In September 2007 we wrote an article about Browser based games. We showed you some examples and why they were growing – basically in a stresstetained world, users have less time to completely focus on full-fledged videogame. Browser based games were an intelligent and obvious solution to this problem as they would allow users to spend very little of their time on each login.
Two years later, we live on the Mafia rule. The article in question shows the rise to power of the Social Networking-based game Mafia, which spreads from Facebook to Myspace to the IPhone. The question that comes to mind is – although Browser Based Games were already strong, how do Social Networks helped them (in this case, the Mafia franchise) grow to a point where you can’t check your Facebook Notices without coming across a Mafia post?
Browser Based games took a natural evolution towards Social Networks due to their strong friend need component. Most of these games require the user to have friends in order to help grow your power – be it having more power in fights or gaining rare items, for example. Before entering the Social Networks, the users had to add users manually via e-mail addresses. Now you just post on your wall, broadcast to your friends or send massive invites and see how bites.
Not only is this, but the app itself is programmed to broadcast certain comments to users when you do specific actions. You can deactivate these posts via the app options, but most users will let it happen because they want other users to help them grow. It is a definite proof that, if it benefits the user and makes sense in the app nature, then they don’t mind letting brands or product communicate via their account.
Sure, it sounds obvious that this evolution was natural, but it doesn’t seem so obvious for some Brands who still aren’t dwelling on the Social Networks. The raw potential of users and their involvement can make wonders for a product or brand. Today Mafia is known by practically every user on Facebook – be it because they play on it or they have at least one friend who does. The bottom line is that they play Mafia, but Mafia also plays them.

Multi-touch screen that can be used by many users at the same time, RFID to recognize registrants and deliver personalized information based on their profile. This looks awesome. I wanna play with it. Is it too late to register for the Cannes Festival???

PS: SXSW organizers, you’d better be working on something like that for next year festival!

Tip hat: Thanks Devrin!

If you’ve been tuned to the online world, you’ve certainly came across the name Spore someplace. In case you’ve been wondering what it is, it is basically the new game from the Sims’s Creator Will Wright (The Sims anyone?). The name of the creator itself should ring a bell as he is one of the defining videogame creators in all of the Videogame history. And if the name Spore doesn’t ring a bell, then believe me when I say it’s just a matter of time before it does.

Spore is a multi-genre “massive single-player online game” under development by Maxis and designed by Will Wright. It allows a player to control the evolution of a species from its beginnings as a unicellular organism, through development as an intelligent and social creature, to interstellar exploration as a spacefaring culture. It has drawn wide attention for its massive scope, and its use of open-ended gameplay and procedural generation.

Basically, it’s a Pac-man meets Diablo meets Civilization meets Star Trek. I could go on in describing the videogame in detail – from the AI to the graphics, but what I want to focus on this time in on the label “massive single-player online game”. Maxis has found a new way of UGC in Spore – an offline game whose content is populated by the users’ creations.

User-generated content is a major feature of Spore; there are eighteen different types of editors (some unique to a phase), and even a music editor which allows players to share songs. Will Wright has stated that in addition to being simple, all the editors will be as similar as possible so that skills learned are easily transferable from one editor to the next.

The UGC for the game began before the game is even released – via the release of the Spore Creature creator. While first looked at as a teaser for the game, allowing users to create their creature and play with the customization the game allows, the Creature Creator actually serves a deeper purpose – the creation of the Spore universe. In the final game release, users will create their creature and begin playing only to find that their planet – as well as various on the Spore universe – is also populated by rival creatures. These rival creatures are none other than the creatures created by the users via the Creature Creator and the final game itself.

How does this work? Basically via something Will Wright named “Asynchronous Sharing”. There is no multiplayer gaming in Spore – what happens is that every content created by the users with Internet access will be automatically uploaded to a central database, then cataloged and rated for quality, and finally distributed to the other players’ games. With just a few KBs per item, Maxis found a way to create a game in which only the basis is done by the company – all the rest is user made. If this wasn’t all, you’ll receive updates on how your species is faring in the games all over the world. You might even receive an unfortunate message stating that your specie has become extinct.

Another interesting development (probably not as much as the Asynchronous Sharing, but still an interesting mashup the game developed) is the partnership with Youtube that allows users to upload videos from their game directly from the game into Youtube. Users will also be rewarded by Maxis with badges for the creations they submit via game or Youtube – based on the number of accesses other users do with the content in question.

