What is your Personality Type, and how does it affect your gamedev?

At a previous job, everyone had to take a Myers-Briggs personality test. One of those super in-depth ones that got sent off and took weeks to get the results. I don't recall what my results were, but I remember being displeased with the accuracy of the evaluation and feeling confident I had answered the questions wrong.

Recently, I retook the test in a much less formal manner using Sixteen Personalites. Again, the first time I took the test I overthought the questions and got some off-base result that didn't come close to describing me. I retook the test going with my first 'instinctive' response, and the outcome was spot-on.

I am an INTP-A type, and everything the description says about that type is true of me. Everything. Realizing this, I thought it important to study the strengths and weaknesses section, and spotted one that jumped out at me as being a sore point with working on my game project lately: Second-guessing myself.

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to implement systems and much less actually attempting them. My reasoning is, I suppose, that with a bit more thought I'll save myself the wasted effort of pursuing the "wrong" approach. So I design and I plan and I rip apart, and in the end, I frequently draw the process out so long that I either get overwhelmed and annoyed by it or get bored and move on to something else, never having actually attempted the thing I set out to do!

A little while back I had begun planning an event system I'd need for my game. I wanted a perfect system that could handle any number of situations that might arise. So I Googled and read and watched videos and drew diagrams and filled out spreadsheets, but I didn't even touch a line of code. I even posted a thread asking others for help on how to do it before even trying, a cardinal sin in my book. When I finally did start with the system, I ended up totally changing it from how I had planned it anyway. I still don't know if it's the right system that will work for me, but I'm trying to overcome by tendency to procrastinate by thinking about it instead of just doing it.

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What is your personality type, and how do you feel it affects your game development experience?

 

The Protagonist... that was interesting and both my girlfriend and I agree it basically "suits me to a T".

 

The Logistician. It makes sense, because I can handle the coding parts of game dev with relative ease and enjoyment, but it is really difficult for me to work on the more "creative" aspects of games.

 

INTP. Logic all the way for me. Most of the strengths and weaknesses described there match up to me. I'm in good company too. Eienstien, Pascal, Newton, Descartes. Many of my childhood heroes are described as INTP. It does lead to some interesting blind sides. I once explained to a group of operators that my latest project would dramatically reduce the number of operators needed to run the plant.

In terms of game dev, and work in general, I'm a starter, but not a finisher. I love exploring new ideas, building prototypes and the like. But I really struggle with the grunt work of finishing the ideas off. Once I have a clear path from where I am to the end of the project I loose a lot of my excitement and motivation. I produce my best work when I'm paired with a finisher. I'll build the prototype and the systems, find the multi million dollar savings, crunch the data and so on. My finisher adds polish, builds the plant, writes the report and so on.

To the point that if I wasn't on these forums I'd call myself an ideas guy. But there are a bunch of negative connotations to that term here. My ideal role is probably better described as the prototype guy. I take grand ideas and prove if they will work (or not work, I'm really not fussed either way). At the moment I have almost a hundred functional prototypes on my PC. And yet only one game that I've actually published. Once the idea is proven, I team up with other personality types to get the idea implemented.

 

I don't know what to say. The Architect. @BoredMormon does that seem accurate for me?

 

Every time I'm requested this test I get this result:
http://www.16personalities.com/intj-personality

But I don't get why companies use it; I think 2% of human race being like me is too much, I always though I was the only and the one; and being labeled is only fun when I am the one applying labels to others.

 

Seems like I saw a 2% for my group as well. I wonder what the biggest group is? I've always heard and witnessed most folks being "followers" but don't know what that would be in terms of this test.

The most interesting thing of all to keep in mind, I think, is that every group has strengths and weaknesses. Which tends to show why throughout history humanoids have banded together for survival as well as grand ambitions.

 

Companies use it for several reasons. In the hiring stage its very easy to use as a broad brush approach. Certain personality types tend to be more dominant as leaders. Others are more successful in R&D roles. Or in approaching routine tasks. Or project management. You get the idea.

The second way companies use it is for personal career planning. For most people the roles predicted by their personality types are the ones they will find most fulfilling. Once employees know themselves, they can better plot their own path through the company. For example I would probably be happy working in an R&D lab as a process development engineer. Working as a site manager would probably drive me insane. This sort of knowledge helps prevent disappointment and job dissatisfaction.

Finally its used as a communication tool. Its not unusual in large corporations to introduce yourself with "Hi, I'm Richard. I'm an INTP." That gives instant clues to how I work and what I want. In practice the 4 quadrant personality test is often more practical for this purpose then Myers Briggs. Four types are easier to track then 16. So I would introduce myself as a 'moderate analytical'

Wouldn't surprise me. Its hard to judge personality across the net, so don't take my word for it.

http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/my-mbti-results/how-frequent-is-my-type.htm

 

I'd like to express how I see and think of followers, but that would be very very rude and I don't want to get forum ban..
I like hamburgers, but have little to no respect for the cows those are made of...

