This document discusses different types of serious game players and their motivations. It identifies six main player types: Achievers, Socializers, Philanthropists, Free Spirits, Disruptors, and Players. Each type is motivated by different factors such as mastery, relatedness, purpose, autonomy, change, and rewards. The document also examines sub-types and provides insights into engaging each player type in game design.

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2. Types of Serious Game Players
In this model, there are six types of users, and each has different motivations
Basic Types of User
Achiever Socializer Philanthropist Free Spirit
OtherTypes of User
Disruptor Player

3. Motivations of Each Type of User
m
m
m
m
m
m
Achievers
They are motivated by Mastery.
They are looking to learn new things
and improve themselves. They want
challenges to overcome.
Socializers
They are motivated by
Relatedness. They want to
interact with others and create
social connections.
Disruptors
They are motivated by Change. In
general, they want to disrupt the
system, either directly or through
other users to force positive or
negative change.
Philanthropists
They are motivated by Purpose
and Meaning. This group is
altruistic, wanting to enrich the
lives of others in some way with
no expectation of reward.
Free Spirits
They are motivated by Autonomy
and self-expression. They want to
create and explore.
Players
They are motivated by Rewards.
They will do what is needed of
them to collect rewards from a
system. They are in it for
themselves.

4. • Guilds and Teams
• Social Media Lover
• Creates Social Network
• Rewarded by Social Status
• Enjoys Social Discovery
• Easily Socially Pressured
• Socially Competitive
Socializers

5. • Enjoys Exploration
• Engages with Branching
Choices
• Finds Easter Eggs
• First to find rare content or
Unlockable content
• Loves Customizing Avatars
Free Spirit

6. • Loves Challenges
• Enjoys racking up certificates
• Enjoys learning new skills
• Always looking for extra
quests
• Loves recognition and level
progression
Achiever

7. • Must have meaning or
purpose
• Enjoys being the medic or
helper
• Always looking for access or
hacks
• Enjoys to collect and trade in
currency
• Gives away spells and healing
• Shares the most knowledge
Philanthropists

8. • Looks to find ways to get
around obstacles
• Is the voice of the team
• Enjoys creating voting and a
community
• Wants to be an anonymous
advocate for change
• Enjoys spreading anarchy
• Waits to see how other
players move in the game
Disruptors

9. • Main target
• Rewards based; activity must
be rewarded for the effort
• Always focused on the
outcome of the experience
• Not focused on any other
activity, such as exploring or
achieving
players

10. Willingness to Play Scale
Willing to Play

Not Willing
to Play

Players
Disruptors
Achievers
Socializers
Free Spirits
Philanthropists
Rewards
Relatedness
Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose
Change
Players are happy to play your
game, where points and rewards are
up for grabs.
Disruptors want nothing to do with
the game and won’t play it.
The others are less willing to play
the game and need more to keep
them interested.

11. The point of these types is to give game designers a simple
framework to think about the types of people they may have
using their system.
It is essential to keep in mind that people cannot be broken
down into simple categories. People will likely display most, if
not all, of these traits in varying degrees.
When creating the design, it is necessary to encourage the
behaviors that will give your system the best outcome, while
engaging users.
These types can help with that.
Purpose of Types
Free SpiritsPhilanthropist
s
SocializersAchievers
PlayersDisruptors

12. Intrinsic User Types
Acting
Interacting
Users
Systems
Socializers Free Spirits
AchieversPhilanthropists
Socializers are the ones who want to interact with
others. They like to be connected to others. They are
interested in parts of the system that help them do
this. They will evangelize the internal social networks.
They are most motivated by the social connection
aspects of relatedness.
Philanthropists want to feel that they are part of
something bigger. They want to give to others but expect
nothing in return. They will answer endless questions on
forums, just because they like to feel they are helping.
They want a system that allows them to enrich others
and feel a sense of purpose.
Free Spirits like to have agency. They have two basic
subtypes: Creators and Explorers.
Explorers don’t want to be restricted in how they go
through their personal journey, to explore the system.
They are also likely to find the most holes.
Creators want to build new things. They will have the
fanciest avatars and create the most personal content.
They seek self-expression and autonomy.
Achievers want to be the best or, at least, be achieving
success within the system. They want to get 100% on
the internal learning system. They do this for themselves
and are probably not that bothered with showing off to
others. They will compete with others, but as a way to
become better than others. They may also be motivated
by status as a representation of their personal
achievement. They need a system that will enrich them
and lead them towards mastery.

13. Player (Extrinsic) User Sub-Types
Acting
Interacting
Users
Systems
Networker Exploiter
ConsumerSelf-Seeker
Where a socializer connects to others because they are
looking for relatedness, Networkers are looking for useful
contacts that they can gain from. They follow the big
influencers on social networks, not because they are
interested in them, but because they hope it will get them
noticed, increase their influence and lead to a reward.
Self-Seekers will act in a similar way to Philanthropists.
They will answer people’s questions, share knowledge
and be helpful – but for a cost. If there is no reward, don’t
expect them to get involved! They can be useful,
however, if they are being asked to get involved for
rewards, expect quantity over quality!
Like Free Spirits, these guys are looking for the
boundaries of the system, where they can go and what
they can do. However, for Exploiters, it is a way to find
new ways to rewards. If they find a loop-hole, don’t
expect them to report it unless they feel others are
earning more than them exploiting it! They are the most
likely to exploit the system (you could say cheat!). They
are also the people who will build things just to sell.
They stop making things for fun and just made them for
profit.
Consumers will do what is needed to get rewards. If that
requires them to learn new skills or take on challenges
(like an Achiever), then they will do it. However, if they
can get rewards for just doing what they were already
doing – even better. They will enter competitions just for
the prize or shop at one store for the loyalty program.