Being released on September world-wide, Spore has all the ingredients to create a memorable game. Not only the game mechanics, story and general interest are top notch – as you can see by the buzz generated online – but they also created a new level of UGC that doesn’t depend on the users’ random creativity rages on Youtube, Flickr, Blogs, etc… but via an offline application that gives them the tools to create and gathers their information in an automatic way. Let’s wait to see how the release will be done marketing-wise, but one thing is for sure – before release, the buzz generated around the game has practically done all the work necessary to guarantee the game sales.

For the aspiring marketeer, this is a valuable learning – play with the available technologies instead of just jumping to the next one. With the amount of information around, there is still an unbelievable amount of space for mashups. And as we can see through Spore, mashups are a strong bet towards creating different experiences for your users.

Definitely worth reading.

Fantastic website – infact its more than a website – its an experience – well designed, well presented, great ideas behind it – its one of those website that come around now and again that remind you why you work in all things digital!

Gettheglass

When the theme of Social Networking is at hand, usually a few keywords come to mind – MySpace, community, friend list, pictures – amongst a few others that, when place together, build in our imaginary the concept of a Social Networking Website. But, what most people fail to notice is that Social Networking as concept is evolving beyond its original model, developing new areas, restructuring the basics and adding a new extra value for the users.

In a previous post, I explained how users in a SNW can be placed in various categories. The next step is defining categories for the SNW – their structure, purpose and main types of users. But before starting with those posts, I thought it would be interesting approaching a type of website which can be considered a hybrid for SNW – browser games.

Browser games are, stating the obvious, games which are played via browser – they do not require an installation in the client side. Basically, the user accesses a website, where after reading the instruction and gaming context, he registers and account and starts playing. The games are mostly categorized in the strategy or RPG gaming – the user either has to control an empire and their resources in order to grow – such examples are the sci-fi Ogame or the medieval Travian – or he has to fight and develop his online text persona to be the best fighter – see Monster Game for reference. But the type with the most users and most titles are definitely the strategy based. And the main feature in these games is: they are multiplayer.

Essentially, the users are placed amongst other players and have to choose how to spend resources, what to build and what to research, amongst other common actions for a strategy game. But, since this article is not about game mechanic, I’ll focus at the theme at hand – the social networking inherent to these games. The main drive of these games are the users – they group together in alliances, fighting against each other, and have to follow rules defined by the alliance in order to be accepted. Not only that, they develop a collective conscience that creates, in most cases, an obligation to go online to aid their alliance. Actually, most of the users in these alliances become friends – chatting quite frequently and exchanging in game information. These games usually contain user profiles, pictures and friend lists – aka the same tools as your common social networking website. But with a main difference – there is a purpose for this engagement between the users.

Unlike the normal SNW, users have a regular return rate to the game – most up to 2 hours a day split into various accesses. While in the common SNW some users lose interest due to boredom, in these games they become more and more interested. The main difference when it comes to user retention is the moment of retention – SNW have a higher adherence in the beginning becomes it requires little engagement while OG take time to learn – but the user who insists will never leave the game.

To sum it up, the OG is the hybrid between SNW and Videogames. Critics would probably refer that the target for the OG are young techies – but it isn’t necessarily like this. These games are perfect for users who have little time to spend online but like to play. World of Warcraft might be a fabulous game, but the average working 35-year old man lacks the time to play it. But the OG usually requires only little time to build up a frankly good experience. Besides, one of the most famous OG is based on the management of a football team similar to the massive hit Football Manager.

For the marketers this is a good way to think about new ways to engage their clients. It provides a simple way to create added value to the costumers with little development besides Server Side – little when compared to an actual Videogame, of course. Just find a context, develop a system that pits the users against each other and brand it suavely. And then, the word-to-mouth kicks in – if you were able to respect the user and create an actual experience without just focusing on selling the brand, you’ll see the registries rising. This is a simple way to place it, but it can actually work! But, always take in mind that I’m not talking about flash-made puzzle games or even RPG games like the ever popular free game Maple Story, but games that are just text, a few images and a lot of server side programming to create a dynamic universe in the browser. I guess the best way to learn is to actual join one and give it a try. There are many for the taking!