Episode 15 - What We Bring to the Table: Player Archetypes

On this episode of The Dice Pool Podcast we roll out the big guns for a special 5 host show. We meet guest host GM Mick, owner of Conexio Games Cafe in Brisbane and games philosopher; as we discuss not character archetypes, but Player Archetypes. Get to know the personality types around your table. Learn how you can improve your games by better meeting your player's core needs. Join GMs Hooly, Huzz, Flano and Kaitlin as we get GM Mick to explain his theory for a deeper understanding of your companions, both GMs and Players, at the table; and how you can add it to your bag of gaming tricks. We also tackle a question asking about the pitfalls of designing your own setting, and a whole lot more.

Available on iTunes and your favourite Podcatcher.

This is a great episode. Lots of good stuff. Quick question: If you know about the 8 Kinds of Fun, how do you think they work within these chosen archetypes?

This from GM Mick:

I am not familiar with the details of the "Eight Kinds of Fun", unfortunately. So it's hard for me to offer specific thoughts.

In general, all these ideas are doing much the same thing. They are explaining why people like playing games. The difference will be in how they attempt to do that. Discussing topics in this way isn't new, the concepts go back to ancient Greece, during the times of Plato. So you'll find lots of different examples about.

There seems to be some 'face value' similarities to Player Archetypes and the Kinds of Fund model, such as Narrative (Immersive Player); Challenge (Competitive Player); Fellowship (Social Player); and Expression (Creative Player).

I am curious as to what the distinction is with Sensation, Fantasy, and Discovery as they sound like the Immersive Player to me and closely related to Narrantive. Presumably there is a reason to have them as a sub-category.

Submission stands out as odd to me personally. As far as tabletop games go, I wouldn't describe any of them as 'mindless passtime'. They all engage the mind to some degree. I wonder if this is tapping into some aspect of relaxation, in which case I would expect that to be derived from satisfying one of the other Kinds of Fun anyway.

I'm personally not big on making comparisons in these things. As I feel ithat suggests there's a righ and a wrong way to go about it. That then seems to loose site of what these ideas are all about. Which is getting you thinking about yours, and others, style of play for personal insight.

As for Player Archetypes, it borrows from a range of sources to re-present a very simple way to think about how you get your fun from games. It is focused on how a tabletop game is generally structured (system, setting, players, interaction) and how you as a person interact with those. I hoped that would be more meaningful for the actual player.