The Personality Test Report, Part 1: The Background and Results!

About 4 weeks ago we asked you to participate in an experiment. This experiment was designed to see if there was a prevalent “raider personality”—a personality type based on the Myers-Briggs system of identifying personalities. We did not want to prove anything, nor did we expect this test to provide a revolutionary insight into who we are, but we did think it would be an interesting exercise AND between you and me, getting so many of us (almost 800!) to take the test and respond was probably (from my perspective) the biggest success of the experiment.

I want to preface the report by stating that these personality tests are an inexact science. Many psychologists are not convinced this is an accurate way of identifying people. Some would say it’s too restrictive and also too limited in its scope. In fact, when I mentioned our experiment to a fellow postgraduate who is doing MMO research from a psychological perspective, his position against relying on these tests in research was clear: “[Carl] Jung himself denied the value and usefulness of personality inventories, and explicitly argued against the use of them in psychological assessment and research. Jung's whole point is that the personality (persona, self) cannot be understood in any other way than through interpersonal contact/speech.” He also pointed to the cultural limitations of personality tests, “Personality tests like the MBTI are made to provide character typologies that explicitly *deny* the relevance of cultural context/meaning.” And if we are honest about ourselves, we are too global to allow for the exclusion of a cultural context in understanding ourselves.

So naturally these are good points. We should not rely on these tests to dictate who we are or what we should be doing and I’d never suggest that we rely on this kind of test as any sort of accurate gauge of a person (or raider) or as a way of discriminating against someone (as a justification to exclude a raider). But it is an interesting way of seeing IF there is a predominant type (even if our type is determined by how we answered a few leading questions) among us.

But a predominant personality need not be an assurance or requirement of success in raiding. Take Paragon as an example. While there was a predominant personality type among them, there was still variation (8 different personality types, to be exact). And if the entire guild took the test (only 21 of them did), I’m sure we’d find even more variation.

Let’s move on to our joint experience of taking the test. I’d say that for those of you who did participate and made comments, it seemed quite well received, with some of you finding the results quite accurate. At the least, I think some of us found it fun. I have been jokingly calling this a “self-determined horoscope”—and far more accurate, especially if we’re honest in the responses. But there were also some valid criticisms along the way. One of you on another site made a valid statement by saying this whole experiment seemed like taking a soft science and trying to turn it into a hard science. And quite a few of you (myself included) found the fact that we had to choose between two feasible choices challenging. Like this one: “The process of searching for solution is more important to you than the solution itself.” I’d say that’s a yes or no depending on the situation. But of course, we had to choose. I also know that for some of us, that may have made the difference between an E and I or an F or T.

Another area that came up a few times, which was very interesting to me, was the fact that some find that if they take the test as a raider versus their “normal” persona, the results are different. I have encountered this before. And I’m sure you have, too. A number of friends who raid talk about how they are more aggressive, outspoken, demanding when they raid (or raid lead) and find they are quite the opposite in their regular life. I don’t know if that means we have multiple personalities or if it just means that some aspects of our character come out more regularly while we raid. It’s a pretty competitive activity, after all, and if you aren’t engaged in a lot of competitive activity in your “real” life, maybe you find yourself surprised by how you are while raiding. I think this could also be attributable to the relative anonymity that comes with any online activity, including raiding. We are not judged on our looks or regular lives during a raid, after all, we are judged on our performance. And perhaps if you are shy in real life, the barriers we have while online may give you more confidence to let more aspects of our character out.

So now let’s talk about the results! Some of this may surprise you, some of this may not. And if you were following the posted results closely, you may have already drawn a few conclusions.

First, I’d like to focus in on the overall results and then speak about some of the specific breakdowns within the results. And to finish, because I’m sure you will find it interesting, we’ll look at Paragon’s posted results so we can see if there are any differences between all of us versus an elite raiding guild.

We had a total of 793 posted responses.

Basic demographic information

The following highlights some basic demographic information:

Gender make-up:

Male respondents: 76.54%

Female respondents: 15.26%

Gender not identified: 8.20%

Primary language of server played on:

English: 86.45%

German: 3.87%

Other (Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian, etc): 9.68%

Guild type of respondents:

Elite: 9.46%

Hardcore: 30.39%

Casual: 34.93%

Hybrid*: 17.78%

Did not respond: 7.44%

*Hybrid refers to other types of raiding guilds as defined by respondents. Examples include “hardcore/social”, “semi-hardcore”, “casual hardcore.”

Server location:

EU: 44.14%

US: 49.05%

TW: .13%

Did not respond: 6.68%

Classes responding:

Death knight: 7.06%

Druid: 10.72%

Hunter: 5.42%

Mage: 6.18%

Paladin: 20.55%

Priest: 12.86%

Rogue: 6.18%

Shaman: 10.34%

Warlock: 7.69%

Warrior: 6.81%

Did not respond: 6.18%

Faction response:

Alliance: 42.55%

Horde: 47.10%

Did not respond: 10.35%

Server type:

PVE: 43.36%

PVP: 39.19%

RP: 7.46%

RPPVP: 2.78%

Did not identify: 7.21%

Personality types

All respondents (n.793):

