Existing research in player typologies has presented theories to try and explain players’ behavior during gameplay. Many typologies are context or genre specific and therefore are potentially limiting their practicality in other contexts. To date, no existing research categorizes players based on their explicit preferences for game elements and mechanics (GEMs). To this end, an analysis of three surveys (n = 279, n = 231, n = 162), using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed practical insights towards players’ preferences for GEMs, specifically three game elements and four game mechanic factors. These results provide the foundation for what is described as the GEM Framework. To investigate their practical use, a game design tool known as Gamicards was modified to accommodate the GEM Framework. Lastly, a workshop (n = 47) assessed the use of the GEM Framework with Gamicards as a tool during the game design and prototyping process. This work extends the current understanding of what GEMs players prefer and discusses the practical implications of using the GEM Framework with Gamicards and player modelling techniques.

现有的玩家类型研究已经提出了一些理论，试图解释玩家在游戏过程中的行为。许多类型是特定于上下文或体裁的，因此有可能在其他上下文中限制其实用性。迄今为止，尚无现有研究根据玩家对游戏元素和机制（GEM）的明确偏好对其进行分类。为此，使用探索性因素分析（EFA）对三项调查（n = 279，n = 231，n = 162）进行了分析，揭示了玩家对GEM偏好的实用见解，特别是三种游戏元素和四种游戏机制因素。这些结果为GEM框架提供了基础。为了研究其实际用途，对名为Gamicards的游戏设计工具进行了修改，以适应GEM框架。最后，一个研讨会（n = 47）评估了在游戏设计和原型制作过程中使用带有Gamicards的GEM框架作为工具的情况。这项工作扩展了当前对GEM参与者偏好的理解，并讨论了将GEM框架与Gamicards和参与者建模技术结合使用的实际含义。