Personality types have been a crucial gauge for the projects I’ve been involved in. They allow us to easily identify missing components in a process and “test” outside of our narrower personas. Personality types, though, have many labels which mostly seem to be descendants of the same four Jungian personality types. However, each label allows us to apply the personality type to a particular context and act on the information embodied by that personality. For instance, the two personality type labels we’re using on our current project are for gaming and for e-commerce. To leverage both sets of labels I’ll be mapping them from context1, game play, to context2, e-commerce.
Using this mapping workflows can be optimized for personality types that may be accurately described one way in the beginning of the process and another way further along in the process. For this project, we are designing a purchase process for online video games. This process allows us to identify the types of gamers in the game play and be able to carry that over to a mapped personality type in the checkout process. Here is the mapping we’ll be using:
Mapping
| Gaming | E-commerce | Shared Traits |
|---|---|---|
| Altered States | Methodical | |
| Easy Fun | Spontaneous | Enjoyment/excitement, adventure, the story/the big picture, feeling like one with the characters/personal detail |
| The People Factor | Humanistic | It’s the people/cooperation, invite my friends over/belonging, a way to spend time with my friends/acceptance, it’s fun to watch/entertainment |
| Hard Fun | Competitive | How good I am/competence, beat the game/achieving success, multiple objectives/meeting goals, strategy rather than luck/understanding |
Of course, this method is applicable to personality types in any context. The personality types for this application are taken from Lazarro’s game personality types and Eisenberg’s e-commerce personality types. Here they are for reference.
Altered States1
Players treasure the enjoyment from their internal experiences in
reaction to the visceral, behavior, cognitive, and social properties. These players
play for internal sensations such as Excitement or Relief from their thoughts and
feelings.
• Clearing my mind by clearing a level
• Feeling better about myself
• Avoiding boredom
• Being better at something that matters
Easy Fun1
Players enjoy intrigue and curiosity. Players become immersed in games
when it absorbs their complete attention, or when it takes them on an exciting
adventure. These Immersive game aspects are “Easy Fun” and generate emotions
and experiences of Wonder, Awe, and Mystery.
• Exploring new worlds with intriguing people
• Excitement and adventure
• Wanting to figure it out
• Seeing what happens in the story, even if I have to use a walk through
• Feeling like me and my character are one
• Liking the sound of cards shuffling
• Growing dragons
The People Factor1
Players use games as mechanisms for social experiences.
These players enjoy the emotions of Amusement, Schadenfreude, and Naches
coming fromthe social experiences of competition, teamwork, as well as opportunity
for social bonding and personal recognition that comes from playing with others.
• It’s the people that are addictive not the game.
• I want an excuse to invite my friends over.
• I don’t like playing games, but it’s a fun way to spend time with my friends.
• I don’t play, but it’s fun to watch.
Hard Fun1
Players like the opportunities for challenge, strategy, and problem
solving. Their comments focus on the game’s challenge and strategic thinking and
problem solving. This “Hard Fun” frequently generates emotions and experiences of
Frustration, and Fiero.
• Playing to see how good I really am
• Playing to beat the game
• Having multiple objectives
• Requiring strategy rather than luck
Compared to the Eisenberg’s personality types:
Methodical2
• Order
• Neatness
• Facts
• Attention to detail
• Accuracy in reporting
• Credibility
• Data
• Truth
Spontaneous2
• Enjoyment
• Adventure
• Authenticity
• Internal integrity
• Honesty
• Values
• Opinions
• The big picture
• Personal detail
Humanistic2
• Belonging
• Cooperation
• Giving
• Caring
• Service to others
• Creativity
• Entertainment
• Acceptance
• Freedom
• The big picture
Competitive2
• Competence
• Understanding
• Control
• Curiosity
• Challenges
• Meeting goals
• Motivation
• Achieving success
1. Lazzaro, N. 2004. “Why We Play Games: Four Keys to More Emotion Without Story” www.xeodesign.com/xeodesign_whyweplaygames.pdf
2. Eisenberg, B., J. Eisenberg, and L. Davis. 2006. Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
