Based on what you’ve read and have watched so far this week. Consider?Bartle’s Taxonomy? Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs by Richard Bartle.’ Bartle’s Ta

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Players Who Suit MUDs

A translation of this article into Russian is available here.

A translation of this article into Chinese is available here.

HEARTS, CLUBS, DIAMONDS, SPADES:

PLAYERS WHO SUIT MUDS

Richard Bartle[1]

MUSE Ltd, Colchester, Essex. United Kingdom.

[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Four approaches to playing MUDs are identified and described. These approaches may arise from the inter-relationship of two dimensions of playing style: action versus interaction, and world- oriented versus player-oriented. An account of the dynamics of player populations is given in terms of these dimensions, with particular attention to how to promote balance or equilibrium. This analysis also offers an explanation for the labelling of MUDs as being either "social" or "gamelike".

PREFACE

Most MUDs can trace their lineage directly back to Trubshaw's 1978 game (Bartle, 1990b; Burka, 1995) and, perhaps because of this heritage, the vast majority are regarded as "games" by their "players". For the convenience of its readers, this paper continues to view MUDs in this tradition; however, it should be noted that MUDs can be of considerable value in non-game (ie. "serious") applications (Bruckman, 1994a; Kort, 1991; Bruckman & Resnick, 1993; Curtis & Nichols, 1993; Evard, 1993; Fanderclai, 1995; Riner & Clodius, 1995; Moock, 1996). Indeed, the thrust of this paper emphasises those factors which should be borne in mind when attempting to create a stable MUD in general, whatever the application; it is only the terminology which is that of "fun" MUDs, not the subject matter. In any case, even those MUDs which are built, from the ground up, to be absolutely straight are still treated by users as if they were games in some respects, eg. by choosing whimsical names rather than using their real ones (Roush, 1993).

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It is worthwhile considering for a moment whether MUDs (as they are generally played) really are games, or whether they're something else. People have many recreational activities available to them, and perhaps MUDs fit some other category better? Looking up the word "game" in a dictionary of synonyms (Urdang & Manser, 1980) elicits three related nouns: "pastime", "sport" and "entertainment" (a fourth, "amusement", is the general class of which the others are all examples). So it might be useful to ask:

Are MUDs

games? Like chess, tennis, AD&D? pastimes? Like reading, gardening, cooking? sports? Like huntin', shootin', fishin'? entertainments? Like nightclubs, TV, concerts?

Or are they a combination of all four? Perhaps individual players even see the same MUD differently from each another?

These questions will be returned to at the end of this paper, along with some proposed answers.

A SIMPLE TAXONOMY

This work grew out of a long, heated discussion which ran from November 1989 to May 1990 between the wizzes (ie. highly experienced players, of rank wizard or witch) on one particular commercial MUD in the UK (Bartle, 1985). The debate was sparked by the question "What do people want out of a MUD?", and comprised several hundred bulletin-board postings, some of considerable length, typically concerning what the players liked, what they didn't like, why they played, and changes they would like to see to "improve" the game. Some 15 individuals took a major part, with perhaps another 15 adding their comments from time to time; this comprised almost the entire set of active wizzes during that period. Although at times the debate became quite intense, never did it lapse into the flaming which typically ends most open-ended, multi- speaker, online discussions.

The fact that the people contributing to this argument were the most advanced players in a MUD which allowed player-killing might, on the face of it, be taken as evidence that they would probably prefer more "gamelike" aspects over "social" ones. However, this was not the case: the MUD in question had players of all types in it, even at wiz level. (Later in this paper, an analysis is given as to how such a MUD can come to be).

When the participants had finally run out of new things to say, it became time for me (as senior administrator) to summarise. Abstracting the various points that had been raised, a pattern emerged; people habitually found the same kinds of thing about the game "fun", but there were several (four, in fact) sub-groupings into which opinion divided. Most players leaned at least a little to all four, but each tended to have some particular overall preference. The summary was generally well received by those who had participated in the debate.

Note that although this MUD was one in which player-killing was allowed, the taxonomy which is about to be described does (as will be explained later) apply equally to "social" MUDs. The

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advice concerning changes which can be made to affect the player make-up of a MUD is, however, less useful to social MUDs, or to ones with a heavy role-playing component. Also, the original discussion concerned only non-administrative aspects of MUDding; people who might play MUDs to learn object-oriented programming, for example, are therefore not addressed by this paper.

