Unlocking Player Insights: A Key to Creating Engaging Games

Understanding the games we love is one thing, but explaining why we love them is a different story. Even game developers struggle to pinpoint the reasons behind player preferences. While players can identify elements they enjoy, such as colors, puzzles, or characters, they rarely elaborate on why these elements appeal to them. To create games that truly speak to players, developers must comprehend not only what players like but also the underlying motivations behind their preferences. Various methods can help answer these questions, including playtests, player surveys, market research, and in-game analytics, which provide insights into what players enjoy. However, understanding why players are drawn to certain experiences is more complex and requires delving into individual motivations. Fortunately, this is not uncharted territory, with concepts like 'Meyers-Briggs,' 'heuristics,' and 'personality tests' offering frameworks for understanding human behavior. In gaming, terms like 'player personas,' 'player archetypes,' and 'Bartle Player Types' are used to categorize players based on their motivations and behaviors. But how can developers integrate these insights into their game development process? At Metacore, players are at the forefront, and identifying the target audience is crucial before diving into detailed game design. The approach can start with an idea for a game mechanic, world, or genre, followed by identifying which players would enjoy this concept, or it can begin with a specific audience in mind, tailoring the game to their preferences. Both methods are valid and should be the initial step, focusing on discovering the potential audience or the gameplay they are likely to enjoy. Tools like Game Refinery analyze millions of mobile gaming data points to form clusters of player behaviors, categorized into motivations and archetypes. For instance, if the idea is for a new merge game, Game Refinery can examine the player motivation breakdowns for popular merge games. Knowing the motivations, such as completing milestones, solving puzzles, and escapism, can help design the game to emphasize progressive rewards systems instead of competitive modes. A common pitfall for designers is investing time in features they believe are fun without checking if the audience agrees. Tools like Game Refinery help identify where players find the fun, ensuring every part of the game pitch aligns with audience preferences. Once a game is live, real player data becomes the most valuable resource for actionable insights. Through data analysis, developers can pinpoint which parts of the game resonate most with players and identify areas that are less enjoyable. Clustering player behaviors based on likes and dislikes generates archetypes or player personas specific to the audience. Player interviews based on this behavioral segmentation reveal patterns in each group's motivations, shedding light on the why behind player preferences. Developers can create their own player persona models or use third-party frameworks. Magic: The Gathering's 'Timmys, Johnnys, and Spikes' model is an example, clustering player behaviors based on three personas, each with unique motivations. Ensuring that any new features or cards cater to at least one of these player types is crucial. Proprietary models consider active players but don't account for non-players or understand players outside the game environment. For expanding audiences or deepening connections, data-driven platforms like Solsten can provide detailed psychological profiles, leveraging models like The Big Five (OCEAN) to analyze player behavior and preferences. Understanding what drives players, both the who and the why, is essential for driving game development. Applying psychographic frameworks alongside game data and AI can reveal more about players than ever before. Integrating player insights, motivations, and psychographic frameworks allows for the design of games that resonate with players' motivations, ensuring greater engagement and retention. Asking the right questions, understanding player psychology, and utilizing relevant frameworks can help create games where every player finds something that speaks to them, keeping them captivated for years to come.