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: