Player Types/Levels in Educational Video Games

To start with, when creating an educational game, the various skill levels of current and future players must be considered. The approach taken to motive and attract a new or novice player needs to be different from the approach used to hold onto players who consider themselves masters of the game.

For a novice, an important first step is to guide them into the game gently but with a great deal of attraction and interest. Many successful games provide a simple method of slowly getting into the game. Most of the time the first task, quest or mission is nothing more than walking over to a particular area. Once the player gets to the area, they receive a reward or token—immediate reinforcement.
Meanwhile, the walking requirement teaches basic navigation and interface controls. The teaching happens seamlessly.

The next step might be manipulating objects within the environment. One task after another slowly brings the player up to speed so he or she can then be fully engaged in the game. But the ramp up elements are not separate and distinct from the game, they are an integral part and they provide rewards and feedback immediately rather than waiting until the player reaches a high level of competence before activities are rewarded or reinforced—activity first, competence second.

Once a player has reached competence in the game play, they have reached the expert level. This is the level where they have all the skills they need to competently engage at a high level of game play. They can interact with the content and game environment for long periods of time and achieve success after success. A player can remain at this level for an extended period of time because well designed games continue to provide fresh activities, content or challenges to keep the expert players coming back to experience more of the game. At the expert level, players want to gain access to rewards, items and levels that are not accessible to novice players.

The highest level of player and the level rarely reached is the level of a true master. At the master level, the player has accomplished every task in the game and has a high level of knowledge about the gameplay, sequence and mechanics of the game. The masters are a great resource if you can convince them to give back to the community. They are looking for things like status, exclusivity and special perks to keep them interested in staying with the game.