Skip to content

Do You Play to Win, to Wander, or to Belong?

Three separate things decide what you actually want out of a game: how hard you want it to push back, how much of it you want somebody else to have written, and whether you want anyone else in there with you. They come apart. That is why there are eight kinds of player and not two.

Thirty-six statements, about six minutes, and a point inside a cube. Answer for the games you choose to play, not the ones you end up in.

36 questions

Answered 0 of 36

  1. 1 A game that quietly makes things easier when I struggle has cheated me.
  2. 2 I would rather be handed a set of tools than a set of missions.
  3. 3 I turn voice chat off when I can.
  4. 4 I would rather set my own goal in a game than be given one.
  5. 5 A game earns nothing extra from me by being difficult.
  6. 6 The good stuff in a game comes out of its rules, not its script.
  7. 7 I would rather finish a game on an easier setting than stall out on a harder one.
  8. 8 I want a game to have an ending that somebody wrote for it.
  9. 9 Whatever community grows around a game, I would rather stay outside it.
  10. 10 A game I cannot play with anyone else feels like it is missing something.
  11. 11 The point of a hard stretch is the version of me that comes out the other side.
  12. 12 I want a game to make me earn what it gives me.
  13. 13 I would rather poke around the edges of a game than do what it is asking.
  14. 14 Playing with strangers is better than playing with nobody.
  15. 15 A game gets better the moment somebody else is in it with me.
  16. 16 I have turned down an invitation to play in order to keep going on my own.
  17. 17 Other people in a game are mostly something to work around.
  18. 18 Being part of a group is a real reason to keep playing something.
  19. 19 Turning on an assist option to get past a wall is a fine way to play.
  20. 20 Building something of my own is the part of a game I enjoy most.
  21. 21 What I remember about a game is usually its characters.
  22. 22 Talking to the people I am playing with is half of why I am there.
  23. 23 A game that knows exactly what it wants to be is worth more than one that leaves it to me.
  24. 24 I would rather a game let me through a hard part than make me repeat it.
  25. 25 I have gone back through a game on an easier setting just to enjoy it again.
  26. 26 A message left behind by another player is as much company as I want.
  27. 27 A world worth wandering matters more to me than a plot worth following.
  28. 28 Losing an hour of progress to a single mistake is more than I want to risk in a game.
  29. 29 I would rather share a game with somebody than have it to myself.
  30. 30 A game that goes easy on me stops being interesting.
  31. 31 I have played a game a second time to take the choice I passed up.
  32. 32 A story that is going somewhere is what keeps me playing.
  33. 33 I like knowing that a game has a shape somebody decided on.
  34. 34 Beating something on the first try leaves me a bit flat.
  35. 35 A game should expect me to get better at it.
  36. 36 A game is better when there is nobody else's pace to keep up with.