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Transcript of [Full] Social gaming insights and findings
Social gaming“Findings and insights”
redux
By Sriram Krishnan
@sriramkri
I’ve put together some of the insights and findings I’ve come across from the past year…
Most of you would probably know about what I’ve mentioned in this presentation:
“Social games – examples” is a general overview of the different types of applications out there (not exhaustive)
The other two parts are for industry enthusiasts or followers
Special thanks to Noah Kagen, Jerome Scola and Gabriel Weyer for helping out..!
ContentsSocial games - examplesOptimizing viralityLooking to the future
Social games – examplesSocial games – examples
Viral Strategy RPG Niche games + Facebook
3 examples of Viral applicationsiHeart by MmkayQuiz creator by LOLappsFarmville by Zynga
iHeart~ 20,000,000 MAU, ~1,300,000 FB fansThe goal is to obtain the highest heart beat
amongst your friends by sending and receiving hearts. The more hearts you receive, the faster your heart would beat. Features: Receive/Send hearts, heartbeat leader board
Also became viral due to good PR –> seasonal: Valentine’s Day etc. App targeted female population -> tendency to like “hugs”, “kisses”, “hearts” etc
Monetized through advertising, and then virtual items
Social obligation to reciprocate -> users harass their friends to send hearts -> improve heartbeat
iHeart
Quiz creator~ 460,000 MAU, ~83,000 FB fansUsers are able to create their own
application just by filling up formsThis app created ‘00s and 000’s of other
appsMonetized through advertising3 simple steps to create application:
Select quiz type
Key in question
s and answers
Create quiz!
Quiz creator
Farmville ~80,000,000 MAU, ~23,000,000 FB
fansReal time farming simulation gameUser creates a customizable avatar and
has a farmGame revolves around the market
where items can be purchased. As a player progresses, they can expand their farm to allow for more room for farming, animals and decorations
View Farmville parody here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odBDAcOEKuI
Farmville
Focus - FarmvilleCustomer acquisitionPlayers need neighbours if they want to
progress better. Neighbours = friends. Spam friends -> peer pressure, nagging Creation of fake accounts just for Farmville
Cross promotion within Zynga
RetentionYou have to come back regularly to take care
of your farm: plant the seeds, harvest the crops -> Async + Appointment gaming
My aunt plays this game -> cross generation appeal. ie: Mafia Wars has less appeal
Social games – examplesViral
How do you develop viral apps? Strategy RPG Niche games + Facebook
6 ways to make your app go viral
1. Utilizing all FB Platform features Apps can’t be too dependent on any single FB platform
feature … ..but have to utilize all FB platform features available:
publish2stream, notifications, publish pictures, become a fan, bookmarking, email
Some features are better at acquiring users, some are better at retaining users
6 ways to make your app go viral
2. Incentizing co-operation, sharing Apps have to encourage the user to interact with and to
engage other users Incentives, incentives, incentives!
To promote in-game action, To invite new users, To get invited users to accept invitation, To become a fan – Big Thing!, To subscribe to email or bookmarking, To grow avatar, farm, land, accomplish missions etc
Ensure that the users are obliged to engage or to reciprocate action
6 ways to make your app go viral
3. Design + User flow Integrate non-conditional viral features in the game
mechanics User has to publish2stream to advance 3 levels up or to
get more points Must invite 3 friends to unlock secret treasure box
Simple UI for UX Complicated applications take a longer time to catch on K.I.S.S Backend: No major complicated effort required
6 ways to make your app go viral4. Start tracking early Tracking + Metrics = Feedback -> Better decision making Listen to your users. Excellent management of community K factor, Click/Publish ratios, Response rates, ROIs
5. Publicity + Customer acquisition Old school – PR, blogs, conferences Cross promotion on 6waves, own apps etc Ads on Rockyou, Fb etc
6. You will also need luck on your side
Social games – examplesViralStrategy RPG Niche games + Facebook
3 examples of strategy gamesTravianEvonyKingdoms of Camelot
TravianMilitary strategy real time multiplayerAim: To reach level 100
Choice of characters or tribesEach tribe has different strengths, weaknesses
Commodities management Wood, clay, iron, wheat etc Production -> Usage for Construction, Food etc
Military/Troops strategyAttacking, DefendingDeveloping manpower
Ranking (leader board)Alliances, clans
EvonyBrowser based online multiplayer
strategy gameUser starts as a mayor and have to
increase population of city and build Similar to Travian: ranking,
attack/defenseItem mall – 2 types of virtual currencies
Gold – action oriented Game cents – real $$$
Kingdom of Camelot~3,000,000 MAU, ~ 660,000 FB fansKoC = Evony, Travian + Facebook’s social
graphAdditional Features:
Facebook friends - to speed up construction, alliance etc
Rich/Smooth graphics Global chat Quest assistance
Focus - Kingdoms of CamelotUser Acquisition Good Facebook integration. Almost being forced to invite friends
and publish streams Cross promotion with 6waves Social + Strategy – first in the business -> Niche
Retention Rich design features Self selective audience members -> not 5 minute users Seamless HTML loading. 1st flash screen load takes a long time,
but all subsequent loading uses html
Monetisation Multiple purchase options – speed up, production, chest etc Requires more robust payment strategy. Mobile payments should
be made more obvious, and localised according to markets – geoIP, other methods of payment to load within site, not in a separate window
Social games – examplesViralStrategy RPG Niche games + Facebook
3 examples of RPG games Mafia Wars Club Penguin Runescape
Mafia Wars Multiplayer RPG game Game play:
Variables -> energy, stamina, experience points,
Users level up when a certain experience point is reached
3 Characters to choose from beginning
Club PenguinChildren use penguin avatars and explore
many virtual worldsUsers can express themselves while in the
worldsMultiple virtual worlds – competition, races,
lounges, education etcSafe environment for children Monetisation: Subscription model, free2play
Customers are parents not children Kids accumulate coins by playing the game but they
can only spend or redeem them for items only if they are paying members -> nag their parents to become paying members
RunescapeLargest free MMORPG in the world Game divided into several areas and
players can travel wherever they want. Players set their own objective and goal, no story line
Game play: Real time PVP battles Quests In-game events or happenings Chat, Interaction with non-players
Hard core community
Focus - Mafia WarsUser acquisition Cross promotions, Facebook fans, bookmarking, PR The more friends you have, the more power you have
for your avatar -> Users “begging” in forums etc
Monetisation Ie: Prices of items correlate to amount in user inventory.