 

Oh, and from my novel writing days, building characters to match the different personality types is a great way to add depth without too much work. Plenty of my characters had labels to indicate their type, and if in doubt their decisions were driven by their type.

Its also a cheap trick to add depth to NPCs.

 

I got to the third page realized there were like 8 more pages of questions and quit the test.

 

That is also a valid personality result.

 

I'm INFP-T : The Mediator

 

Agreed. I flew threw the test, not sure if I answered everything as truthfully as I could.

Apparently I am an Advocate. I doubt I would have tested that way a year ago or earlier. This past year has been very different than prior years.

EDIT:
What's up with this question?
As a parent, you would rather see your child grow up kind than smart.

I would want to see my kid be kind and smart!

 

@aer0ace I don't even want to have kids. That question offended me!

 

Actually, me and my SO don't either! Offended++

 

Hover between INTJ and ENTJ. Depends how much I've got going on. You'll find your results can and will change over time, but usually elastic.

The questions are designed to help plot your result on a graph. Obviously people would love to pick both sides in varying degrees, which is why they caution you should preferably avoid neutral. Since this is a positive question on both sides, neutral is undesirable, but probably your answer.

 

The Architect, sounds right.

 

Thanks for sharing, everyone! Not that surprising to find a lot of developers fall into the Analyst (Architect, Logician, Commander, and Debater) category. I'd love to do a cross-reference between personality type and skill set and see if there was a correlation between them.

For anyone who can't seem to get their answers "right", the page that covers the theory behind the categories (which everyone should read anyway) has, starting about a third of the way down, the different categories and a comparison between the options. This shows you how the test works and can help you, well... I guess pick your own category to assign yourself.

It's also kind of fun to pick people you know and assign them letters based on your evaluation of them, then read their resulting profile to see if it describes them. I selected personalities for my wife, brother, sister, and mom, and had them take the test. I predicted all but my brother's correctly, but that was because he considers himself an introvert when he is CLEARLY an extrovert.

 

Same here

 

The Mediator. It's primary effect on my game development is that I spend more time on these forums assisting others than actually working on my own projects. That said I do have a tendency to take things personally and you'll occasionally see this when I start debating with someone in a thread.

 

I got LOGICIAN

 

I don't think that it's always necessary to categorise everyone in special boxes. I've read through some of these, I would say that depending on the circumstances, I could fit into a bunch of these categorise. What I'm trying to say is that people usually are more complex than what an internet page says about them and even though you think they have a certain personality type, they could differ from that sometimes and even change their "category".
I probably wouldn't rely on a test found on the internet just to determine how well this person would fit in the work environment.

 

INTJ Architect
Actually I thought it was reasonably accurate. Probably the main thing it relates to in game dev is my belief that one person can make an AAA game, but most people are too lazy to make the necessary tools and too silly to choose the right shortcuts ..

 

ENTP-A. Anyway I'm for the most part not a team player, unless either

a) I agree with other team members
b) I have enough trust in their capabilities to know that their solution/idea is right.

Note regarding option b: That being said, they need to actually show their capabilities to me, I don't base my opinion on previous achievements that were done in different times. If you were badass programmer in 90s, it doesn't mean you can code good stuff NOW. So unless you can show me that you can make cool stuff with modern tools, I don't have much trust in you.

 

And Dear Esther is an example of AAA game (it certainly looks like one) made by one person.

 

“The Logician” (INTP-A) - pushes me to explore uncharted territory (my films and upcoming game) and to tackle endeavors where I have no prior experience (programming).

 

Reading over the personalities has sparked alot of ideas on how to give my game characters more depth and unique situations. It will also help with player decisions, but right now that's beyond my scope so I'll stick to simple yes/no.
Thanks @Schneider21

 

I am among 7% so a little more than 2%. lol
“THE CAMPAIGNER” (ENFP-T)

Kind of worries me that none of you are this..but I guess that is why my game seems so weird to everyone. lol

 

Logician (INTP-T)

I would say this affects my game development in a very positive way, but absolutely affects my personal life in a negative one. Which is why I have and always will work solo.

"The unexamined life is not worth living"

A quote I have lived by my entire life but have only just now become familiar with.

 

Spoiler: I always want to argue with all those psychological tests...

Human is much more complex than that.

By mind I want to not make anyone upset. But when getting a debate I usually can't stop, so I end up getting someone upset. So which one is it?

How do you even approach it when work style is organizing things for your own random energy spikes to make most of them?

I can control love, but anger controls me. So which one am I?

I like role-play(like D&D) but hate dress-up. So what now?

I'd say that it's average psycho test - I'll give it "Usual test, I've seen so much of them... (5/10 points)".

ARCHITECT (INTJ-A) with everything at ~30-70%. The name is correct for what I've been doing lately.

