Well, I’ve been playing games for many years now, and I’ve been a part of a number of different game groups. One thing that I’ve noticed is that you can generally find the same personality traits in gamers no matter where they come from. I’ve tried to compile a short list of those traits that I’ve found in every game group. I’ve given each trait a letter/symbol so that you can compile a quick summary of your gaming personality for others to see!
(A) The rules teacher – every group seems to have one guy who always teaches the games. Sometimes it’s because he’s the most enthusiastic in the group or maybe it’s because he’s a teacher.
(B) The rules lawyer – the one guy who always tries to find inconsistencies in the rules to exploit. Games with this sort of gamer can get frustrating as the group spends more time consulting the rules trying to answer some esoteric question than actually playing the game
(C) The rules reader – this sort of gamer has flourished since websites like Boardgamegeek.com have been available… This gamer spends all of his free time online finding rulesets to games and reading them. Any time you want to talk about a new game, this person can already give you an educated response/opinion of the game as he’s already read the rules – Note, this guy is also often the (A) Rules teacher
(D) The savant – there’s always a gamer who can pick up any game in about 3 minutes and then proceed to kick everyone’s butt in that game – even the game veteran who taught the game in the first place!
(E) The slow learner – the opposite of the savant – this gamer will often spend the first two or three or five playings of a new game in a fog, making plays that don’t seem to make any sense – because he hasn’t grasped the rules or strategy quickly. Of course, this guy is also usually the guy who ends up being the best at the game in the long run…
(F) The “can’t learn the game until I play it” guy – some people just can’t seem to learn a game from hearing the rules. Of course, it would help if the people actually paid attention during the rules review – and this person often does not because he claims that he can’t learn from listening. So instead, he’ll play with the bits or go off and watch TV until it’s time to start playing. Then, he’ll ask “Can I do this?” about 20 times during the first few rounds of the game, and then surprisingly enough, he’ll figure out how to play the game by the time it’s over
(G) The Bit Fiddler – everyone knows this kind of gamer – the one who can’t resist playing with the game bits during the entire game. This type of gamer will also have to make sculptures out of the bits – i.e. any time the Bit Fiddler plays Settlers, he’ll have to make a teetering tower from all 15 road segments and figure out how to balance all the settlements and cities on top of it as well!
(H) The game owner – this is the one guy who seems to buy all the new games – you want to play some truly obscure game from Poland? This guy will have ordered it a month ago! Oftentimes the other gamers in the group will stop buying games themselves because everything they want to play is already owned in the group by this guy!
(I) The game toter – even if you’re only playing games for two hours, this guy will bring the 88-gallon Rubbermaid tote (foot locker) filled to the brim with games just to make sure that every possible game request could be filled. The traveling game collection will still make an appearance even if the group has agreed to meet to play a specific game!
(J) The tired gamer – this guy can never make it to the end of a game night because he’s falling asleep. Probably works too much or has a newborn kid at home
(K) The hungry gamer – there’s always one guy who is constantly snacking throughout the whole gaming session. You may not notice it at first, but at the end of the night, you see all the empty snack bags and you know that the hungry gamer was there
(L) The unwashed mass – usually only seen at conventions, but there’s always one guy who would rather fit in the extra game of Tichu rather than take care of basic personal hygiene
(M) The guy who has to play a specific color – there’s always at least one gamer who must play a particular color. If he doesn’t get his usual color, he’ll often be found playing the game as if he were his usual color! In my experience, the most likely colors that people “have” to play are yellow and blue.
(N) The notetaker – this guy is often a rules lawyer as well – but there’s usually one gamer who insists that everything be open knowledge (even when the rules specifically say that some information is to be hidden!) – and this guy will insist on writing hidden information down instead of having to remember them…
(O) The randomizer – Some people enjoy playing games to win. Some people enjoy games to be with other people. The randomizer enjoys games to try the weirdest strategies in order to break the game. While this type of gamer is amusing at first, it becomes hard to play with him regularly because his off-the-wall strategies tend to disrupt the entire game.
(P) The negotiator – Some games are meant to have negotiation in them. Some are not. However, the negotiator will try to make every game involve wheeling and dealing. Again, cute at first, but quite tiresome in the long run
(Q) The metagamer – Eurogames are great because they often finish in a short period of time. If you get off to a poor start in a game, you know that you can hang in there, finish up the game and then move on to something different. The metagamer tries to extend the gaming experience. If you somehow slighted the metagamer in the first game of the night, he might try to exact his revenge by shorting you in the next game (or all other games that night).
(R) The cheater – no one likes to admit it, but there are always those gamers who can’t seem to play by the rules. Sometimes they try to hide it behind ditziness or confusion, but they never seem to pay enough money for things they buy or their shuffling never seems to be quite random.
(S) The Analysis paralysis guy – have you ever needed to know the 256 different ramifications of where you place your first meeple in Carcassone? Well, this guy does. And he’s willing to take the time to calculate each of those instances before he places his meeple on the board. Go get a snack when it’s this guy’s turn because it’s going to be awile!
(T) The Cult of the New member – this is the kind of gamer who likes to play new games all the time. You’re lucky if you see him playing the same game three times before he chucks it on the sale/trade pile
(U) The hoary chestnut gamer – the opposite of the Cult of the New – this type of gamer prefers to stick with games that he is familiar with – to the point of avoiding all other gamers. His perfect game night would be playing his five favorite games (none of which were published after 2002).
I’m sure that there are other traits that I haven’t included in the list above – please feel free to suggest others in the comments!
Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor [ACGHKT]
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