Applying Myers-Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI®) to Massively Multiplayer Online
Game (MMOG) Design
MUD Developers Conference, 2004; Kevin Saunders
Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) have been thought by some to be
operating in a saturated market. A better understanding of the motivations and
thought processes of potential customers can provide insight into how to design
MMOGs that will best appeal to them. Online users are a subset of potential
consumers that are most easily reachable for massively multiplayer online games
(MMOGs) in their efforts to expand as an entertainment medium.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI) are one of the most established methods of
categorizing personality. Three sources of MBTI data collected from online users were
compiled and analyzed to identify the dominant MBTI for online users (not necessarily
gamers). Some implications of these findings were considered to provide examples of
how player personality profiles might be employed in MMOG game design. Hopefully,
this limited study will inspire additional efforts in analyzing player psychology and
incorporating findings into MMOG design and game design in general.
Analyzing Players
During the early years of the computer gaming industry, developers paid little
attention to who its customers were. Most game concepts were based upon the
personal preferences and opinions of the developers. This oversight limited the rate
of growth of the gaming industry. In more recent years, some gaming companies have
employed demographics to consider our target populations. Most game industry
efforts to profile customers and potential customers are limited to the demographics
of age, gender, and gaming preference (hardcore versus casual). These parameters
are of limited usefulness because they do not directly tell us how to best entertain
these players. The more directly any demographic information can be linked to
gameplay and other factors, the more readily we can apply it to our design.
Applying typical demographics to game design requires developers to rely mostly upon
stereotypes and opinions, though considerable research has been conducted to
determine what types of games women would like. Relying on stereotypes can be
dangerous. For example, it is often noted that women dislike many games because
they are too violent or gory (Craig, 1996; Tynes, 1999), but according to some
research this is not the case (Graner-Ray, 2002).
Studying player personalities and motivations brings us one step closer to the real
question: what makes a game fun for a certain type of person? Social interaction has
long been recognized as a key element in multi-user dungeons (MUDs) (for example:
Curtis, 1992; Reid, 1994). As such, MUD developers have far surpassed developers of
other types of games in efforts to analyze their audience. Richard Bartle’s article,
“Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs” was a break-through study
of the motivations of MUD players. Bartle identified four primary types of MUD
players (achievers, explorers, socialisers, and killers), analyzed how these types
interact with each other, and suggested how various game design decisions would
effect each population.
Bartle’s work is an excellent analysis of what motivates people to play MUDs. But
what are the potential MUD players like? What are they looking for in a game? Many
game industry professionals have speculated that massively multiplayer online games
have exhausted the available customer base. If we are to expand our market, to
whom should we appeal? What types of games should we be making?
Online games have a unique advantage over other electronic games in terms of
converting non-players into customers. Any consumer who comes across a game
online already has the means to play it: a computer and an Internet connection.
Additionally, online games can be distributed as shareware or demos at no cost to the
consumer, except for download time. This article focuses, therefore, on analyzing
online users in general: this population includes the majority of individuals an online
game can easily reach.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicators: A Brief Overview
Myers-Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI) were developed by Isabel Briggs Myers and
Katherine Briggs to classify people by personality traits. Based upon the theories of
psychologist Carl Jung, MBTI divide people into sixteen personality types using four
traits. These traits are:
-
Energy consciousness (Extroversion versus Introversion)
-
How people perceive information (Sensing versus iNtuition)
-
How people form judgments (Thinking versus Feeling)
-
Life management orientation (Judging versus Perceiving)
Myers-Briggs Type Indicators are typically referred to as a four character code with
each letter specifying one of the four traits. For example, a person with the
personality type ENFP has the traits extroversion, intuition, feeling, and perceiving.
MBTI in Online Users
Three publicly available sources of MBTI data for online users were employed in this
analysis. The first of these was an online database created by Tim Sumrall that
collected data from over 400 respondents
(http://www.sumrallworks.com/cpad/main.php3). The second is from over 700
members at the online dating site Book Lovers (www.bookloversmm.com). The third
source is research by Nicholas Yee that profiles over 200 role-players contacted
through online forums. Note that in all cases, respondents voluntarily provided their
MBTI data, making the samples less than ideally random. The geographical location of
the respondents is unknown, and international variations in MBTI are not well
documented.