Personality with %

INTJ 23.26%

ENTJ 12.77%

ISTJ 9.61%

INTP 8.47%

ENFJ 6.70%

INFJ 5.82%

ISTP 5.18%

ESFJ 4.05%

ENTP 4.05%

ISFJ 3.92%

ESTJ 3.79%

INFP 3.67%

ENFP 3.29%

ISFP 2.28%

ESFP 1.77%

ESTP 1.39%

Personality types by region:

EU server respondents (n.350):

Personality with %

INTJ 22.00%

ENTJ 12.57%

INTP 8.29%

ISTJ 8.00%

ENFJ 7.43%

ISTP 6.00%

ESFJ 5.71%

ESTJ 5.14%

INFJ 4.86%

ISFJ 4.57%

ENTP 3.43%

INFP 2.86%

ISFP 2.57%

ENFP 2.29%

ESFP 2.29%

ESTP 2.00%

US server respondents (n.389):

Personality with %

INTJ 23.65%

ENTJ 13.37%

ISTJ 10.54%

INTP 7.97%

INFJ 7.20%

ENFJ 6.17%

INFP 4.88%

ISTP 4.88%

ENFP 4.12%

ENTP 4.11%

ISFJ 3.60%

ESFJ 3.08%

ESTJ 2.83%

ISFP 2.06%

ESFP 0.77%

ESTP 0.77%

ENFP 0.26%

The top five most common personality types among….

Women:

INFJ 17.35%

ISFJ 14.04%

INTJ 12.40%

ISTJ 11.57%

ENTJ 7.43%

Men:

INTJ 24.96%

ENTJ 13.39%

ISTJ 9.09%

INTP 8.59%

ENFJ 7.27%

Horde faction raiders:

INTJ 23.32%

ENTJ 11.80%

ISTJ 9.38%

INTP 8.04%

ENFJ 6.97%

Alliancefaction raiders:

INTJ 21.66%

ENTJ 14.84%

ISTP 9.20%

INTP 8.31%

ENFJ 6.82%

PVE servers (n.343):

INTJ 22.45%

ENTJ 13.70%

ISTJ 10.20%

INFJ 9.33%

INTP 9.33%

PVP servers (n.310):

INTJ 22.90%

ENTJ 13.55%

ISTJ 8.71%

ENFJ 7.42%

INTP 5.80%

RP servers (n.59)

INTJ 30.50%

INTP 10.17%

ISTJ 8.47%

INFP 8.47%

ENTJ 6.78%

ENFJ 6.78%

ISTP 6.78%

ISFJ 6.78%

RPPVP (n.22)

INTP 18.18%

INTJ 13.64%

ISTJ 13.64%

ENFJ 13.64%

INFP 9.09%

Guild types:

Elite (n.75):

INTJ 30.67%

ENTJ 18.67%

INTP 6.67%

ENTP 6.67%

ISTP 6.67%

Hardcore (n.240):

INTJ 22.92%

ENTJ 15.83%

ISTJ 8.75%

INTP 6.67%

INFJ 6.25%

Casual/social (n.276):

INTJ 22.46%

ENTJ 10.50%

ISTJ 10.50%

INFJ 8.33%

INTP 7.61%

Most prevalent personality types among….

Death knights:

INTJ 23.21%

ESFJ 12.50%

ESTJ 12.50%

INFP 8.93%

Druids:

INTJ 22.35%

ISTJ 15.29%

INFP 8.24%

ENFJ 8.24%

Hunters:

INTJ 20.93%

ENTJ 13.95%

ENFJ 11.63%

INTP 11.63%

Mages:

INTJ 22.45%

ENTJ 14.29%

ENFJ 10.20%

ENTP 10.20%

Paladins:

INTJ 22.09%

ENTJ 14.11%

ISTJ 11.04%

INTP 8.59%

Priests:

INTJ 27.45%

INFJ 10.78%

INTP 9.80%

ENTJ 7.84%

Rogue:

INTJ 26.53%

ENTJ 18.37%

ENFJ 10.20%

INTP 8.16%

ISTJ 8.16%

Shaman:

INTJ 23.17%

ENTJ 15.85%

ISTP 8.54%

ISTJ 7.32%

Warlock:

INTJ 18.03%

ENTJ 13.11%

ISTJ 13.11%

ISTP 9.84%

INTP 9.84%

Warrior:

INTJ 20.37%

ENTJ 20.37%

ISFP 7.41%

ISTJ 7.41%

ENFJ 7.41%

Personality types of Paragon guild respondents (n.21)

INTJ 47.83%

INTP 9.52%

ISTJ 9.52%

ESTJ 9.52%

ESFJ 4.76%

ENTP 4.76%

ENTJ 4.76%

ISFP 4.76%

So, lots of data to consider here! Part 2 will include some analysis and reflection on these, along with some additional data that I did not want to overwhelm you with just yet. Please feel free to comment.

Acknowledgements: I wanted to extend a special THANK YOU to Nils (Niroth) and Freddy (teh) who helped design the data collection tool and crunch the numbers (Freddy) and entered the data (Nils). If was doing this on my own it would have taken at least another couple weeks (or more since Cataclysm is here)!

And a big "shout out" to Xenophics, Synti, and the rest of Paragon for being the originators of this idea and for supporting academic research. When I explain all of this (the fact that a "big name" guild supported it and that raiders participated on such a high level) to other academics in my department they are truly astonished.