The four things that people typically enjoyed personally about MUDs were:

i) Achievement within the game context.

Players give themselves game-related goals, and vigorously set out to achieve them. This usually means accumulating and disposing of large quantities of high-value treasure, or cutting a swathe through hordes of mobiles (ie. monsters built in to the virtual world).

ii) Exploration of the game.

Players try to find out as much as they can about the virtual world. Although initially this means mapping its topology (ie. exploring the MUD's breadth), later it advances to experimentation with its physics (ie. exploring the MUD's depth).

iii) Socialising with others.

Players use the game's communicative facilities, and apply the role-playing that these engender, as a context in which to converse (and otherwise interact) with their fellow players.

iv) Imposition upon others.

Players use the tools provided by the game to cause distress to (or, in rare circumstances, to help) other players. Where permitted, this usually involves acquiring some weapon and applying it enthusiastically to the persona of another player in the game world.

So, labelling the four player types abstracted, we get: achievers, explorers, socialisers and killers. An easy way to remember these is to consider suits in a conventional pack of cards: achievers are Diamonds (they're always seeking treasure); explorers are Spades (they dig around for information); socialisers are Hearts (they empathise with other players); killers are Clubs (they hit people with them).

Naturally, these areas cross over, and players will often drift between all four, depending on their mood or current playing style. However, my experience having observed players in the light of this research suggests that many (if not most) players do have a primary style, and will only switch to other styles as a (deliberate or subconscious) means to advance their main interest.

Looking at each player type in more detail, then:

i) Achievers regard points-gathering and rising in levels as their main goal, and all is ultimately subserviant to this. Exploration is necessary only to find new sources of treasure, or improved ways of wringing points from it. Socialising is a relaxing method of discovering what other players know about the business of accumulating points, that their knowledge can be applied to the task of gaining riches. Killing is only necessary to eliminate rivals or people who get in the

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way, or to gain vast amounts of points (if points are awarded for killing other players).

Achievers say things like:

"I'm busy." "Sure, I'll help you. What do I get?" "So how do YOU kill the dragon, then?" "Only 4211 points to go!"

ii) Explorers delight in having the game expose its internal machinations to them. They try progressively esoteric actions in wild, out-of-the-way places, looking for interesting features (ie. bugs) and figuring out how things work. Scoring points may be necessary to enter some next phase of exploration, but it's tedious, and anyone with half a brain can do it. Killing is quicker, and might be a constructive exercise in its own right, but it causes too much hassle in the long run if the deceased return to seek retribution. Socialising can be informative as a source of new ideas to try out, but most of what people say is irrelevant or old hat. The real fun comes only from discovery, and making the most complete set of maps in existence.

Explorers say things like:

"Hmm…" "You mean you don't know the shortest route from <obscure room 1> to <obscure room 2>?" "I haven't tried that one, what's it do?" "Why is it that if you carry the uranium you get radiation sickness, and if you put it in a bag you still get it, but if you put it in a bag and drop it then wait 20 seconds and pick it up again, you don't?"

iii) Socialisers are interested in people, and what they have to say. The game is merely a backdrop, a common ground where things happen to players. Inter-player relationships are important: empathising with people, sympathising, joking, entertaining, listening; even merely observing people play can be rewarding – seeing them grow as individuals, maturing over time. Some exploration may be necessary so as to understand what everyone else is talking about, and points-scoring could be required to gain access to neat communicative spells available only to higher levels (as well as to obtain a certain status in the community). Killing, however, is something only ever to be excused if it's a futile, impulsive act of revenge, perpetrated upon someone who has caused intolerable pain to a dear friend. The only ultimately fulfilling thing is not how to rise levels or kill hapless drips; it's getting to know people, to undertand them, and to form beautiful, lasting relationships.

