Gamers' Personality and Their Gaming Preferences

Candidate: Veronica Zammitto
Type: Master of Science (MSc), School of Interactive Arts and Technology
Date: July 29, 2010
Senior Supervisor: Steve DiPaola
Thesis: Download Thesis Document

Abstract

This thesis work presents an exploration of the relationship between personality traits and video game genres.  The motivation is to contribue to demographic game design by identifying gamers' personality profiles in order to better satisfy their needs and enjoyment.  The primary hypothesis that has driven this work is that people with certain personality traits would prefer certain video game genres.  For identifying gamers' preferences, a new gaming preferences questionnaire was created which has expert and content validity.  The Five Factor model was selected for measuring gamers' personality traits.

From a large sample of 545 participants, eight game genre models were found significant, although with a low percentage of prediction.  Nevertheless, the relevant personality traits of the models correspond to the game elements of the genre.  This work shows that a refined itemization helps to begin to understand the psychological human complexity that drives players' preferences.

Keywords:  personality; game elements; game preference; genre; demographic game design