Now as for description of that type... about 90% right. So, um... It hit somewhere nearby. Maybe. It even sais I like to deconstruct: maybe rant under spoiler is caused by that? But my friends' opinion on me will vary heavily and some might disagree with this.

Now as for topic... I think it does make me think of something grand, then trim it down to doable and then sleep because I'm lazy to do it anyway? Description is close enough, except for lazyness.

P.S. and unlike that test, I think human personality can fit good into RGB representation so that test's attributes are a bit... Suboptimal. More to it, RGB can be used to show user what that NPC is personality-wise without overloading brain

 

Mediator (INFP-a) well that describes my personality quite well overly creative bug that I am, too many ideas and not enough time to put them into action, have a love for metaphors and yes, have been described by others as a good listener.
Still have the problem with not being able to organize/prioritize properly; been working on it lately with a large project

 

I'll admit to being a bit worried that no one else would be identified as mine.

 

Maybe that is okay. It might give us a different view on things, allow us to see things differently, which can never hurt. I feel like most games out there today are so similar that maybe a game designed by Campaigners and Mediators will be fresh and exciting.

You never know!

 

LAZY (IIZ-SLACKING)

Wow, it's like it knows me...

 

You should also look at the distribution of personality types -> http://www.mypersonality.info/personality-types/population-gender/

Are there any studies on personality types and types of games preferred?

Personality types and games -> http://www.gamecrate.com/what’s-right-video-game-your-personality-type/11237


from here -> http://www.geekinheels.com/2013/10/23/star-wars-mbti-chart.html

 

I find this fascinating, as I initially felt disappointed that so many people were indicating they were the same type as me. But then I considered that it makes sense, as my personality type would be drawn to hobbyist game development, I allowed myself to be okay with it.

 

I sht, I'm Palpatine.. Now I feel ugly as f**k and named a very stupid name.

 

I'm one of those rare INFJ's.

 

Hmmm....I'm an infp (Mediator) personality....not surprised though. Burns for what I do, and tend to go into "hermit mode" :-D

 

Wow I did it and got an odd result:

ENTP-a, the "debater" apparently..

After reading the description, it kind of suits.. I get bored so easily doing simple tasks, I start thinking of ways to revolutionise a system just so I don't have to spend much time doing said boring tasks ...

"An odd juxtaposition arises with ENTPs, as they are uncompromisingly honest, but will argue tirelessly for something they don't actually believe in, stepping into another's shoes to argue a truth from another perspective."

AHAHAHAH!!, I've done that so many times. Just switched sides mid argument..

 

I am a Jedi!!

 

cant help but feel so many of the questions ...
idk they feel waaay too arbitrary and non-relevant to me...

so yeahh.. tests like that are meaningless lol

lol so i clicked through it all without filling it out (next, next ,next, results)
guess iam Adventurer (ISFP-t)

 

"Your personality type is:
Logician (INTP-t)"
https://www.16personalities.com/intp-personality

Yep...

Did anyone buy this? Was it worth it?

 

I haven't, but I'm tempted to. Not only mine, but that of my wife's personality type. As an INTP-A myself, I do sometimes struggle to see things from her perspective (total ESFJ-T... opposites attract, and all!) and I feel like it would be a handy guide to reference when we disagree over parenting issues or have your usual marital differences to resolve. Kind of like a Prima Guide to Marriage!

I'd also love to see anyone's take on implementing this personality system into NPC characters, btw. @TonyLi, I'm looking at you.

 

I think it would be a very bad idea. LOL Somehow, I don't see your ESFJ wife being happy when you pull out a document and analyze your relationship. Better to get it and read it together when you are not having a disagreement about parenting.

Advice from a married woman with kids. My husband is an Engineer, so no doubt IN_something. I would not be happy if he did that to me.

 

Haha, I wasn't planning on referencing it at that moment! More like something to go to later that day or even just recall into memory while negotiations are underway.

Also, she hates reading and could barely stay awake while I was reading her traits from her free profile, so getting through 150 pages with her would take a couple years.

 

It's tempting indeed, I was one click away from buying it. But profiling people into a personality type and then serving them a sales pitch that is tailored to their very specific character traits could be the most insidious monetization funnel ever. I googled a bit and found a reddit thread where this book was recommended:

http://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B00H7NWLJ6

But I haven't read it yet. I'll tell you what I think of it when I'm done. The people on reddit sounded like the premium profile from the website isn't really bad, but doesn't offer much that couldn't be extrapolated from the free information given either.
The marketing strategy on the website is so brilliant that it makes me skeptical towards the product, even though it might be actually good. They offer a money back guarantuee but I always feel bad to take people up on that.

 

As long as she doesn't link "you reading book about relations -> we have problems with relations/you have affair" it should be okay. Just make sure she doesn't by talking to her first.

 

That's exactly how I felt about it. Obviously tailoring your pitch to the personality type is textbook effective, but may not be against certain types (like the observant and naturally skeptical INTP, obviously).