Dr. Richard Bartle is a respected academic and author on the subject of virtual worlds. The Bartle test is named for him. See: Bartle on Wikipedia
richard bartle
A look back at the MMO and gaming science topics of 2017
Over the last couple of years, we've redoubled our efforts on our science-related articles, as you may have noticed from our roundups in 2016 and 2015....
The Daily Grind: Do MMORPG studios worry too much about player retention?
Back in March, we used a Richard Bartle blog post to discuss retention in MMOs and how developers could up their stickiness factor. But in...
The Game Archaeologist: EverQuest II East
Publishing a video game globally is a monumental task, more so if it is a live online game such as what you'd find with...
Tamriel Infinium: Elder Scrolls Online’s mid-term report card
At the beginning of every year, I give the games that I am embedded in a letter grade centered around the four different player...
The Daily Grind: What kind of MMO achiever are you?
Yesterday's post on Richard Bartle's new unplayer matrix got me thinking once again about my quibbles with the original Bartle quotient, which won't surprise...
MMORPG founding father Richard Bartle establishes new unplayer matrix
Dr Richard Bartle, best known to MMORPG players for establishing the research that ultimately led to the admittedly flawed but widely quoted "Bartle test,"...
The Game Archaeologist: How Sceptre of Goth shaped the MMO industry
When it comes to text-based MMOs created in the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, the sheer number of them would blot out the sky. There...
The Game Archaeologist: How DikuMUD shaped modern MMOs
Even though there are hundreds and thousands of MMOs spanning several decades, only a small handful were so incredibly influential that they changed the...
The Daily Grind: What one thing should MMORPGs do to increase player retention?
Zubon at Kill Ten Rats recently spied a lovely tidbit over on Dr Richard Bartle's blog. Bartle, I shouldn't need to type, is considered...
Tamriel Infinium: Elder Scrolls Online’s 2016 report card
Greetings, men and mer. It’s that time of year again when I take a look back on everything that Elder Scrolls Online has given...
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR’s 2016 Report Card
It's that time of year again where we reflect on the year gone by and consider Star Wars: The Old Republic as a whole....
Massively OP’s 2016 gift guide for the MMORPG bookworm
Hey you! Yeah, the player who actually reads quest text and lore entries when all of the other hooting madmen are furiously clicking past...
Massively Overthinking: Are you suffering from MMORPG burnout?
In last week's Daily Grind about whether or not MMOs are better the second time you play them, the topic of burnout came up.
"I find...
The Daily Grind: Should MMORPGs levels be used for gating content?
Massively OP reader Sally Bowls recently pointed us to a blog post by Dr Richard Bartle about the leveling mechanic in RPGs -- and...
The Game Archaeologist: The Island of Kesmai
It was the mid-'80s, and I was just a kid in love with his family's IBM PC. Not having a wealth of capital at...
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR’s mid-term report card scored by Bartle’s taxonomy
Well, BioWare, it’s half-way through the year. It’s time to look at how you’ve done with Star Wars: The Old Republic and what can...
The Game Archaeologist: 1988’s Monster
"You're in the middle of a vast hall stretching out of sight to the east and west. Strange shadows play across the high vaulted...
The Daily Grind: Are OARPGs the future of the MMORPG genre?
Toward the end of 2014, genre academics popularized the idea that the MMORPG genre was becoming "unbundled" -- that MMORPGs were splintering, "with sociality,...
The Game Archaeologist: Online gaming service providers of the ’80s and ’90s
As graphical MMOs took off in the 1990s with the advent of games like Neverwinter Nights, The Realm, and Ultima Online, many of them...
‘Father of MMORPGs’ Richard Bartle is publishing new books on the genre
"Father of MMORPGs" Dr. Richard Bartle, author of the pioneering research that spawned the Bartle test, is publishing two new books about our imperiled genre.
MMOs from...