Player types, explained
A player type is a way of describing how someone plays, or what a game asks of them. There is more than one way to slice it, and the three frameworks below each answer a different question.
The classic: Bartle's four player types
The original player type framework comes from Richard Bartle's 1996 paper, written about the text-based multiplayer worlds (MUDs) that came before modern online games. It sorts players along two axes, acting versus interacting and players versus world, into four motivations:
- Achievers chase points, levels and concrete progress.
- Explorers want to discover how the world works.
- Socialisers play for the other people.
- Killers play to impose themselves on others.
It is a typology of motivation: it describes why people play, not what a game demands of them.
The data-driven turn: Quantic Foundry's motivations
Quantic Foundry, run by Nick Yee and Nicolas Ducheneaut, rebuilt the idea from data. By running factor analysis on a survey of more than 140,000 gamers, they found twelve motivation factors that group into three clusters:
- Action-Social,
- Mastery-Achievement,
- Immersion-Creativity
This structure holds across regions and tracks the Big Five personality model.
Like Bartle, it measures the player rather than the game. It can still say something about a specific title, because it also asks people what they play, so the motivations its players tend to share become the game's audience profile. But that still maps a game's players, not the game itself.
A different question: Micro, Meso, Macro
The Micro, Meso, Macro framework, from a video by Surnex, asks something the other two do not: what does the game itself test? It uses one quick trick, to break a game trivially, what cheat would you reach for, and lands on three dimensions:
- Micro is execution: aim, timing, and movement. The cheat is an aimbot.
- Meso is reading: out-thinking a live opponent and riding the randomness. The cheat is seeing what you should not.
- Macro is strategy: routing, resources, and the optimal line. The cheat is a perfect coach or engine.
Because it grades the challenge, not the person, it places a game the same way no matter who is playing it.
How the three compare
| Framework | Origin | What it classifies | Maps specific games? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bartle taxonomy | Richard Bartle, 1996 | Players, by motivation | No, it is a player typology |
| Gamer Motivation Model | Quantic Foundry (Yee), 2015 on | Motivations, from survey data | By audience, who tends to play it |
| Micro, Meso, Macro | Surnex | The game, by what it tests | Yes, intrinsic to each game |
These line up more than they conflict. Quantic Foundry's Mastery cluster, its Strategy and Challenge factors, maps loosely onto Macro and Micro, and its competitive, against-other-players streak touches Meso. The overlap is loose rather than exact, though, because those frameworks measure what a player is drawn to while Micro, Meso, Macro measures what the game asks for.
Why this one is searchable game by game
Here is the practical difference. You cannot really write a definitive list of “Achiever games,” because that label lives in the player. But if a framework grades the game's own nature, every title gets a fixed spot on the map, and the map becomes a directory. That is why this site can publish a placement for all 316 games on the Micro, Meso and Macro map, and a page for each of the seven player types they fall into.
Questions
- Is Micro, Meso, Macro the same as Bartle's taxonomy?
- No. Bartle's taxonomy sorts players by what they enjoy (achievement, exploration, socialising, dominating others). Micro, Meso and Macro sorts games by what they test: execution, reading, or strategy. One describes the person, the other describes the challenge.
- What are the player types?
- It depends on the framework. Bartle names four player motivations: Achievers, Explorers, Socialisers and Killers. The Micro, Meso, Macro framework instead produces seven game-based types, from The Mechanic to The Competitor, one for each combination of the three dimensions.
- Which player type am I?
- On the Micro, Meso, Macro map you can find out two ways: take the quiz, or connect your Steam account and read your type from the games you actually play.
- Who created the Micro, Meso, Macro framework?
- It comes from a video by Surnex on how competitive games differ. This site is a fan project that transcribes his diagram and adds an archetype layer on top of the three axes.
Sources and further reading
Richard A. Bartle, “Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs” (1996)
the four player types and the two axesQuantic Foundry, “The Gamer Motivation Model”
the sample size and per-game audience profilesNick Yee, “How We Developed the Gamer Motivation Profile” (Quantic Foundry, 2015)
the twelve motivation factorsNick Yee, “How We Developed the Gamer Motivation Profile” (Quantic Foundry, 2015)
the three high-level clusters and the Big Five linkSurnex, “Once you see this, You'll see Competitive Games Differently”
the Micro, Meso, Macro frameworkWikipedia, “Multi-user dungeon”
MUDs article on Wikipedia