By author Raph Koster and my notes...
There was phenomenal speech given at GDC2007 by Raph Koster concerning Web 2.0 and Gaming! See the article post link for the mp3 audio recording of the presentation.
from ex-Sony Online
Entertainment producer and A Theory of Fun author Raph Koster"
Here is the news post about it: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=14308
Here is the link to the powerpoint slides for the speech: Link
Anyhow, I had to listen to it again and took some quick notes about it, so here are my short hand notes:
Somewhat for myself to remember about it later on, but you might enjoy as well.
--->
Topics...
Game will have an audience size based upon makes what it makes
Budget dictates audience size and not the other way around ---> big
budget media' view point
Big Hit Industry --->
games and movies. Games don't have that long of a tail like movies do!
Long Tail fall off can be almost precisely calculated after a the short
initial hit period.
---> Single player gaming is an aberration... costs to make keep going
up.
Social content submissions... such as Myspace, youtube, etc...
Spore is attempting to be this.
Make the game and don't keep spending the money. Part of this is to get
Player A verse Player B.
---> About content creators.
Yahoo groups pattern - 90% read, 10% post and 1% moderate
Sturgeon's Law - 90% play, 10% create content and 1% make GOOD content.
More of those content creators than there are developers!
50 million American's are creating web content! (not including stars on
ebay, rating pics on Flickr, or reviews on Amazon!)
Craftsmen - great at one thing - when Craftsmen rule, genre dies.
Praxis
--> Bruce Sterling - Product Design "Shaping Things" -
People design. ---> read the book
Web world (spime) records everything someone does, where games do not...
Web world doesn't open big, they keep it steady!
Tag Cloud - used to tag what you like! Tags are searched by players.
Premise get people to do stuff for you and then you are good to go,
doing it for themselves and makes everyone better. Make a critter and
we will give it to everyone else...
New Rs - Ratings, Rankings and Reputation.
Core tactic of Web 2.0 companies... acquire that which people make or
produce for you! (decentralize and come from multiple sources). Value
comes from somewhere else, not from your company!
Wisdom of Crowds - get as many people as possible to do something.
Example. Estimate how many beans in a jar... everyone is wrong, but the
average will be within 1% of the value. Book called Wikinomics. (read
maybe)...
Netflix carries a bunch of obscure title, but almost all get rented once
a month!
Games... How do we generate a BUNCH of stuff and then offer to everyone
what is good... shit filter...
Possible launch a ton of good things, see what works, then send out a
percentage of what works and then some will work and some won't! Keep
doing until something works. Focus on verifying via metrics and
tracking everything that works! Counter to a design doc and production
methods currently in the games industry!
---> Second Life 'Copy Bot' controversy...
--> content creators -> so many folks out there better at making content
and they do IT for free!!!! Must get them to do it for me for free!!!
Then I own the IP...
TurboSquid
Cssengarden
Example... Xbox live released Geometry Wars and within 48 hours that
there were pixel perfect clones up for free on the web and in some case
they were better than Geometry Wars!
Pandora (kills the radio dead. Search on this!) This figures out what
you like to listen to based upon what you have listened to already.
Make Content creation EASY and then the 1% of content creators go WAY up
because it is EASY for everyone to do it!
This shows the value is NOT in the bits on a DVD or CD. Example
Musicians make their money from the performance, not the selling of CDs.
YouTube for games sites... search on these and see what is out there!
Example GameGum. (great games experiment perhaps)
Search on the game (MMO) Webkins. How much dev cost for making that
game?
Monetize loyalty. Find out Target Demographic of who is playing your
game and why! Figure it out and Log the Data -> PUT it in the GAME!
Long Tails do not play nice with Large budgets, but do so well with
small budgets and do better in aggregate therefore do better than the
large budgets!
Also something targeted towards a niche works well for charging more as
that niche wants to play your game!
Games are systems... content of the game is a commodity and something
that should not be created. Most of them (games) suck at absorbing
content!
Databases long term are where the value lies! Be the big brother!
David Brin "The Transparent Society" ---> read the book.
Don't build the cathedral, build the windows and doors. Byte sized
bits! Not the full code sized! Kids don't care about size, but that it
is fun.
Most websites pick one thing and do them well! Viral game... Snood!
Snood guy (designer) makes a LOT, LOT of money!
5 minute session. Build a web app, then launch a business in 5 minutes
at Web conference. That is the pace and it will pick up very soon!!!
Final Summary! --->
5-10 times working faster by doing this. More creative environment.
1. Instrument everything, don't bother with large projects and design
docs. 2. Put it out there and see what works! If it don't, then change
it.
3. Don't get hung up on the looks. Keep it simple.
4. Figure out how to occupy a lot of niches.
5. Make lots and lots of games! One sell per day of each game is a LOT
of sells!
6. Stand out from the crowd! Do whatever it takes.
7. Connect with the customers. Get out from under closed platforms!
The broadcast model doesn't really work for game developers!
These things fall out from the Web 2.0 world and there is a LOT more.
"