Except for the data from Yee’s research, respondents supplied their own MBTI rating.
Yee asked five questions relating to each MBTI trait pair as part of his study, with
each question resulting in a value from one through five, inclusively. For this article,
these results were averaged for each respondent, with values less than three favoring
one parameter and values greater than three the other. Respondents with values
equal to three were not used for that trait pair. Using other cut-off points (for
example, discarding all respondents with values between 2.5 and 3.5) did not
appreciably affect conclusions reached by this article.
Figure 1 shows the % of respondents exhibiting each MBTI for each sample source.
[Note that only the dominant trait in each trait pair is shown. For example, the
percentage of respondents who are extroverts would be (100% - % introverts)].
Figure 1: Dominant MBTI in Online Users (by
source)
% of Respondents Exhibiting
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Yee
50%
Booklovers
40%
Sumrall
30%
20%
10%
0%
I
N
F
P
MBTI
These sources are very different in the type of people they surveyed and the sample
sizes also vary considerably. For these reasons, the percentages of each MBTI type
were calculated for each source and then averaged with each source carrying equal
weight. The preferences for each of the four Myers-Briggs parameters were:
Online Users
All People (US)
Introversion:
66% [standard deviation (SD) = 0.08]
41%
Intuition:
88% (SD = 0.10)
32%
Feeling:
64% (SD = 0.05)
50%
Perceiving:
66% (SD = 0.13)
44%
The compiled data is shown in Figure 2. The box shows the percentile range within
one standard deviation of average and the whiskers show two standard deviations
(95% confidence interval). The large dots show the approximate percent of the US
population that exhibits that trait (compiled from Dolphin Cove, 1998; Tieger &
Tieger-Barron, 2001).
This data suggests that online users differ considerably from the US population at
large in terms of being introverts, intuitives, and/or feelers. More importantly, with
95% or greater confidence, a majority of online users fall into these personality
categories. (While a majority of online users also appear to be Perceiving, these
results are not statistically significant with the data available). These first two
findings match what one might expect. Introverts, who tend to value their privacy
and gain energy from within, would find the Internet a welcome place, as it is
anonymous and provides an interesting combination of interaction and solitude.
People exhibiting intuition, as opposed to sensing, tend to be more involved in
concepts and less with sensory activities (i.e., sports, hikes, etc.).
By analyzing the traits associated with introverts, intuitives, and feelers in the
context of game playing, we can obtain some insight as to what online game features
best appeal to the potential customer base of online users.
MBTI and Game Design
The game design examples mentioned herein are presented to demonstrate how
personality profiles such as the MBTI might be applicable to MMOGs. Without further
research, these examples are based solely on theory. They are intended to inspire
the reader to consider the impact of player personalities on game design and are not
presented here as requirements for an enjoyable or profitable MMOG.
For simplicity’s sake, these examples assume typical designs used in the currently
popular American MMOGs such as Ultima Online, Everquest, and Dark Age of Camelot
(i.e., experience levels, character classes and/or skills, primary focus on combat,
etc.). The principles discussed herein could be applied to game design in general,
however. Also, game design in MMOGs is exceedingly complex and even seemingly
innocuous implementations can have far-reaching effect; these examples are
simplified to illustrate certain points and many of the design repercussions are beyond
the scope of this article.
Introverts
The introvert/extrovert dimension of a person’s personality type indicates how that
person interacts with the world. Introverts (66%, SD = 8%) are directed inward and
tend to exhibit the following characteristics:
-
Recover energy by spending time alone
-
Think before acting; enjoy a slower pace
-
Share personal information with greater discretion
-
Prefer depth to breadth
(Tieger & Barron-Tieger, 2001)
It is easy to understand how online users would be disproportionately introverted.
Compared to traditional social interaction, online interaction allows for both a
greater sense of privacy and a slower pace.
Online games have appealed to introverts through some obvious mechanisms: the use
of character IDs (concealing one’s true identity), turn-based play (which is more
latency tolerant as well), and controlled interaction with others. Furthermore,
introverts tend to have fewer, deeper passions, making them more prone to the
addictive type of behavior often observed in the more active online players.
There is at least one way in which MMOGs have often failed to support introverts,
however. A principal advantage of MMOGs over their single-player counterparts is
social interaction and its many benefits. Game designers have identified that one
primary mechanism for retaining MMOG customers is through the community and thus
many MMOGs have implementations designed to bring players together. For example,
in Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies, Dark Age of Camelot, and other titles, players
advance through the game much faster if they are part of a group of players instead
of being by themselves. The discrepancies in level progression between solo-play and
group-play in these games often make them poorly balanced for the solo-player,
especially for some of the class choices. Some MMOGs, such as Dark Ages, A Tale in
the Desert, and Shattered Galaxy go so far as to require interaction with other players
to progress through the game.
Strongly encouraging social interaction through gameplay mechanisms encourages
players to form friendships and thus become part of the game’s community,
increasing a player’s likelihood to continue playing. The price, however, is that the
enforced interaction creates an environment not well suited to introverts – it is
difficult to spend time alone in the game while still feeling a sense of
accomplishment. And bonds with other players must be developed at a pace that is
perhaps uncomfortable. Many current MMOGs attempt to address this problem by
providing some classes that work well for soloing, while others are excellent in
groups. Unfortunately, these class differences are often absolute: a class that is good
at soloing is not well suited for group play, essentially quarantining the solo-player
from many community activities. These efforts miss the point: introverts are not
isolationists. Rather, they do often take more time to become involved in social
environments and they often do want to spend time alone. It is worth noting that in
some ways an MMOG might be ideal for introverts – it allows social interaction in an
environment that is friendlier to introverts then the real world.
How, then, can social interaction, so key to an MMOG, be encouraged while also
creating an introvert-friendly environment? One solution to this dilemma is to provide
both solo and group activities that are available to all character types at all levels of
experience. For example, every character in a game might have two classes: a
profession and a focus. The character’s profession is fixed when the character is
created, but the focus can be changed each time the player logs in. Different foci
provide different sets of auxiliary abilities. For example, Priest might be a
profession, with the Monk focus suited for solo-play and the Healer focus best for
group adventures. In this way, a player can use the same character for both solo and
group play depending upon their mood. A player could also experience the game on
his own and then become involved in the social aspects after it feels comfortable to
him without regretting his choice in character class.
Intuitives
The intuitive/sensing element of a person’s personality type suggests what type of
information they focus on. Intuitives (88%, SD = 10%) typically:
-
Enjoy learning new skills; get bored after mastering old skills
-
Are future-oriented
-
Value imagination and innovation
-
Like new ideas even if they do not have practical applications
(Tieger & Barron-Tieger, 2001)
How to best appeal to intuitives through game design might not be immediately
obvious. The addition of new game play elements and concepts is one possibility and
this is already a goal of many MMOG live teams. The knowledge that the majority of
online users are intuitive is not needed to realize that new content is beneficial.
What MMOGs have often failed to do, however, is to require new skills from its players
or, rather, to provide them with the opportunities and incentives to learn new skills.
In fact, new content for some MMOGs is geared primarily towards providing players
with “more of the same.”
While it has become common knowledge among MMOG designers that it is dangerous
to change elements of the game to which the players are accustomed, a large player
population of intuitives might be better served if new content provided players with
the option to learn more than new names or graphics. Artificial intelligence
behaviors, environmental effects, and type of skills and spells are also possible
additions that require the players to learn and reward them for doing so. For
example, in a game in which elemental attacks play a large role, an underwater
region could be added in which the effects of fire attacks are subdued and electrical
attacks affect a much greater area.
Another method of employing innovations is through limited duration events. Not
only can event innovations be used to appeal to intuitives, but the impact of
controversial long-term changes can be investigated with little risk, especially if the
players are already aware of the game’s emphasis on innovation. In Shattered
Galaxy, an MMORTS, major game rules were changed for limited times as part of story
driven events. For example, in one event the time scale of the game was gradually
increased to be over double normal, rendering some conventional tactics useless and
challenging players to devise new strategies to adapt to the much faster pace. A
strong majority of the players enjoyed the event, as determined through in-game
polls. Because of the very positive response, after the event ended, the base pacing
of the game was kept somewhat elevated. If, on the other hand, a majority of
players hated the impact of the changes, the event could have been ended early if
needed.
