How games get placed
Every game on this site sits somewhere across three dimensions:
- Micro (execution),
- Meso (reading people and managing randomness),
- Macro (systems and optimal play)
A placement is a read on a game's nature, not a measurement. What follows is where each placement comes from and how much to trust it.
Prefer to just browse? See all 316 games mapped across Micro, Meso and Macro.
The original games are Surnex's, kept verbatim
141 of the games come straight from the Venn diagram in Surnex's video. Each one is transcribed exactly where he placed it and left as drawn, including his choice of the game title. If he labelled a specific version like CS2 or Tetris 99, that name stays, because the goal is to reflect his framework faithfully rather than tidy it up. These entries are locked and do not drift.
The custom games are judgment calls
Some games are not on Surnex's diagram.
Those get added here using his own test:
to break a game trivially, what cheat would you reach for?
An aimbot points at Micro, seeing what you shouldn't points at Meso, and a perfect coach or engine points at Macro. The answer comes from judgment first, then a check against evidence: the cheats people actually sell, the mods a competitive scene would ban, the leaderboard rules, and what good players say wins games. The result is then checked for consistency with how the original games were placed.
Custom games are grouped by nature, not by release. A series shares one entry when the editions play the same way, so Civilization is a single entry rather than one per number. When a sequel genuinely changes what the game tests, it earns its own entry, the same way Surnex splits Tetris from Tetris 99.
The archetype names are this site's, not Surnex's
Surnex's framework is the three axes: Micro, Meso, and Macro. The seven player-type names this site uses, The Mechanic, The Mind Gamer, The Strategist, The Duelist, The Perfectionist, The Tactician, and The Competitor, are playertype.gg's own naming layered on top of those axes. They are a way to give each region of the map a face, not part of the original video. Think of them as labels for the seven combinations of micro meso macro that a game, or a player, can land in.
How does this compare to Bartle?
The most known player type framework is Bartle's taxonomy, which sorts players by motivation: Achievers, Explorers, Socialisers and Killers. Micro, Meso and Macro asks a different question, not why you play but what the game tests, which is why it can place a game the same way regardless of who plays it.
See how the frameworks compareHow reliable is this?
Not really certain, to be honest. This is a rather new framework from Surnex, plus added judgment on everything beyond the diagram, not measured data. Some placements are genuinely arguable, so your feedback would be greatly appreciated! If a game feels wrong, there should be a better placement to argue for within the diagram.