If you’re interested in games and gamification, you might have heard of Bartle’s game player types and the Bartle Test, a game player classification system. It highlights the different player personalities and attitudes, of which there are four:
- Achievers: win, challenge, create, show off, compare
- Socialisers: help, share, comment, gift, greet
- Explorers: explore, rate, review, vote, curate
- Killers: harass, hack, cheat, heckle, troll
Now, there are many situations in which this theory of player types does not apply. You’ve got to be a bit special to attempt to apply it to gamified online shopping experiences, for instance – that’s really not a ‘game’. But what about Learning Management Systems? Ours, the Gamified Social Academy LMS, has so many gamification features added to it that it’s pretty much like a game – well, much more so than getting badges and points for buying shoes!
So what does it take to create an LMS with such exceptional gamification that it can satisfy all of Bartle’s player types? Funny you should ask! Here’s an explanation of each player type and how specific gamification features satisfy their needs and desires.
The Four Player Types and The Right Gamification For Them
Explorers
As we saw above, Explores like to explore (duh!) their LMS and discover new areas, new activities and new functionality. They like to rate these, review functions and vote content up or down according to their own personal view.
Gamification for Explorers:
Game players that like exploring and rating will love the badges that we award learners for navigating around the Academy LMS, sharing their achievements on social media and interacting in other ways. For instance, learners will gain the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ badge for using the search functionality, and the ‘…And the verdict is’ badge for rating a video or piece of eLearning. It’s great for tapping into Explorers’ motivation!
Achievers
These guys and girls are competitive and like beating difficult challenges. The more challenging the better!
Gamification for Achievers:
Having the chance to gain ‘points’ for completing tricky eLearning modules and progressing up through the levels, from ‘Newbie’ through to ‘Pirate King’, will really light a fire under Achievers and get them loving their LMS!
Killers
They’re not as bad as they sound! Killers just like to cause a bit of trouble and get attention.
Gamification for Killers:
As well as sharing their achievements on the Dialogue Stream and getting a reputation for being a ferocious competitor, Killers like being able to climb up the leaderboard and get ahead of other learners. The competition is fierce!
Socialisers
A friendly bunch, Socialisers are often more interested in getting to know other learners than playing the game itself. They help to spread knowledge and give their LMS a more ‘human’ feel with a little social learning.
Gamification for Socialisers:
Since they enjoy interacting with other learners, it’s important that a Learning Management System has a special area dedicated to socialisation, collaboration and conversation. We’ve created the ‘My Insights’ area to do just this – it’s a gamified section of the Academy where learners can chat with one another and share their knowledge on topics that are of mutual interest. Learning is no longer a solo affair!