To the non-MMO gamer, MMOGs are already quite innovative and it is difficult to see
how we can more thoroughly appeal to that aspect of the intuitive personality. The
knowledge that many potential players are intuitives can be of use in considering how
to develop new online games to better appeal to existing MMO gamers. Intuitive
individuals are, by nature, open to new concepts. Most recent MMOGs have not been
very innovative, however, and instead have built upon the game designs of earlier
games, polishing their rough edges and improving upon their graphical appearance.
The fact that online users (and thus, presumably, MMO gamers) are so
disproportionately intuitive suggests that MMOG design is an area in which efforts at
innovation would be less risky, when compared to other game development projects.
Feelers
The thinking/feeling trait suggests how people make decisions. Feelers (64%, SD = 5%)
tend to:
-
Consider the impact they have on others
-
Value empathy and harmony over logic and justice
-
Desire appreciation from others
(Tieger & Barron-Tieger, 2001)
The emphasis of many MMOGs on community is justified by this finding. While the US
population at large is evenly split between feelers and thinkers, online users are more
likely to be motivated by appreciation and recognition from others then achievements
for their own sake.
Note that despite some apparent contradictions, feelers and introverts are not
exclusive categories. An introverted feeler is likely to take more time to develop
friendships with others than an extroverted feeler, but still places great value on
social interactions. This fact is part of why it could be important to provide both solo
and group play options: initially the introvert might be slow to actively join the game
community, but any introverted feelers will ultimately find an MMOG’s social
elements to be a primary source of satisfaction.
Other MBTI Applications in MMOG Design
A few other applications of MBTI are worth brief mention given their potential
relevance to game development.
Perceivers and Judgers
While the data collected does not suggest preferences between judging and
perceiving for online users, MBTI analysis of these attributes might still be helpful.
Perceivers enjoy undertaking new endeavors and adapting to new situations. These
characteristics suggest that perceivers would be more likely to leave an MMOG in
favor of a new one than judgers would be. Note that a MBTI analysis of newer and
long-time MMOG players for any particular game could confirm or refute this
hypothesis. To better keep the more flighty perceivers, MMOG designers seeking to
increase their game’s renewal rate might therefore focus on creating new situations
as opposed to adding more of the same to a game. This additional content could also
be used to provide new goals for the players, thereby also appeasing judgers, who
enjoy setting and completing goals.
For example, suppose that a designer for an MMOG has at her disposal many new spell
effects and item graphics and has decided to utilize these to appeal to the highest
level players in the game to encourage them to keep playing. She might decide to
use these assets to increase the maximum level in the game, having the new spells
and items function the same, except in terms of power, as previous ones. These
additions might appeal well to judgers, who now have a new goal to strive for.
However, since these changes do not also alter gameplay in a meaningful way,
perceivers, who are possibly more likely to leave for another game, will find it less
appealing.
A better use of these assets might be to create a new class that is only accessible to
the highest level characters. Perhaps players at the maximum level could choose to
return their character to first level and join this special class, which has access to a
unique set of abilities. This implementation would give both new goals that judgers
desire and new situations and projects sought by perceivers. Note also, that
supplying new types of challenges, and thus requiring new skills from the players,
would also appeal to intuitives.
Bartle Typology
The relationship between Bartle’s typology and MBTI is potentially quite complex and
is beyond the scope of this article. It is worth briefly mentioning, however, what
some of the parallels are. Note that traits associated with introverts appear most
similar to any of the non-socialiser player types: achievers, explorers, and killers.
Intuitive traits match well the characteristics of achievers and explorers. And Feelers
appear well suited as socialisers and are unlikely killers.
Keirsey Temperaments
Myers-Briggs Type Indicators can also be used to determine to which of four
temperaments a person belongs. These temperaments are based upon centuries of
observations of human nature and were hypothesized to be explainable through MBTI
by psychologist David Keirsey. Temperaments are based upon a person’s
intuition/sensing preference along with either thinking/feeling or perceiving/judging.
The four temperaments are Traditionalists (SJ, also called Guardians or Epimethians),
Experiencers (SP, also called Artisans or Dionysians), Idealists (NF, also called
Apollonians), and Conceptualizers (NT, also called Rationalists or Prometheans).
