How We Developed the Board Game Motivation Profile

The development of the Board Game Motivation Profile utilizes factor analysis to identify the primary psychological drivers behind tabletop gaming preferences. By synthesizing existing taxonomies and community feedback, researchers established a pilot inventory of 59 motivation items. The study collected 1,549 valid responses from an international audience of tabletop gamers recruited through social media, mailing lists, and gaming forums.

The research process encountered significant challenges regarding genre inclusivity. Initial attempts to create a universal profile for all tabletop genres—including RPGs and CCGs—failed because the motivational requirements for these formats are distinct and often lack the necessary granularity when combined. Consequently, the final model focuses exclusively on board games, with population norms derived from a subset of 795 respondents who play board games exclusively.

The resulting framework identifies four high-level motivation clusters, each paired with a secondary, nuanced component: Conflict (Social Manipulation), Strategy (Systems Discovery), Fantasy (Aesthetics), and Social Fun (Accessibility). These axes provide a structured way to categorize player preferences, moving beyond simple genre labels to understand the underlying psychological rewards sought by participants. This methodology ensures that the profile remains specific to the unique dynamics of board gaming, avoiding the pitfalls of applying video game-centric frameworks to the tabletop space. The model serves as a foundation for ongoing research, with the intent to refine these metrics as additional data is gathered.