What Motivates

Different Types of
Game Players?
We’ve hand-picked some of our latest insights in
the areas of player archetypes and motivations
for five popular game genres.

Discover the types of players they attract

and what makes these people tick.

Top 3 Player Archetypes

US App Store (iOS Only)

(You can find full descriptions of each archetype at the end of this inforgraphic).

Expressionist Thrill Seeker Skills Master Other

Lifestyle 28% 23% 15% 34%

Thinker Skills Master Thrill Seeker Other

Puzzle 38% 22% 12% 28%

Thrill Seeker Skills Master King of the Hill Other

Shooter 28% 25% 19% 28%

Strategist Networker King of the Hill Other

Strategy 19% 17% 16% 48%

Thrill Seeker Skills Master King of the Hill Other

Sports 33% 30% 20% 17%

Top 3 Player Motivations

US App Store (iOS Only)

(You can find full descriptions of each player motivation at the end of this inforgraphic).

Lifestyle
5
4 Customization & Decoration
3 Expression 3.7
2 0 5
Excitement & Thrill
Escapism 3.2
0 5
Role Playing & Emotion
Expression 3.0
0 5

Puzzle
5
4 Thinking & Solving
3 Escapism 4.1
2 0 5
Improving Skills
Mastery 3.1
0 5
Completing Milestones
Mastery 3.0
0 5

Shooter
5
4 Excitement & Thrill
3 Escapism 4.9
2 0 5
Competing Against Others
Social 4.7
0 5
Improving Skills
Mastery 4.6
0 5

Strategy
5
4 Competing Against Others
3 Social 4.5
2 0 5
Strategic Planning
Management 4.2
0 5
Resource Optimization
Management 3.9
0 5

Sports
5
4 Excitement & Thrill
3 Escapism 4.6
2 0 5
Competing Against Others
Social 4.4
0 5
Improving Skills
Mastery 4.4
0 5

High Revenue Impact and Differentiating

Features in Each Genre
US App Store (iOS Only)

Feature Revenue Impact (1-6) Top 20% Grossing Popularity *

🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
Live Events – Non-recurring 88%
🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
Lifestyle

Relationship System – NPCs 63%

🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
User Generated Content 50%
🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
Live Events – Recurring 100%
🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
Puzzle

Limited Time IAP - Offers 98%

🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
Monetized Continue / Retry 90%
🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
PvP – Synchronous 100%
🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
Shooter

Special Rewards from Live Events 91%

🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
Battle Pass Plan 73%
🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
Guild Mechanics 100%
🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
Stragety

Competitive co-op – Guild Wars /

88%
Competitions
🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
Special PvE Modes / Levels 88%
🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
PvP – Synchronous 90%
🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
Sports

Special Benefits from Communal

100%
Activities/PvP
🤑🤑🤑🤑
Gachas 90%

* % of games utilizing the feature within the top 20% grossing games US iOS

So Who Are the Eight Player Archetypes?

Expressionist Thrill Seeker Thinker

Expressionists love to express
themselves and their identity
through gameplay, whether it's
decorating, designing, role-playing
or storytelling. They like nothing
more than to experience a wide
range of emotions by diving into
stories and narratives and taking
the role of a hero or a villain.
Adrenaline rush, risk taking and
high- speed action are attributes
Thrill seekers associate with
optimal gaming experience. They
want to experience excitement
and suspense rather than spend
their time with slow paced
gameplay requiring lots of
strategic planning and thinking.
Thinkers enjoy playing games for
the occasional brain teaser or
other cognitive challenges to take
their mind off other things. Being
able to successfully solve puzzles
gives Thinkers a high sense of
accomplishment and draws them
to the world of gaming time and
time again.

Treasure Hunter Strategist Networker

Treasure Hunters prefer games
that constantly offer new areas
and worlds to explore and have a
wide range of items, characters or
other things to find and collect.
Treasure Hunters feel a high
degree of satisfaction when they
bump into new findings and get to
grow their collection of valuables.
Strategists are drawn to games
that reward (but also require) a
strategic mind-set, careful
planning and rigorous optimizing
around various gameplay areas.
They enjoy complex strategic
planning and executing tactical
maneuvers, as well as optimizing
the use of resources available
to them.
Networkers see gaming as a social
activity best enjoyed by working
together with other players.
Community building and co-op
playing will definitely catch this
player type's attention. Networkers
want to feel a sense of togetherness
through working together with
friends or even random people while
achieving goals as a team, but
they're not afraid of jumping into
competitive situations either.

Skills Master King of the Hill

Skill Masters are always on the look for ways to
become better and better in any game they
pick up. They see hard difficulty and steep
learning curves as appealing rather than
repelling qualities. Skill Masters are passionate
about improving and honing all aspects of their
gameplay and gain satisfaction when others
acknowledge their high level of skill.
Kings of the Hill prefer games with a high degree
of competition with other players. For this player
type PvP-action is the best (and often the only)
way to get the most satisfaction out of gaming.
Kings of the Hill enjoy the sense of power
resulting from competing against friends,
acquaintances or random people and then
outwitting, outmaneuvering and outlasting them.

The 12 Key Player Motivations

Customization & “I like to express myself through visual customization and

Decoration decorations of characters, items or buildings and
Expression

showing it to others”.

Role Playing & “I like to experience a wide range of emotions by diving

Emotions into stories and narratives and assuming the roles of
heroes or villains”.

Improving Skills “I like to experience a sense of improvement and

advancement, whether it’s about sensory skills or
cognitive abilities”.
Mastery

Completing Milestones “I like to experience a sense of completion through

achieving different milestones and thresholds, each more
demanding than the last”.

Discovering New “I like to experience a sense of wonder and curiosity

Worlds while finding new exciting worlds and areas to explore”.
Exploration

Collecting Treasure “I like to experience a sense of accomplishment by

finding new items and characters and completing
collections”.

Strategic Planning “I like to experience a sense of accomplishment through

Management

strategic planning and successful tactful maneuvers”.

Resource Optimization “I like to experience a sense of fulfilment by optimizing

complex streams of production and getting most out of
available resources”.

Thining & Solving “I like to experience a sense of accomplishment through

Escapism

solving puzzles and brain teasers of several kinds”.

“I like to experience adrenaline spikes through speed and

Excitement & Thrill
fast-paced actions or thrill and suspense”.

Competing Against “I like to experience a sense of power by competing with

Others friends, acquaintances or random people while
outwitting, outmaneuvering and outlasting them”.
Social

Working With Others “I like to experience a sense of togetherness through

working together with friends, acquaintances or even
random people while achieving goals and milestones
as a team”.

GameRefinery’s analysts track over 200 mobile game features in 2,500+ top-
performing games within our growing database of 100,000 games, mapping
everything from a game’s re-engagement mechanics to monetization, revenue and
most popular features - in addition to player motivations and archetypes.
Head to gamerefinery.com to learn more

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