both scientists with academic backgrounds. If you want to know more about their methods, this 2016 GDC Talk might be illuminating, but if you just want the bottom line, keep reading.

This taxonomy breaks down into twelve motivation factors, grouped into six pairs within three clusters. They are:

• “Bright” cluster - immediate fun
  • Action: Destruction and Excitement
  • Social: Competition and Community
• “Tall” cluster - cool-headed, long-term fun
  • Mastery: Challenge and Strategy
  • Achievement: Completion and Power
• “Wide” cluster - broad, curious, expressive play
  • Immersion: Fantasy and Story
  • Creativity: Design and Discovery

These factors are spectrums. If a person has a low score in one, that doesn’t mean indifference, it means a strong preference for the opposite. If you have a high score for Community, it means you prefer to group up and collaborate with other players. If you have a low score, it means you prefer single-player play where you are in full control.

Let’s try to break these down.

Bright Cluster: Action and Socialization §

The bright cluster, or action-social cluster, is about short-term gratification. A player who scores high on these motivations craves excitement, either from interacting with other players or the game itself. One who scores low prefer a more calming, controlled experience.

Destruction

• High: You like guns, explosions, chaos. You might enjoy Halo.
• Low: You like non-violence, calming landscapes, wholesome social interactions. You might enjoy Myst or Animal Crossing.

Excitement

• High: You like it when games are fast-paced and filled with action and surprises. You might enjoy Super Smash Bros. Melee or Call of Duty.
• Low: You like it when games are calming, turn-based, and can be paused. You prefer low levels of visual stimulation. You might enjoy the Civilization series or The Witness.

Competition

• High: You enjoy comparing yourself to others and playing against a human adversary. You might compete in duels or arena matches, or by leaderboards and time trials. You might enjoy League of Legends or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
• Low: You enjoy non-adversarial games where you don’t have to worry about how you stack up to other players and “skillful play” isn’t the point. You might enjoy Dragon Age or Gone Home.

Community

• High: You enjoy teaming up with other people, chatting, and playing in groups. You might group with friends or collaborate with strangers. You may enjoy Destiny or Final Fantasy XIV.
• Low: You prefer having full control of your experience and playing in single-player mode.

Tall Cluster: Mastery and Achievement §

The tall cluster, or mastery-achievement cluster, is about long-term satisfaction. A player with high motivations in the tall cluster wants to see things grow over time, to make plans and watch them come to fruition, to keep a cool head as they complete or master a game. A player with low motivations in this cluster might not want to “wait for the good part” or prefer to have more immediate control over their experience.

Challenge

• High: You enjoy games that test your skills, even if they have a steep learning curve. You feel satisfied when you clear a difficult mission or pull off a difficult move. You find the idea of getting better over time to be a powerful motivator. You might enjoy Street Fighter or osu!
• Low: You like games that are quick to learn and no sweat to play. You might enjoy The Longest Journey or Stardew Valley.

Strategy

• High: You like to contemplate the outcome of your decisions. You enjoy it when games urge you to think and plan out a long-term strategy. You might enjoy Crusader Kings or Stellaris.
• Low: You like to act spontaneously and react to your immediate surroundings. You find complex decisions in a game stressful or pointless. You prefer games you can pick up and play for a short time. You might enjoy Mario Kart or The Sims.

Power

• High: You like it most when the power of your character grows while you play. You like leveling up characters and stats, upgrading your weapons/powers, and dwarfing the same obstacles that were once an impossible challenge. You might enjoy Diablo or World of Warcraft.
• Low: You like it when characters have a fully-developed set of powers from the start. You prefer a level playing field. You might enjoy Shadow of the Colossus or Night in the Woods.

Completion

• High: You prefer to have clear tasks to complete and consistent rewards to collect for completing them. You like it when a game guides you to its next fun activity. You might enjoy Kingdom Hearts or Lego Star Wars.
• Low: You prefer to decide what to do for yourself. You like it when a game gives you a sandbox of many possibilities and allows you to pursue your own goals. You might enjoy Cities: Skylines or RimWorld.

Wide Cluster: Immersion and Creativity §

The wide cluster, or immersion-creativity cluster, is about expressive play. A player who scores high here wants to explore a world, to test the boundaries of the game, to get involved in a story, to express themselves. A low score here means the player prefers things that are concrete, compact, and elegant.

Fantasy

• High: You love it when games have rich lore and an immersive setting. You prefer a photorealistic look or cinematic style. You might enjoy Mass Effect or Fallout.
• Low: You find games with retro graphics or abstract settings charming. You don’t need any world-building beyond the general vibe of a genre. You might enjoy World of Tanks, Counter-Strike, or Marvel vs. Capcom.

Story

• High: You like games that have an elaborate narrative structure, with a large cast of characters, each having distinct motivations and personality. You might enjoy Mass Effect or Life is Strange.
• Low: You like games without any story getting in the way of the fun. These games might create a simple canvas with stock characters for you to build on. You might enjoy SimCity, Factorio, or Minecraft.

Discovery

• High: You like to explore a world to find its secrets and treasure. When you find new objects or characters to interact with, you like to experiment to see how they react to the things you can do. You might enjoy the Zelda series or The Elder Scrolls.
• Low: You approach games with a practical mindset. You prefer games you can fully understand with minimal unknown interactions. You might enjoy sports games like FIFA or board games like Carcassonne.

Design

• High: You like to express yourself in the games you play. You enjoy customizing your character’s clothes and arranging the decorations in your house. You might enjoy The Sims, Animal Crossing, or Guild Wars 2.
• Low: You prefer an experience curated by a designer. You enjoy inhabiting a fixed avatar of some stylish or appealing character. You might enjoy Super Mario Galaxy or Horizon Zero Dawn.

Applying These §

This gamer motivation model is one way to understand the different reasons various people play video games. You can incorporate it into your vocabulary when explaining or evaluating a game design. You might use it to broaden the game’s appeal or focus on the things you expect your players to care about.

Its main limitation is that it is very generalized. It has limited power to describe an individual person’s habits (which might apparently contradict themselves) or preferences in the community of a particular game. The number of segments is also arbitrary; there might be applications where more divisions or fewer prove more useful.

For a more “pick one” classification, if you want a drop-in replacement for Bartle types, you might look at the Ten Player Profiles.

Further Reading §

Marc LeBlanc’s website, discussing the 8 Kinds of Fun and other game design ideas. http://algorithmancy.8kindsoffun.com/

Robin Hunicke and Rubert Zubek wrote an academic paper based on LeBlanc’s 8 kinds of fun and the Mechanics/Dynamics/Aesthetics framework. http://www.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf

Presentation summarizing Quantic Foundry’s gamer motivation model. https://quanticfoundry.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Gamer-Motivation-Model-Reference.pdf

Academic paper describing the same. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2967934.2967937