Figure 3 compares the frequency of the four temperaments in the online user samples
and the USA population in general (the latter compiled from the Keirsey
Temperament and Character Web Site, 2004; Tieger & Tieger-Barron, 2001). As might
be expected, the data summarized above show a dominance of the Idealist
temperament [60%, SD = 9% (compared to about 12% of all Americans)]. Idealists are
often concerned with ethics, authenticity, and integrity, search for their own identity
and purpose, and place great value on meaningful relationships.
Figure 3: Keirsey Temperaments
70%
% Exhibiting
60%
50%
40%
Online Users
USA (All)
30%
20%
10%
0%
NF
NT
SJ
Keirsey Temperament
SP
Identifying and Addressing Developer Bias
Being aware of one’s own personal biases reveals possible dangers to try and avoid.
Veteran game designers have long understood the need to be aware of their personal
biases when adjusting game difficulty settings. This recalibration of a game’s design
could also be beneficial in other realms, making it interesting to consider the MBTI of
developers as well.
Between 80% and 90% of software developers are Thinkers as opposed to less than 40%
of online users. Also, software developers are roughly 50% Sensors, while only about
10% of online users are. (McConnell, 1999) These significant differences, especially in
the resulting Keirsey Temperments (with an estimated less than 10% of software
developers having the Idealist temperament dominant in the online users), suggests
that programmers might tend to make mistakes such as: underemphasizing the
impacts of their implementations on MMOG communities (Thinking as opposed to
Feeling) and creating game systems that require a greater level of depth and numbercrunching than the typical online user desires (Sensing as opposed to Intuition).
Unfortunately, MBTI data for game designers was not available.
Conclusions
The data discussed in this article came from three relatively small and poorly
controlled samples. Additionally, given that MBTI were not developed with electronic
or online gaming in mind makes it difficult to meaningfully apply them to game
design. Even so, that the results are statistically significant suggests that further
research in player personality types could be fruitful. There is much room for more
in-depth research involving understanding our players and how to entertain them.
Tempered with good judgment, consideration of player personalities through methods
such as Myers-Briggs analysis can provide insight into how to design MMOGs to better
capture new players and keep current ones.
References
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http://www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm
Booklovers Match-o-Matic. (2003). Data from publicly searchable member database.
www.bookloversmm.com (no longer active)
Curtis, Pavel. (1992). “Mudding: Social Phenomena in Text-Based Virtual Realities”.
Proc. DIAC-92 ftp://ftp.lambda.moo.mud.org/pub/MOO/papers/DIAC92.txt
Craig, Pat. (1996). “Where The Girls Aren’t Yet”. Conta Costa Times. March 1996.
Knight-Ridder. http://www.crpc.rice.edu/CRPC/newsArchive/CCtimes.3.31.96.html)
Dolphin Cove, INFJ List. (1998). “MBTI Statistics ‘98”
http://www.infj.org/typestats.html
Issue Brief Series. (1999). "Girls and video games," Studio City, CA: Mediascope Press.
http://www.mediascope.org/pubs/ibriefs/gvg.htm
Keirsey Temperament and Character Web Site. (2004). “Temperament: Different
Drums, Different Drummers.” http://keirsey.com/matrix.html
McConnell, Steve. (1999). “Orphans Preferred.” CMP Media LLC.
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991222/mcconnell_01.htm
Reid, Elizabeth. (1994). Cultural Formations in Text-Based Virtual Realities. Dept.
English, University of Melbourne, Australia.
ftp://ftp.lambda.moo.mud.org/pub/MOO/papers/CulturalFormations.txt
Sumrall, Tim. (2001). CPAD – Characteristics Personality Analysis Database.
http://www.sumrallworks.com/cpad/main.php3
Tieger, Paul D. and Barron-Tieger, Barbara. (2001). Do What You Are. Little, Brown
and Company.
Tynes, Maxine. (1999). “Information Poor: Gender differences in computer usage”
http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/Gazebo/8420/journalism/essay6.htm
Yee, Nicolas. (1999). Data from study discussed in “Through the Looking Glass: An
Exploration of the Interplay between player and character selves in Role-Playing
Games”