Gamer Preferences Quiz

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I took the quiz, and came out NSG/DKF. I'm not sure this is exactly accurate, but most of the time I do find my style of play falls into the Narrativist mode (except in Vampire LARP, where I tend towards a Gamist outlook, focussing on social mechanics like Boons and Status... I dunno, maybe it's just the type of games I play in).

The actual point I'd like to make is that I see this quiz is very much in the mold of the personality quizes(sp?) used for determining various psychological personality types (there are a number of theories based on innate preferences, etc.). I have personally studied a number of these psychological models, and have found some useful, others less so. However, compared to more scientific psychological tests, this quiz has an extraordinarily small number of questions, and also a small range of preferences that can be expressed in answering them.

I don't personally believe this type of quiz is exceptionally useful in determining personal preference regarding GNS issues. I believe preferences vary according to the player's role in the game (GM or player, in particular), and also the player's level of exposure to differing styles of play (i.e. a player more comfortable with Simulationist play may be more likely to indicate a preference for it, despite the fact that if they had more experience with another mode, he might prefer it instead).

I'm not sure you could seperate the determination of overall personal preference from preference in specific cases with great ease. But, should you wish to do so, a larger number of questions would provide a greater variety of specific situations, and thus perhaps give more of an indication of any overall personal preference.

[M. J. Young]

I indeed have considered adding more questions. There's a degree to which I think I was lucky to get the thirty-six I did get, given the parameters of the quiz.

First, each situation has to have somewhat distinct (admittedly not entirely exclusive) responses in each of the three goals; similarly, there must be distinct mechanics implications of each situation.

Second, the selected answers need to implicate different aspects of each of the goals and each of the mechanics. It doesn't particularly help to add three more questions each of which addresses drama mechanics by asking whether the referee should railroad the outcome in some way, as this skews the balance against other aspects of drama mechanics. Thus another question would not merely have to have distinct GNS and DFK implications, it would also have to elucidate new facets of each of those.

I was working on a seventh situation at one time, but there is so much else on my plate that it sort of fell through the cracks. I am certainly interested in any ideas for questions that illuminate other aspects of either DFK or GNS, if anyone has them; I might actually be able to find implications in the other side.

I know that thirty-six questions is short for a personality test; on the other hand, people have gotten good results from the considerably shorter alignment quiz (judging from e-mail), and this quiz does seem to work for most people, at least in the main. There is some problem in the subjectivity of the range--some people will never give any answer a 4 (it is never exactly like them), and some will never give any answer a 1 (they are either neutral or opposed, never somewhat opposed). There is also a degree to which the quiz is a bit of a game itself; a hundred question quiz would be more daunting and less interesting to most gamers.

Thanks for the input.

--M. J. Young