I identify as an explorer too, but I’m less interested in discovering game mechanics and number crunching. I only read up about them to sate a secondary achiever need, which is to have an effective character.

For me, exploring is about finding the less visited places, enjoying the view (pretty pictures, yay - I take screenshots of them though, so it’s something to “do” in my book), mapping (if I get obsessive) and discovering trivia and easter eggs.

Good stories, immersiveness into the game setting (slightly roleplayish), as well as novel game experiences (yep, even the terrifying PUGs or the epic failures, epic wins are more fun, of course) are part of what I seek in a game.

Putting people into simple categories obscures the truth: it’s how these categories connect together that makes them meaningful in our gameplay. It’s not only the location to be explored, the monster to be killed, the achievement to be won, but how they connect together that makes it interesting and relevant to the player.

In the case of FPS games, killers will cross with acheivers via stats tracking I find.. its not the head that comes back as a trophy that matters, its the amount of headshots you got on that head that counts.

The ‘badge of honour’ is having the highest rank in your friends list, the most headshots with the ‘least likely to get a headshot’ weapon, most miles sprinted, grenades thrown, and so on.

In terms of WoW, I levelled as a solid EASK player but at endgame thats changed a lot for me. I still enjoy guild activities but as far as grinding goes I’m done with that aspect.

It seems to me that the only reason everything costs so much or is such a timesink in wow, is purely to keep the monthly fees rolling in. If it takes twice as long to reach a point that can be considered the ‘end’ of the game in its current form then it takes twice as long for that player to stop paying money. Drag it out long enough and you get what we have now. People will keep running uphill as long as there is a hill to run up and Blizzard will make sure theres always a hill as long as theres money to be had..

If you can add an extra 10 miles onto the hill that looks just the same as the last 10 miles (Burning Crusade and the upcoming Wrath of the lich King), maybe some new trees to run past, or some new trainers to run in, people will keep running..

Is it about a power trip of sorts, about control, that you can manipulate people’s emotions the way you want ‘em? Or is it more the feeling of being godlike in a game - an Achiever kind of need? Or something else entirely?

I’m wondering if it’s projection, in a way, to assume people get angry when you kill them in a game. Won’t some just shrug it off as part and parcel of PvP?

I would argue that straight Killers are almost universally griefers. Those that aren’t tend to have a high affinity for another aspect, whether it’s to Acheive a higher number of kills than anyone else, get a ‘Merciless Gladiator title’, or deck themselves out with arena equipment; to Explore the weaknesses of other classes and develop effective countermeasures against their tricks… I can’t really think up anything solidly Social.

A Killer with no other goal in mind? That reminds me of levelling up on a PvP server, where you’ll find rogues 20 levels higher than the zone content meandering around and dispatching people in two hits… repeatedly. That’s schadenfreude; that’s a griefer; that’s a Killer.