Socialisers say things like:

"Hi!" "Yeah, well, I'm having trouble with my boyfriend." "What happened? I missed it, I was talking." "Really? Oh no! Gee, that's terrible! Are you sure? Awful, just awful!"

iv) Killers get their kicks from imposing themselves on others. This may be "nice", ie. busybody do-gooding, but few people practice such an approach because the rewards (a warm, cosy inner

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glow, apparently) aren't very substantial. Much more commonly, people attack other players with a view to killing off their personae (hence the name for this style of play). The more massive the distress caused, the greater the killer's joy at having caused it. Normal points-scoring is usually required so as to become powerful enough to begin causing havoc in earnest, and exploration of a kind is necessary to discover new and ingenious ways to kill people. Even socialising is sometimes worthwhile beyond taunting a recent victim, for example in finding out someone's playing habits, or discussing tactics with fellow killers. They're all just means to an end, though; only in the knowledge that a real person, somewhere, is very upset by what you've just done, yet can themselves do nothing about it, is there any true adrenalin-shooting, juicy fun.

Killers says things like:

"Ha!" "Coward!" "Die!" "Die! Die! Die!"

(Killers are people of few words).

How many players typically fall within each area depends on the MUD. If, however, too many gravitate to one particular style, the effect can be to cause players of other persuasions to leave, which in turn may feed back and reduce the numbers in the first category. For example, too many killers will drive away the achievers who form their main prey; this in turn will mean that killers will stop playing, as they'll have no worthwhile victims (players considered by killers to be explorers generally don't care about death, and players considered to be socialisers are too easy to pose much of a challenge). These direct relationships are discussed in more detail towards the end of this paper.

For the most part, though, the inter-relationships between the various playing styles are more subtle: a sharp reduction in the number of explorers for whatever reason could mean a gradual reduction in achievers, who get bored if they're not occasionally told of different hoops they can jump through for points; this could affect the number of socialisers (the fewer players there are, the less there is to talk about), and it would certainly lower the killer population (due to a general lack of suitable victims).

Making sure that a game doesn't veer off in the wrong direction and lose players can be difficult; administrators need to maintain a balanced relationship between the different types of player, so as to guarantee their MUD's "feel". Note that I am not advocating any particular form of equalibrium: it is up to the game administrators themseles to decide what atmosphere they want their MUD to have, and thus define the point at which it is "balanced" (although the effort required to maintain this desired state could be substantial). Later, this paper considers means by which a MUD can be pushed in different directions, either to restore an earlier balance between the player types, to define a new target set of relationships between the player types, or to cause the interplay between the player types to break down entirely. However, first a means is required of formally linking the four principal playing styles into aspects of a unified whole; this helps account for different degrees of adherence to particular styles, and aids visualisation of what "altering the balance" of a MUD might actually mean.

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INTEREST GRAPH

Consider the following abstract graph:

ACTING Killers | Achievers | | | | | PLAYERS ——————-+——————- WORLD | | | | | Socialisers | Explorers INTERACTING

The axes of the graph represent the source of players' interest in a MUD. The x-axis goes from an emphasis on players (left) to an emphasis on the environment (right); the y-axis goes from acting with (bottom) to acting on (top). The four extreme corners of the graph show the four typical playing preferences associated with each quadrant. To see how the graph works, it is appropriate to consider each of the four styles in detail:

i) Achievers are interested in doing things to the game, ie. in ACTING on the WORLD. It's the fact that the game environment is a fully-fledged world in which they can immerse themselves that they find compelling; its being shared with other people merely adds a little authenticity, and perhaps a competitive element. The point of playing is to master the game, and make it do what you want it to do; there's nothing intrinsically worthwhile in rooting out irrelevant details that will never be of use, or in idling away your life with gossip.

Achievers are proud of their formal status in the game's built-in level hierarchy, and of how short a time they took to reach it.

ii) Explorers are interested in having the game surprise them, ie. in INTERACTING with the WORLD. It's the sense of wonder which the virtual world imbues that they crave for; other players add depth to the game, but they aren't essential components of it, except perhaps as sources of new areas to visit. Scoring points all the time is a worthless occupation, because it defies the very open-endedness that makes a world live and breathe. Most accomplished explorers could easily rack up sufficient points to reach the top, but such one-dimensional behaviour is the sign of a limited intellect.

Explorers are proud of their knowledge of the game's finer points, especially if new players treat them as founts of all knowledge.

iii) Socialisers are interested in INTERACTING with other PLAYERS. This usually means talking, but it can extend to more exotic behaviour. Finding out about people and getting to know

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them is far more worthy than treating them as fodder to be bossed around. The game world is just a setting; it's the characters that make it so compelling.

