In the beginning of the 2008 Dungeon Master’s Guide for Dungeon’s and Dragons 4th Edition (D&D), there is a three-page section entitled, “Player Motivations.” It outlines the primary motivations of D&D players as observed by the authors. They list the motivations as follows: actors, explorers, instigators, power gamers, slayers, storytellers, thinkers, and watchers. The reality is that most players contain a mix of many of these motivations. The point of this section of the Guide is to help Dungeon Masters to engage each of their players and help them have fun. Actors and storytellers may want more roleplaying, while thinkers and power gamers would enjoy tactical challenges.

Today, during the February session of the D&D campaign I’m running for my daughters and their friends, I realized that the broad spread of possible player styles is a blessing. I can imagine that a game where all the players have the same style would be monotonous at best, and contentious at worst as they step all over each other’s toes. As long as the players can respect each other’s styles (e.g. the actor not complaining about the watcher’s stilted dialogue and the power gamer not getting frustrated with the storyteller’s preference for the more “interesting” choice over the most tactically effective one), then the session becomes very rich with everyone contributing that which they love best.

Today we had one player pushing the action forward by taking risks, another helping everyone to think by advising prudence, a third excitedly putting the pieces of the story together and suggesting possibilities, a fourth who was willing to take the bait I offered in the form of a powerful artifact with dubious designs upon its wearer, and a fifth who was content to watch all the chaos and still contribute her character’s formidable powers when it was her turn.

I found the diversity in this group especially amazing in that it was entirely unplanned. These are simply the friends who S and J chose because they thought they were the ones who would enjoy playing D&D the most. As it turned out, it is a group whose diversity allows them to co-create a wonderfully rich experience together while their friendship and mutual respect keep them cooperating and heading in the same direction. Their process appears chaotic, but now I see it as a wild dance with its own internal order and the fun they have while creating their part of the story is a joy to behold!

When I was growing up, a phrase I often heard from adults around me was, “It takes all kinds!” The phrase was generally used as a slight towards someone they viewed as bizarre but harmless and was usually said with a smirk or a shake of the head. The reality is that, if we were all the same, our lives would not only be dull, but co-creation and collaboration would be near pointless.

We are each a shard of creation and true beauty is created only when we can come together while remaining our unique, individual selves.

To create anything with the richness of life, it really does take all kinds.