The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games - Michael J. Tresca [78]
Achiever
Achievers are levelers or grinders; their goal is to win, or at least accumulate as much as possible. Achievers, also known as power gamers, are defined by Taylor as being constantly engaged in extremely focused goal setting, ranging from leveling up to acquiring certain equipment to defeating a particular monster (2006:75).
Achievers find a middle ground between Socializers, who rely on others as content, and Explorers, who rely on the game’s content. Achievers burn through content at a high rate as they increase in power, often through “levelgrinding” power structures. The advantage of this form of power-leveling is that ranks are easily identifiable, and this often translates into a form of hierarchy. This hierarchy, usually designated by one number tied to the character like a level, provides the other satisfaction of an Achiever—he or she achieves in comparison to others. It’s not just enough to achieve a high level; an Achiever wants to have a higher level than everyone else.
Unlike Socializers and Explorers, Achievers and Killers are toxic to MUD environments, especially in the early development phases of young MUDs that are still establishing their player community. RetroMUD’s similarity to other MUDs attracted the bitter, the angry, the violent players from those games. It took years and frequent intervention by the coding staff to create an environment that was stable enough to attract players of the other play styles.
That said, Killers and Achievers make games better. Player-killing, when appropriately regulated, can be very exciting—it’s the ultimate in ergodics, where two players are pitted against each other. Achievers test the limits of a game’s system; they are the best beta testers and will discover a game’s flaws quickly.
Ultimately, all four play styles are perfectly valid means for players to approach a game, a sentiment echoed by RetroMUD’s administrators:
The number one thing I’ve learned is that players are people too. They have faults, they grow and change, some mature. Sometimes they come to Retro to escape their problems, sometimes they bring their problems into the game. Anyone can have a good day or a bad day, can make mistakes or learn from them [Fallah 2010].
Anonymity
My master’s thesis, The Impact of Anonymity on Disinhibition Over Computer-Mediated Communication, found relevance in the online gaming world when Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik at Penny Arcade launched their own hypothesis, the Internet Fuckwad Theory. This theory stated essentially the same thing: when players are anonymous, with no chance of reprisal for their actions, they revert to coarse behavior. My friend Chris Bibbs noted the similarities and sent Penny Arcade a link to my thesis. When Penny Arcade in turn posted the link, my site received far more hits than it received in the five prior years.
As a result of Penny Arcade’s publicity, sites all over the globe picked up on it and it was even referenced in The Washington Times in “Around the Water Cooler.” The reference cast me as a “Michigan State scholar” and incorrectly summarized my thesis as stating that people tend to swear more when they’re anonymous.
My thesis focused on how technology changes the way we perceive each other and ourselves. Computer-mediated communication, for example, allows us to contact thousands of people within seconds without actually standing in their presence. This anonymity affects how we perceive each other, how we interact with these perceptions of others, and the degree to which our social environment restricts us.
In my thesis, I posited that many users feel uninhibited and unrestrained because of a lack of social context cues and therefore exhibit more disinhibition in the form of insults, swearing, and hostile language (Walther 1993) than if they were communicating face-to-face with the same people (Siegel, Kiesler and McGuire