In Gamasutra's latest feature, a unified model of player types is proposed -- by surveying work done by academics and developers and attempting to synthesize a total picture of why players play.
The piece starts with Richard Bartle's four famous Types:
- Killers: interfere with the functioning of the game world or the play experience of other players
- Achievers: accumulate status tokens by beating the rules-based challenges of the game world
- Explorers: discover the systems governing the operation of the game world
- Socializers: form relationships with other players by telling stories within the game world