Gamer Motivation Profile
Quantic Foundry Fun
At the end of April, MagiWasTaken of Indiecator tagged me in the Quantic Foundry Gamer Motivation Profile. A lot of folks in the blogosphere have tackled it much faster than I have, so I figured it was about time to hop to it! The premise is to complete the Gamer Motivation Profile over on Quantic Foundry, and then answer some questions about your results. Without further ado, here’s mine.
The Questions
What are your results? Share your link, headline, and the graphs you received.
My gamer motivation profile is “Calm, Spontaneous, Completionist, Independent, Deeply Immersed, and Creative”. Well that’s a mouthful. As Magi called out, Naithan posted a more in-depth document from Quantic Foundry that helped to explain the wording they chose. Of course, I couldn’t find it on the Quantic Foundry site easily, so I’ve linked to Naithan’s comment on Frostilyte’s post. As someone who loves this kind of psych stuff, it was an interesting read. According to that document, my headline (paraphrased from their bullet points and tables throughout) could be deciphered as
- Calm: Enjoys turn-based combat, games that can be paused, games that are relaxed and predictable, and low visual stimulation. (e.g.: Sid Meyer’s Civ, Myst)
- Spontaneous: Enjoys reactive gameplay with low cognitive loads and short time horizons. (e.g.: The Sims)
- Completionist: Wants to get all collectibles, complete all missions.
- Independent: Enjoys single-player games and soloable quests. Likes to be in full control. (e.g.: Lego Harry Potter, Hatoful Boyfriend)
- Deeply Immersed: Enjoys being someone else, somewhere else. Enjoys elaborate plots, and interesting characters.
- Creative: Enjoys expression and customization. Wants to explore, tinker, and experiment.
I included some of what I thought were applicable games from when I could pull examples from a chart, and I feel like they’re mostly accurate, but I think I’m supposed to discuss that on a different question.
How do you feel about your survey results?
I feel like they’re mostly accurate, but I am unsure how I scored so low on Social? I get that I’m not a Competitive person, but I also don’t understand why I only scored 48% on Community. Community in gaming is really the main thing that keeps me playing MMOs. And if there isn’t a thriving community, or many friends I can flock to that play it, then I am generally disinterested in it. I mean, for goodness sake, I ran a yearly festival in WildStar when it was around. If that isn’t high community I don’t know what is!
Which categories are the most and least accurate?
It seems I may have answered this a bit in the prior question. Least accurate definitely has to be Social for me. Most accurate is Immersion/Completion for sure.
Are there any major exceptions to your typical gaming motivations?
If I am interpreting this question correctly, it is asking what differs from my profile in the exceptions. With that, I’d have to say… some of the games they list for “calm”. You would think I’d like the Civ games. I honestly wish I did. But to me, they feel much more RTS-based/paced than I would like. And RTS and my anxiety do not get along. I mean, I haven’t tried playing the Civ games since I started my meds for anxiety/depression, though, so maybe with some time they’ll be more up my alley?
Do any of these motivations carry over to your non-gaming life? If so, how?
Oh, immersion for sure. I participate in LARPs. I love TTRPGs when I can get in on them. And I adore reading fantasy and sci-fi of all sorts. I like involved characters. I like unique stories. GIVE ME NARRATIVE.
Which games (in your experience) best satisfy your gaming motivations?
Narration-heavy games, especially dating sims/visual novels are typically my go-to. High-narrative games like Life is Strange also fall into my list. I think if I could find the time to dedicate to story-rich RPGs I’d play a bit more of them, but then they also fall into the highly-active games which don’t always suit me (which is accurate to my gaming profile).
How do the games above compare to the “suggested games” list from the questionnaire’s follow-up page?
According to the niche list, it’s mostly visual novel type games, or Animal Crossing. I don’t have a Switch so I’ve yet to actually play Animal Crossing (and it was never a game I got invested in as a kid because we had limited video game time, even on our handhelds), but I have been rabidly refreshing stock on Switches so I can play Animal Crossing. So I’d say it’s fairly accurate. It threw in some phone games on my list, which are not typically my cup of tea. I don’t care to do much on my phone, to be honest. It also included games like Sims 4 (which I do play, but have to be in the mood), and story-rich RPGs (Dragon Age) which I’ve mentioned I’ve wanted to get into, but I think I need to be in the right mindset to do so.