Using NASA's Process Communication Model to write interesting characters

Jennifer Scheurle just started an interesting twitter thread, that I'm just going to transcribe here for your (and my) reading leisure:Oh, oh, so... today in my research I came across some interesting stuff in NASA psychology tests for astronauts and it's a framework called Process Communication Model. And I read about how to use it to write characters, so here is a starter thread for #gamedev for this!Alright so, quick background... the PCM has been used by the writers behind the movie "Brave" and I thought this was such a great approach and maybe you find it useful as well!Ok, so PCM is essentially a psychological concept that describes personalities to consist of a variation in intensity of 6 types, all living within each of us to different degrees.NASA uses this framework in their evaluation of astronauts to look into how candidates would react to distress and how they function in social situations. I think it's a wonderful system to help you with building complex, deep and very human characters.Let me start by giving you the 6 types that make up the PCM...THINKERSThis type refers to a personality type that prefers viewing their surroundings through a lense of logic. They internalise thought, are internally motivated and can become obsessive around issues of fairness, time, money and efficiency.PERSISTERSThis type filters the world around them through existing ideologies and belief systems they have internalised. They prefer democratic conflict resolution, are dedicated and observant. They also tend to become unrealistic in their expectations of others during conflict.HARMONIZERSThis type is heavily focused on emotions and filter their perception through those lenses. They are warm and compassionate characters, but can lose assertiveness easily and try to please others in conflict situations, losing self-confidence in the process.REBELSThis type is quite something because they love bouncing off the world around them, are very reactive and not afraid of conflict. They are externally motivated and distress makes them complain a lot, become negative and blame others.IMAGINERSPerceive the world through a lense of reflections, are very calm and very good observers. They prefer communication that is direct and purposeful. They draw motivation from external solitude and distress makes them want to be isolated and lose initiative.PROMOTERSThis type perceives the world predominantly through actions, being very reactive to the things they experience and act on emotions quickly. Adaptable, charming and persuasive, this type is also very competitive, which makes them withdraw support in conflict.Alright, those are the 6 types. Now, as said before, every single person has all of these 6 types within themselves but to varying degrees. When trying to build believable characters, this is a fantastic framework to work with, especially when building counter-characters too.Think of them as sliders that help you define how a character would react in certain situations and what defines their dominant social strategy. For "Brave", this model was used to build compelling characters that meet where they are at in their development.It's like a recipe that helps you define motivations better and how characters perceive the world around them, allow you to cut corners when you need to in your writing and still drive a complex and versatile character home. Frameworks rooted in reality = exceptional for games.PS: I desperately want to write an article about this somewhere....PPS: This is not only useful for building characters but also to help analyse things such as: Customer service (how to counter specific distress types more easily), workplace navigation and conflict resolution in general. via /r/gamedev http://ift.tt/2FQGgZE