Socialisers are proud of their friendships, their contacts and their influence.

iv) Killers are interested in doing things to people, ie. in ACTING on other PLAYERS. Normally, this is not with the consent of these "other players" (even if, objectively, the interference in their play might appear "helpful"), but killers don't care; they wish only to demonstrate their superiority over fellow humans, preferably in a world which serves to legitimise actions that could mean imprisonment in real life. Accumulated knowledge is useless unless it can be applied; even when it is applied, there's no fun unless it can affect a real person instead of an emotionless, computerised entity.

Killers are proud of their reputation and of their oft-practiced fighting skills.

The "interest graph" is a representational structure which can chart what players find of interest in a MUD. The axes can be assigned a relative scale reflecting the ratio of an individual's interest between the two extremes that it admits. Thus, for example, someone who thinks that the people who are in the world are maybe twice as important as the the world itself would lie on a vertical line intersecting the x-axis at a point 1/6 of the distance from the origin to the left edge; if they had little interest in bending the game to their will, preferring their actions to have some give and take, then they would also lie on a horizontal line at the bottom of the y-axis. The interesection of the two lines would put them in the socialiser quadrant, with leanings to explorer.

It is, of course, possible to analyse the behaviour of individual players quantitatively by processing transcripts of their games. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to do except for very limited domains (eg. forms of communication (Cherny, 1995a; Cherny, 1995b)). An alternative approach might simply be to ask the players what they themselves like about a particular MUD: even a short questionnaire, completed anonymously, can give a fair indication of what players find enjoyable (Emert, 1993). Such information can then be used to determine the make-up of the MUD's player base, so that in times of falling player numbers the current composition could be compared against some earlier ideal, and remedial action taken to redress the imbalance. This "ideal" configuration would, however, be specific to that particular MUD, and its precise form is therefore not addressed here. Instead, the more general issue of how to alter the balance between player types is considered, along with the gross effects that can be expected to follow from having done so.

CHANGING THE PLAYER TYPE

BALANCE

A stable MUD is one in which the four principal styles of player are in equilibrium. This doesn't imply that there are the same number of players exhibiting each style; rather, it means that over time the proportion of players for each style remains roughly constant, so that the balance between the the various types remains the same. Other factors are important, to do with the rate at which new players arrive and overall player numbers, but their consideration is not within the brief of

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this paper; the interaction between players of different types is within its brief, however, and is discussed in some detail later.

The actual point of balance (ie. whereabouts in the interest graph the centre of gravity of the individual players' points lies) can vary quite enormously; it is up to individual administrators to determine where they want it to lie, and to make any programming or design changes necessary to ensure that this is where it actually does. What kind of strategies, though, can be employed to achieve this task?

In order to answer this question, consider the interest graph. If it is regarded as a plane in equilibrium, it can be tilted in a number of ways to favour different areas. Usually, this will be at the expense of some other (opposite) area, but not necessarily. Although tilting can in theory occur along any line in the plane, it makes sense (at least initially) to look at what happens when the tilt lines coincide with the x and y axes if the graph.

What follows, then, is a brief examination of means by which a MUD can be adjusted so as to favour the various extremes of the interest graph, and what would happen if each approach were taken to the limit:

PLAYERS

Putting the emphasis on players rather than the game is easy – you just provide the system with lots of communication commands and precious little else. The more the scales are tipped towards players, though, the less of a MUD you have and the more of a CB-style chatline. Beyond a certain point, the game can't provide a context for communication, and it ceases to be a viable virtual world: it's just a comms channel for the real world. At this stage, when all sense of elsewhere-presence is lost, you no longer have a MUD.

WORLD

Tilting the game towards the world rather than its inhabitants is also easy: you simply make it so big and awkward to traverse that no-one ever meets anyone in it; alternatively, you can ensure that if they do meet up, then there are very few ways in which they an interact. Although this can result in some nice simulations, there's a loss of motivation implicit within it: anyone can rack up points given time, but there's not the same sense of achievement as when it's done under pressure from competing players. And what use is creating beautifully-crafted areas anyway, if you can't show them to people? Perhaps if computer-run personae had more AI a MUD could go further in this direction (Mauldin, 1994), but it couldn't (yet) go all the way (as authors of single-player games have found (Caspian-Kaufman, 1995)). Sometimes, y

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