Mastin's Player Type Theory

This is something I’ve been thinking about for a few months now, about a basic idea: every single player can be categorized into a type of playstyle. What would I use as a model, though? Well, I found something, and then I went, “There’s no way this works that well. There’s no way I just found something like that working flawlessly.” It turns out that I did: I found a way to categorize players, and found they fall into one of four types, divided into two categories, for eight total—they are…

Type One—

• Players who have no true reason to be playing.

They aren’t playing to win. They aren’t playing for fun. What are they playing for, then? Well, it depends, really. It can vary significantly. This kind of player might not sound good, but they’re not necessarily bad. An IC who doesn’t actively try to fulfill their “Play to Win” half of their role can be an example: their reason for playing is to teach. It’s also to win, but not all ICs play that way. Another example is a player who is retired, accepting an invitation into a game run by an old friend—chances are, they retired for a reason: perhaps they weren’t having fun, or lost the thrill of victory. If they are like that, and still play, their reason for playing isn’t to win, it isn’t to have fun, it’s to help an old friend moderate their game.

1 a:

• No reason to play themselves.

This is the mentioned examples, pretty much. Many players who get sick and tired of elements of mafia will end up like this, yet keep on going for whatever other reason. Look around for people who’ve said they’ve retired. I know quite a number. Now look at how many of them actually have. Not as many, eh?

1 b:

• For Everyone.

There’s another word for this type: troll. Anyone who wants to ruin the game for everyone is of this type. If they don’t want to have fun and have no desire to win themselves, that’s fine. (See 1 a.) If they’re intentionally trying to make others not have fun as well (that is, they want everyone as miserable as they themselves are), then they are trolling. I sincerely hope I never see one of these players. (I haven’t seen one, and I hope I never do.) This player is the kind who you want to ban from your games, eternally blacklist until they stop intentionally trying to make your life a living netherworld.

Note, however, that they are only this type if it is intentional. If they do it accidentally, they genuinely tend to not want to cause any harm, and will try to improve.

Type Two—

• Players Who Play for Fun:

We all know the type. They enjoy what they are doing. These are the kinds of players who will replace into a role publicly outed as a Serial Killer, for the lulz. They tend to enjoy third party roles, but it is not a guarantee. They are the kind who just wants a good time in a game, and are people who tend to be party animals. Like with all the player types listed, there is a huge variety in this field. A lot of them, however, will be in multiple games at the same time, to get the adrenaline rush associated with playing, no matter their role. (They also run the risk of replacing out or--worse--being a living corpse if they get bored.)

2 a:

• Play Personally for Fun.

This player doesn’t really care how another person plays. They’re a bit carefree, you could say, and tend to heavily be on the reckless side of things. These people tend to just ignore play-to-win players, because they’re nothing more than distractions to the true goal of a game: enjoy oneself! These people love every moment, and tend to have highly erratic styles of playing. These players love challenges. They like things exciting for themselves. Even if a setup is unbalanced, they don’t care, so long as they can have a good time. On the positive end of this scale, you get players who are very active, who are flexible, will accept any role you give them, and are likely to liven up a game with their presence. On the negative side of the scale, you get people who disregard everyone else for themselves, who post too much, and might harm the game if they lose interest. I, for example, was this type of a player. Self-voting and claiming scum can really tick some people off, but they are things not intended with malice: they’re intended to be fun (and are...for the player doing it. For others? Not so much). It’s a good idea to have one or two players of this type, but you have to both –try to limit how extreme they are, and –not have too many of them; things can get a bit…disorganized…if there are too many of them.

2 b:

• Players Who Want Everyone to have Fun.

This kind of a player tends to really dislike players who play to win (to say the least), seeing them as killjoys. The point of the game is to enjoy oneself, not whether they win or lose. These people tend to like playing a bit more traditionally than 2a’s: they dislike extremely outlandish behavior. This also applies to gamebreaking strategies: as they are not how the game should be played, they’re not welcomed by this type of a player. This kind of player will try to make everyone participate, because anyone not participating obviously isn’t having a good time. They want to have a good game, a fun game, and want everyone to share the experience. They are the kind of person who as mafia would kill a lurker and leave the more active players alive, instead of killing a good player and letting the lurkers slow the game down. This means they’re a great asset to have in most games, though it’s best to not have too many of them. The thread will become cluttered and the game might ironically end up being less fun and harder to read. I’d recommend at least one or two, but they can make up to 40% of the players in a game. Beyond that, and you’re getting a bit risky.

Type Three—

• Play To Win.