You know, when ever Bartle ends up in the unwashed blog-o-sphere I see comments like yours. Inevitably I shake my head at people who really don’t know what Bartle is about and make accusations such as yours.

For the record, I am not a Bartle fan boi. Like him, I am an academic with a focus on game and world design, so I connect with him professionally. Just as he says in his response post where he states his issue quite clearly (clear for those who understand who and what he is and what he is ACTUALY talking about):

“It's a pretty obscure point that will only make sense to a very small number of people with a designer mentality. Still, I only put it on my blog, it's not as if I pasted it all over the Internet or anything...”

also, for the record, his contribution to academics and game design is irrefutable. Just because you are not aware of his continuing contribution, his continuing importance, does not mean he has been forgotten. Far from it, actually. his text books are keystones in digital media design and game design curriculum.

He is not a rock star, nor does he want to be. Fame is not something he has ever wanted. He could care less about “the spot light” All he wants is to teach and write and hopefully help improve the world in some way.

As a professional academic and designer myself I expect only a small percentage, a VERY small percentage, of people to understand what I generally say about world design. I can speak to people not interested in the deep theory but much is lost in the necessary translation. If I don’t translate I am generally lambasted by those who do not look or think as deeply as I do about design theory because they only look at the surface of what I say, not what I am actually saying.

In short, your response is definitely appropriate for someone who has no real understanding of actual game design. You have a solid opinion for a game player who is more concerned about how mechanics benefit you specifically or the classes you prefer to play. Your opinion is pretty invalid when it is read by someone who has spent much of their life examining how game play actually works and what it does for game players.

Believe it or not game design theory is a really serious subject that takes player satisfaction well out of the realm of understanding of the average player. A design theorist is really and truly on the same level as, say, a physicist. We spend more time diving deep to better understand you, the player, and your object of focus, games, than you could possibly understand or even respect. Why? Because we care about the craft and art of game design and we care about what you get out of it. Our job is to insure that our peers and our students are as well informed of the bleeding edge of game design theory as possible so they can provide you the best possible games.

You may not like Bartle because of your misperceptions and you may not like me, now, because to you this response probably seems like a put down when it actually is not. However, we like you because you are the reason we do what we do. We seek to keep you entertained for the sake of entertaining you because that is what you want more than anything.

So, lay off the game design gaffer and give him some room. It will only benefit you.