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type that second most likes videogames. 13 It falls out like this:<br />

1. INTP 1.96 times as many as expected enjoyed playing with computers or video games<br />

2. INTJ 1.62 "<br />

3. ENTP 1.48<br />

4. ISTP 1.39<br />

The other types didn’t view computers or video games as more fun than average. So, we’ve<br />

isolated the chunk of the population that likes gaming and fiddling with computers, and it is mostly<br />

Rational with a touch of Artisan. All are thinkers, and all except INTJs are perceivers. Gamers are<br />

mostly introverted. Now you know the types of those anonymous people you're up against on the<br />

internet.<br />

Game designers too are interested in the question of what personalities are most attracted to what<br />

sorts of games. They have made an effort to catalogue different styles of play and relate them to<br />

Keirsey’s temperaments.<br />

Bateman (2006) (read here) has noted that games which particularly appeal to Rationals should be<br />

complicated, allowing lot of opportunities to discover and manipulate the environment. Rationals<br />

will also accept a longer learning curve; they care more about having lots of potential choices than<br />

about getting a jumpstart on gameplay (not that they mind a jumpstart). They are willing to learn<br />

lots of rules and to consult the 70 page booklet included with the game.<br />

Type INTJ often occurs in association with the following sorts of games:<br />

• Wordgames like Scrabble<br />

• Boardgames involving strategy such as chess, Risk, or Monopoly<br />

• Tabletop roleplaying games such as Dungeons and Dragons or Warhammer 40k<br />

• Adventure games and RPGs that involve puzzles, i.e. Myst, Zork, Monkey Island, Portal<br />

• Minesweeper and other games based on abstract reasoning<br />

• Strategy games such as Ages of Empires, Civilization, Masters of Orion, etc.<br />

• Sandbox games such as Minecraft, Sim City, or Zoo Tycoon.<br />

• MMOs that offer lots of complexity, i.e. Eve Online, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, etc.<br />

• Games that allow modding, or designing your own add-on levels<br />

• Online poker (the mathematically inclined may make a living off of it)<br />

It should be noted that INTJs will play almost any sort of game; the above list is simply what INTJs<br />

tend to be more attracted to in comparison to other types. In fact, most INTJs probably prefer a diet<br />

of Halo and other FPSs (First Person Shooters), if only because that’s what game designers<br />

currently make. Or, they may enjoy modding these games, which engages their love of sandbox<br />

play. But whatever game the INTJ plays, underneath is the goal to explain, predict, and control<br />

everything within the game world. Gameplaying INTJs are sort of like scientists of the fantasy<br />

realm.<br />

Since this affords us an opportunity to study the INTJ mindset, let's go into it a little more deeply.<br />

An INTJ approaches a game much the same way as they approach everything else in the world: as<br />

an opportunity to pick apart patterns, perform experiments to see if their hunches are correct, and<br />

then formalize the best response into a rule of thumb (an algorithm or principle) that produces<br />

maximum efficiency with a minimum expenditure of resources. What an INTJ really wants to do is<br />

to learn the principles of a game so well that a robot could be programmed to win simply by<br />

13 Myers, McCaulley, Quenk & Hammer, 1998

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