The games industry has been getting a little jittery of late. Or should i say the 'AAA industry' since modern gaming has become so heavily splintered. Something has been growing in the dark recesses of the Internet that seems to make all their traditional models of revenue seem out of touch. Something entirely new. Something called Social Gaming. At it was expanding at an alarming rate. Analysts have lined up to instill the virtues of social gaming, there have even been words like "the future of gaming" used. It certainly makes a butt-load of money but i think many both on the inside and the outside of the games industry misunderstand exactly what's going on or how it is effecting the industry.
Social games have grown significantly in a very short space of time but their growth at this pace is unsustainable. EA recently payed over the odds to buy social gaming company "Playfish" and will probably never see a return on that investment. The company had already peaked in terms of price. Social games are not some magic money-printing bullet and projections of their expected profits may be unrealistic.
The great envy tinged with fear at which established players like Activision and EA look at the social gaming sector might not be justified. Even recently there have been murmurings that the 'traditional' companies are getting left behind as we charge into the grand future of gaming. But how much can we really project the future of the industry? Or even if we can is the vision of gaming's future companies like Zynga provide really desirable?
A young man clings to the back of a great, towering stone monster. His grip weakens with every passing moment as the great shape tries to throw him off. These serene ancient beings have been wondering harmlessly for eons untold but his intent is to kill all of them to bring back the soul of someone he loves. It may cost his humanity but his grief is such that he is willing to endure the trails and pay the great price.
3 miles away someone just bought an in browser cartoon cow for £3.50.
Going from a crafted narrative, characters and world that are capable of affecting the player to something that requires loose-change to progress is not what i would call progression. At this point in the history of the medium where we are on the verge of some really great experiences that may rival the best of film for narrative and character and surpass it for immersion, having the creative efforts of an entire industry shift focus from crafting involving experiences to making browser interfaces that try and hoover money from you would be simply depressing.
The second problem is one of quality. Social games, facebook games especially, are utterly devoid of new ideas. Every time there is a facebook hit we see hundreds of clones, the social game arena is filled with clones desperately trying to emulate each other success. This problem exists is most areas of gaming to the extent to which it is pervasive in the social games arena in is pretty astounding. The ideas of the market leaders themselves are also gimped versions of earlier, superior titles. Management sim knock-offs like farmville have lesser gameplay chops than many titles of 15 years ago. Mafia Wars rips off a much older tradition of text-based mobster adventures that have existed for around a decade. Copying game-mechanics is also nothing new but the lack of any addition to outdated formulas is also a trope of the Social game genre. There is no hunger for ideas, no spark of creation. There are only colour-vomit graphics and microtransactions.
This is partly caused by the issue of the intent of social games. traditional games aim to succeed through the improvement of their mechanics and giving enough reason to a consumer to buy it. The best games aim simply to be the best games they can be with the main intent of many involved being enjoyment of their Audience. Social games, at their worst, are openly exploitative towards the player. Their intention is not to be a good game (or i would argue sometimes not even a game at all) their intention is to provide just enough content to entice the maximum amount of money from the player. Their progression is not based on traditional ideas of mission completion or Exp, their progression is geared towards the maximum investment of capital. They border on a miss-use of game mechanics to force as many people as possible
Words like "Advertainment" and "new revenue models" probably make a marketing executive somewhere need to change their shorts but all it means to you is that the focus of many in this emerging industry is shifting towards the monetisation of EVERY aspect of your games. I don't mind saying i have an almost visceral reaction to the ideas that games could and in the eyes of some should be an extension of your accounting/marketing model. In the eyes of Zynga you are not a customer but a cash-cow to be exploited at even available opportunity. Many stereotype the 'core' gamer as a giant, sweaty man-child greedily keeping the industry to himself but the picture is more that long time games enthusiasts are the ones who are most open to new ideas, new experiences and actively seek out the best content. Social gamers are being taken for a ride with stunted, 'addictive' games short-changing them in terms of experience. The founding principles of the industry deserve more than the vision of ultimate monistisation social games provide.
Social games have grown significantly in a very short space of time but their growth at this pace is unsustainable. EA recently payed over the odds to buy social gaming company "Playfish" and will probably never see a return on that investment. The company had already peaked in terms of price. Social games are not some magic money-printing bullet and projections of their expected profits may be unrealistic.
The great envy tinged with fear at which established players like Activision and EA look at the social gaming sector might not be justified. Even recently there have been murmurings that the 'traditional' companies are getting left behind as we charge into the grand future of gaming. But how much can we really project the future of the industry? Or even if we can is the vision of gaming's future companies like Zynga provide really desirable?
A young man clings to the back of a great, towering stone monster. His grip weakens with every passing moment as the great shape tries to throw him off. These serene ancient beings have been wondering harmlessly for eons untold but his intent is to kill all of them to bring back the soul of someone he loves. It may cost his humanity but his grief is such that he is willing to endure the trails and pay the great price.
3 miles away someone just bought an in browser cartoon cow for £3.50.
Going from a crafted narrative, characters and world that are capable of affecting the player to something that requires loose-change to progress is not what i would call progression. At this point in the history of the medium where we are on the verge of some really great experiences that may rival the best of film for narrative and character and surpass it for immersion, having the creative efforts of an entire industry shift focus from crafting involving experiences to making browser interfaces that try and hoover money from you would be simply depressing.
The second problem is one of quality. Social games, facebook games especially, are utterly devoid of new ideas. Every time there is a facebook hit we see hundreds of clones, the social game arena is filled with clones desperately trying to emulate each other success. This problem exists is most areas of gaming to the extent to which it is pervasive in the social games arena in is pretty astounding. The ideas of the market leaders themselves are also gimped versions of earlier, superior titles. Management sim knock-offs like farmville have lesser gameplay chops than many titles of 15 years ago. Mafia Wars rips off a much older tradition of text-based mobster adventures that have existed for around a decade. Copying game-mechanics is also nothing new but the lack of any addition to outdated formulas is also a trope of the Social game genre. There is no hunger for ideas, no spark of creation. There are only colour-vomit graphics and microtransactions.
This is partly caused by the issue of the intent of social games. traditional games aim to succeed through the improvement of their mechanics and giving enough reason to a consumer to buy it. The best games aim simply to be the best games they can be with the main intent of many involved being enjoyment of their Audience. Social games, at their worst, are openly exploitative towards the player. Their intention is not to be a good game (or i would argue sometimes not even a game at all) their intention is to provide just enough content to entice the maximum amount of money from the player. Their progression is not based on traditional ideas of mission completion or Exp, their progression is geared towards the maximum investment of capital. They border on a miss-use of game mechanics to force as many people as possible
Words like "Advertainment" and "new revenue models" probably make a marketing executive somewhere need to change their shorts but all it means to you is that the focus of many in this emerging industry is shifting towards the monetisation of EVERY aspect of your games. I don't mind saying i have an almost visceral reaction to the ideas that games could and in the eyes of some should be an extension of your accounting/marketing model. In the eyes of Zynga you are not a customer but a cash-cow to be exploited at even available opportunity. Many stereotype the 'core' gamer as a giant, sweaty man-child greedily keeping the industry to himself but the picture is more that long time games enthusiasts are the ones who are most open to new ideas, new experiences and actively seek out the best content. Social gamers are being taken for a ride with stunted, 'addictive' games short-changing them in terms of experience. The founding principles of the industry deserve more than the vision of ultimate monistisation social games provide.
Well it looks like my last paragraph and conclusion did not post, oy vey and all that.
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