0.2 Being a spike

Back in 2002, Magic: the Gathering Lead Designer Mark Rosewater published an article called Timmy, Johnny, and Spike, where he introduced three very famous psychographic profiles: categories of players that play Magic for distinctly different reasons. We’re not going to get into the specifics of Rosewater’s taxonomy, but let’s just say that, even though Timmy and Johnny are profiles that sometimes do not translate very well to players of other games, Spike tends to do better. Most games have players who are Spikes, whose drive for playing the game – and maybe other games – comes from specific motivations.

Playing to be good#

Spikes are players who want to be good at the game, and for whom that’s the main reason to engage with the game and keep playing it. A spike likes a specific game – and sometimes games more generally – because they like to put in effort to try to win, or they like the feeling of improvement as they keep learning, or other kinds of motivation related to skill and mastery of a game.

A spike isn’t necessarily a good player: maybe they’re just someone who aspires to be good, or someone who knows they don’t have the time or energy to get very good at the game but still derives most of their fun from as calculated and skillful play as they can manage. Likewise, you can be very good without being a spike: there are some Netrunner players who regularly play suboptimal or plain weird decks out of an attachment to them or a drive to express themselves, and are also so good at playing them that they often end up placing well in tournaments. Spiking isn’t about actual skill, but about the kind of motivation that draws you towards games.

A spike is someone who is playing to win in some way, which doesn’t mean that they have a strong attachment to winning. While we all enjoy winning more than losing, spikiness is usually about the satisfaction of having done your best and having made the best plays rather than the euphoria that comes from a tournament win. In a game where chance plays a significant role, the difference between these two things is meaningful.

Netrunner is a deep and complex game with a very high skill ceiling, and you can spend years improving at it: all traits that make spikes flock to a game. But it also has a fascinating setting, a lot of potential for self-expression, and a very inclusive community, all of which motivate very different kinds of players. Minds are complex and multifarious, and you probably have a variety of reasons why you like Netrunner. But as a rule of thumb, you’re probably going to enjoy this guide the most if you have fun getting good at a game to the point where your friends who aren’t as hardcore as you won’t play with you anymore. If you’re mainly into this game for whatever other reason (you like to build jank with funny cards; you like the lore and characters; you enjoy socializing with your local scene; you’re just really, really gay for Reina Roja) that’s great! All of those are good reasons to play Netrunner, and this guide may still be a good resource of strategy tips for you.