There have been many proposed methods of broadly categorizing humans, from the ubiquitous Myers-Briggs to Richard’s player types, many methods have been proposed for both the real and virtual worlds. Fortunately for researchers everywhere, the quest for the ultimate classification system is over.
Behold Tom Coates’s new approach: From pirate dwarves to ninja elves.... Feel free to classify your fellow Terra Novans.
I think I aspire to ninja elfhood, but I keep getting drawn into dwarven pirating.
Posted by: Edward Castronova | Mar 16, 2004 at 15:39
dwarf.
I've been known to oscillate along the pirate/ninja axis, but I'm always firmly dwarf.
The only excusable time for Elvish thought without action - is during sleep.
Posted by: weasel | Mar 16, 2004 at 15:54
Not sure I can see myself on the pirate / ninja axis or the elf / dwarf. I wonder if dead centre could be Human Henchman #3 (somewhere to the rear left of the frame half hidden by a non-descript pot plant).
Posted by: Ren | Mar 16, 2004 at 16:00
Where's Red Shirt?
Posted by: Sourtone | Mar 16, 2004 at 17:33
Perhaps this rubric can help us understand the management of game development.
I suggest that each team-member fits a different quadrant. How's this:
Artists: pirate, elf (noisy, but abstract)
Designers: ninja, elf (quiet if waggish, brooding)
Producers: pirate, dwarf (expressive, pragmatic)
Programmers: ninja, dwarf (quiet, structurists)
(Hard to lump all the artists. In my experience, the 2D artists trend pirate while the 3D artists tend towards ninja.
Similarly, server & systems programmers run more pirate/dwarf, while graphics gurus tend to ninja/elf.)
I don't feel I've got this pegged. What's the right answer, then?
Posted by: Dan Scherlis | Mar 17, 2004 at 00:07
I'm SO glad this didn't come out before my player types system, or I'd have got nowhere!
I'm whatever category is most likely to point out that the plural of "dwarf" is "dwarfs".
Richard
Posted by: Richard Bartle | Mar 17, 2004 at 03:05
And I'm in the category that would point out that it's only "dwarfs" in refrence to RL people with dwarfism... in fantasy (ie Tolkein) literature it's "dwarves"
Posted by: Sourtone | Mar 17, 2004 at 14:53
Note that Snow White's little chums were "dwarfs."
Wikipedia on this pressing issue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf.
Posted by: gregolas | Mar 17, 2004 at 15:09