If user buys a house for 1, the next house will be priced 1.2. If the user buys the second house, the third house is priced 1.4 and so on -> User spends more
Retention Asynch gameplays, social (clans, interaction,
leaderboard), excellent community management, appointment gaming, cooperation between friends
Social games – examplesViralStrategy RPG Niche games + Facebook
Niche games + Facebook Niche games/genres are new to Facebook. Finding the
right balance between complex, MMO vs social gaming FB is a social platform and social features should always
be prioritized ahead of additional game mechanics But higher the complexity, easier for certain type of
users to get hooked to the game High MAU, Low ARPU vs Low MAU, High ARPU. Ie:
Kingdom of Camelot Discussions, arguments between game
designer/producer and product manager for social features, monetisation -> normal
Scenarios with simpler game play needed to cater to mass market -> Takes time to convert new users to active, engaging users.
Mouse only = Simple Mouse + Keyboard = Complex, Difficult
ContentsSocial games - ExamplesOptimizing viralityLooking to the future
Those days…Those days, apps relied on
notifications, forced invitations and publish 2streams
These days, more emphasis on publish2stream; incentivizing cooperation
These days…
Question:
What’s the most important tool you can use to make your game viral on Facebook?
Answer:
Publish2stream
To show and tellleveling up, win/loss in battle, sending/receiving, challenging friends, obtaining items, finding items
To seek favours, to make requestsbuildings get constructed faster, to grow your farms, fertilize crops, to fill up clan, to fill up homes, hiring friends in Hotel, survey questions about user, to join as clan members, to join as neighbours
Why do users publish2stream?
1. User s encouraged to publish2stream -> More publish2streams
2. User 1 Publishes/Invites -> If User 2 clicks -> Then, User 1 gets incentives -> More nagging and pleading
3. User 1 Publishes -> User 2 clicks -> User 1 + 2 gets incentives -> Win-win
Pop-ups can have a variety of incentive strategies
Incentivizing publish2streams
Ask yourself…
Would you rather click on …..
Get a sign on bonus?
Continue to Zoo paradise?
Play Tiki resort?
Save [your friend’s] cottage?
Tips for Publish2Stream• Use a cute picture. • Incentivize the small bottom right link
Friends would be able to click and get something in return• Credits/points, more information about friend etc• “Get sign on bonus now”, “Answer XXX’s questions now”
• Use “call for action” headers instead of general statements Most of the published shares use general statements for
headers but use call for action statements as explanation
Publish2Stream analyticsVariables to track
• Date or Cohort• Type of stream post• Designs or styles for a/b testing• # of times pop-up gets shown to user (a)• # of times pop-up gets published to stream (b)• Published/shown ratio = b/a• Total # of clicks from all users for published pop-up (c)• Clicks/published ratio = c/b
Publish2Stream analytics• Click breakdown – Where did users click your publish2stream
post? 1 – Picture (d), % of total clicks = d/c 2 – Header (e), % of total clicks = e/c 3 – Small link (f), % of total clicks = f/c
• Actions completed (republish, redeem, join game, install game, invite friends)
1 – Action 1 – g 2 – Action 2 – h 3 – Action 3 – I
• Total action completed = g+h+I = j• Total ROI = j/c or j/b or j/a depending on what you’re tracking
Date/Cohort Why Pop-up Styles # shown to user
# published by user
Ratio (pub/shown)
27 May Item found Style 1 A B B/AStyle 2Style 3
27 May Game won Style 1
Date/Cohort Total clicks Ratio (clicks/pub)
Call for action
# of clicks % of clicks
27 May C C/B 1. Picture D D/C2. Header E E/C3. Small link F F/C
27 May
Date/Cohort Actions competed
Ratio (action / clicks)
Total action completed
Total ROI
27 May G G/DJ = G + H + I J/CH H/E
I I/F
Other general tips• Actionable data = very important• Relatively Easy - Tracking metrics at the backend• Requires some effort - Showing the metrics on
dashboard on frontend etc • Important - Analysing data, checking which one works
better• Most important - Acting on it by re-developing, re-
designing
Other general tips• Social gaming = A “doing” industry
Focus on doing -> design, develop, test, feedback, iterate, design, develop …
driven by data, NOT intuition. Avoid idealists, scatter brains at operational level
• Good Social game = Excellent product management = monetisation + social/viral + game balance
ContentsSocial games - examplesOptimizing viralityLooking to the future
Looking to the future… Traditional social gaming market getting crowded
“5 minute” games too crowded -> Almost a zero sum game -> Consolidation is happening
Birth of more complex, niche games Dancing, FPS, Strategy, RPG, Racing etc
Social games to have stand alone sites. Separate sites -> better community management and communal feeling
Less dependence on FB platform Social games could utilize Facebook Connect Stand alone sites monetize better compared to FB Owning the users in the stand alone site Zynga with farmville.com, CMUNE with
paradisepaintball.cmune.com
The END
Any comments?
sriramkri at gmail com@sriramkri
http://cn.linkedin.com/in/sriramkrishnan