#oneaday Day 274: Gamer Motivation

I enjoy taking surveys that analyse things like the way your mind works and your motivations. As such, I was interested to see this post by Angie from Backlog Crusader, who provided both a link to a survey about "Gamer Motivation" as well as some prompt questions to analyse the results a bit more.

That sounds like fun! Let's do it! I'll be back in a moment after I've done the survey.

(Time passes.)

1. What were your results? Share the link, headline, and the two motivation model graphs you received.

Here are my results. 

I'm apparently "spontaneous, independent, deeply immersed and creative".

The first chart doesn't want to show for some reason, but here's my "secondary motivation" chart:

2. How do you feel about your survey results?

Pretty accurate. Fantasy, story and discovery are top of the heap, as you might expect from my work, with things like challenge, strategy and playing with others a low priority for me. I'm happy with that.

3. Which category is the most accurate and least accurate?

I think the "Destruction" score is a bit high, particularly as the survey's definitions say that means I'd gravitate towards stuff like Call of Duty and Battlefield! Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy blowing things up — particularly in shoot 'em ups and more old-school first-person shooters — but it's by no means a high priority. It's just something I do if it's there.

Meanwhile, my "Creative" score at 90%… well, I think we all know that's pretty accurate. Whether it's exploring the game world and what interactive possibilities it offers, or spending ages customising a character I will then spend 50+ hours staring at the back of… yeah, I like this side of things.

4. Are there any major exceptions to your typical gaming motivations?

I'm not normally super-big on challenging games, but sometimes I get the urge to take on something a bit more difficult than my normal fare. Usually this is when I'm already super-invested in an RPG and decide I'd like to take on its superboss(es); in most cases that comes as a natural part of ongoing progression rather than necessarily wanting to jump into something that is immediately hard, though.

5. Do any of these motivations carry over to your non-gaming life? If so, how?

Creativity is absolutely a driving force in my day-to-day life, as is hopefully obvious by this point. I get quite frustrated if I don't manage to meet my own expectations, and I enjoy experimenting with different styles of article and video — or covering subject matter I haven't explored before.

 6. Which games in your experience best satisfy your gaming motivations and how do they compare to the “suggested games” list from the questionnaire’s follow up page?

Hmm. Not great. Especially considering I ticked the "Niche" option for the game recommendations, because as we all know, I prefer lesser-known, underappreciated stuff.

I did enjoy Dragon Age II when I played it — a lot more than many other people did, in fact — but it's by no means an all-time favourite, and I've seriously soured on BioWare over the years. There also isn't a single Japanese game in this list, despite the survey asking me for (and recognising) several favourite games and games I'd enjoyed playing recently.

I want to highlight Life is Strange in that list; while this is something that I, in theory, should have enjoyed a great deal, what with it being a story-heavy game with emotional themes and cool fantasy powers… the more I think about it, the more I feel like I kind of disliked it. I found Chloe to be one of the most loathsome characters I've had the misfortune of being stuck with for five episodes of an adventure game, I found the game's transparent and hamfisted attempts to highlight modern social issues kind of insulting, and the ending of the whole thing was exceedingly unsatisfying. I obviously don't begrudge anyone their enjoyment of this game; I just came away rather unimpressed!

Also, Mass Effect: Andromeda? N-no. Just no.

As for stuff that does satisfy my particular urges? Well, most of the stuff I've given Cover Game features to on MoeGamer! Xenoblade Chronicles. Senran Kagura. Hyperdimension Neptunia. Blue Reflection. Atelier. And many more. You hopefully know me by now 🙂

So that's that! If you want to take the survey yourself, hit up this link. And be sure to add your favourite games to the recommendation engine at the end; that way, it should, in theory, get better over time!