Play-Persona: Modeling Player Behaviour in Computer Games

ARTICLE 1 - TOWARDS A THEORY OF THE PLAYER: DESIGNING
FOR EXPERIENCE
Article presented at DIGRA 2007 in Tokyo, Japan.
Abstract
This article intends to sketch a theory of the player drawing from psychological personality theories
(Assagioli’s Psychosynthesis), neurophysiologic studies (Damasio and Pert) and previous work on
player’s theory with the purpose of tracing a functional procedure for designing game worlds. I will
make use of the concept of sub-personalities to show how potentially, all player-types coexist
within the implied player. Once player types are individuated I intend to show how a “flow” path for
each one of them can be planned and included during the design phase of game worlds.
Keywords
Player, experience, emotion, personality, sub-personality, psychosynthesis, player types, flow, level
design, game worlds.
1 Introduction
Why is it necessary to investigate player behaviour when the main concern is to draft guidelines for
the realization of levels in single player action games?
“If level designers intend to shape game environments with a higher emotional valence that will
eventually trigger a defined player experience, they are forced to look at the avatar’s behaviour in
the game as a direct manifestation of the player’s personality.”[30]
It becomes apparent how the relationship between personality, experience and emotion assumes a
central focus. I am going to give a preliminary definition of these three key concepts, allowing for
an eventual later revision.
Personality in type theory is understood as a representation of a particular pattern of basic
elements. Special attention is devoted to what the individuals have in common. According to the
trait theory, personality is a compendium of traits or characteristic ways of behaving, thinking and
feeling. The focus here is on the differences between individuals. These two theories, as the two
sides of the same coin, are interchangeable and integrated with each other [26]. For our purpose
we can define personality as consisting of certain recognizable and reoccurring patterns. These
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