14. Essentially the Player is motivated by rewards, plain and
simple. They will do similar things to the intrinsically motivated
group, but only if there is a reward at the end of it!
The Player User Type is important to recognize as the
majority of people coming into a gamified system. They are
probably there initially due to rewards. The trick is to try and
convert them from being reward oriented into intrinsically
motivated users (Socializer, Free Spirit, Achiever,
Philanthropist). There is some evidence to show that the
extrinsic types will convert to their analogous intrinsic types,
but it is not a dead certainty in all cases.
Design for the intrinsic user types that benefit your system, but
include reward paths for the onboarding process for best
effect and greatest coverage.
Player Users

15. Disruptor User Type and Sub-Types
BlackHat
White Hat
Users
Systems
Influencer Improver
DestroyerGriefer
Influencers will try to change the way a system works
by exerting influence over other users. This is not to say
they are a negative type, far from it. If they feel the
system needs to change and you actually allow them a
voice to help change it, they could become massive
advocates. Make use of them or lose them – worse still
they could end up switching to a Griefer!
This is our Killer. Griefers want to negatively affect other
users, just because they can. It may be to prove a point
about the fact they don’t like the system, or it may just be
for fun. They have no place in most gamified systems, so
you need to find ways to either change their minds – or
get rid of them.
Improvers will interact with the system with the best
intentions in mind. They may hack it or find loopholes,
but their aim is to change the system for the better. They
are similar to the Free Spirit type. In reality, they want to
have the chance to explore the system, find problems
and try to fix them. Take care of these users as they can
help you massively. Mistreat them and they may well
become Destroyers.
Destroyers want to break the actual system directly. This
may be by hacking or finding loopholes in the rules that
allow them to ruin the experience for others. Their
reasons again may be because they dislike the system,
or it may just be because they find it fun to hack and
break things. If you can’t convince them to at least
convert to an Improver, then you have to get rid of them.

16. Disruptors disrupt a system in some way. This may be by
acting on users or on the system itself. As with the Player
type, the Disruptor type is a group rather than a single type.
However, the effect on design is generally similar for all the
variations of the type.
The Disruptor can be a complex type. While they make up a
very small percentage of the overall user group, they can be
very powerful. Handled correctly, they could help improve your
system. Handled badly, they may destroy it.
Disrupter Users

17. Types of Serious Game Players
A serious game is one methodology
organizations can deploy in their learning
programs to help the workforce problem solve
and learn.
While the ability for games to entertain is a draw
for learners, the primary purpose of serious
games is to ultimately teach the learner a new
skill. As such, organizations employ serious
games in marketing and advertising collateral as
well as internal training programs.
However, program designers that derive
inspiration from the video game genre can also
gain a significant advantage.
When the graphics, themes and interactions of the video game genre shape serious game development, the
result is a rich learning experience. When choosing the right types of serious games, organizations should use
these video game genre features to create the modules.

18. Types Of Games
m
m
m
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Action and Adventure
m
Life Simulation
MultiplayerRole-Playing
Role Playing
Adventure Games
Strategy
Vehicle Simulation

19. This genre is probably the most popular, requiring the player
to experience significant action moves in adventurous
settings. The games generally require the player to move
through a series of short objectives to reach a long-term goal,
calling for puzzle-solving skills, combat moves and more. For
example, the armed forces takes its trainees through
simulations of the combat and stealth games before releasing
trainees into real-life situations.
Action And
Adventure

20. Farmville is the quintessential life-simulation game, where
players live in a virtual world and earn resources to create an
artificial world. Tactics in this game include designing the
player’s traits and relationships with other characters, but the
game lacks any end destination. It’s possible to play the game
ad infinitum. In serious game development, programs can
simulate what’s required to create a strategic solution to a
business problem or interact with teams.
Life Simulation

21. These massive multiplayer online role-playing games pit many
players against each other in the quest to reach the final
destination, and require player interaction throughout the
game. World of Warcraft is one such game, as is Phantasy
Star Online.
Multiplayer
Role-Playing

22. In this type of genre, the games give nod to board-game
strategies from popular games like Dungeons and Dragons
and brings it to life digitally.
Role Playing

23. In these games, the learner acts as the protagonist of the
story, working alone to solve a problem. As opposed to the
action-adventure game, this game generally allows for a
solitary player who’s required to carefully observe the scenario
and use critical thinking skills.
Adventure Game

24. In these games, learners must call on the critical thinking and
planning skills, coming up with innovative ways to “win” the
game. Resource planning is essential to moving up in levels
and reaching the final destination.
Strategy

25. Similar to combat training for armed forces, vehicle simulation
games can include flight, sea or aviation training. These
programs reduce the cost of training for organizations.
Vehicle Simulation

26. Innovative serious game developers can learn much from
video game genres like action, adventure, role playing, life
and vehicle simulation, and strategy.
By employing these tactics with the right types of serious
games, learning designers can teach learners new skills that
they then put into action in their daily work lives.
What othergenres are out there we can use to adapt for
learning?
Game Genres

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General Service Administration (GSA) MOBIS Contract Holder
8401 Claude Thomas Road, Suite 30, Franklin, Ohio 45005 | 866.316.9126 | info@designingdigitally.com | www.designingdigitally.com