A key requirement in validating design decisions is to validate them with the target audience, often referred to as participants in user research. To do this you’re going to invite (recruit) carefully chosen players to play your game, but what criteria can we use to define potential participants?

There are four main attributes we can use to define a player:

• Behaviours - what players do, have done, have not done

• Motivations - what drives them to play the games they play

• Attitudes - preferences towards specific games, genres, and franchises

• Demographics - descriptors, typically age, gender, and geography

Some of these are better than others for helping you define your target audience, and you don’t have to use them all. Let’s look at each.

Key Takeaway

You can describe your target audience using four main attributes of players - their behaviours, motivations, attitudes, and demographics.

Next: 26. Defining Players - Behaviour