Thoughts Inspired by the Social Gaming Summit
Things to Think about:
A whole generation of kids have been playing in virtual worlds are now entering the age (13) when they move into social networks. (Kyra Reppen - Neopets (core audience: 9-14).
My question: how does puberty (i.e. sexual awareness) change social play, particularly the values cherished and expressed by the userbase, and how does it affect social game design?
Kids up to the age of 13 want avatars as their pictures. Teenagers all want real profile pictures. Soccer Moms are mixed. (Dave Williams - Shockwave/Addicting Games)
I guess that answers my question why there isn't a successful avatar-based app on Facebook (though Yoville is seeing some nice growth). And it also suggests that building a fantasy based virtual world on the back of Facebook might not be the best idea. Perhaps, a virtual world where you pilot a 3D rendering of your profile picture would be better? The technology is out there (courtesy of an offshoot of Shervin Pishevar's old company, Freewebs.com!)
In Korea, MapleStory (a 2D MMO) is primarily played by elementary school kids, in the U.S., it's primarily played by teenagers. (Min Kim - Nexon).
So the demographic of players of a game is independent of game design? Is there an arbitrage opportunity here, taking game worlds built for kids and marketing them to different demographics, under different rubrics?
K2 networks (publisher of free-to-play MMOs) sees their usage spike on weekends, meanwhile most social games on Facebook have less usage on weekends.
Does this suggest more immersive games on Facebook will drive users to play on weekends instead of during the week? Or does it suggest that Facebook's audience primarily plays during the week and doesn't have the time for the more immersive experiences that SGN's CEO, Shervin Pishevar, suggested that the social games should move toward.
Answer: people are going to play during the week. Josh Williams of Alamofire said that he knows of at least one person being fired for playing Packrat at work, one year from now we'll be reading a trend piece in the NYtimes about how social games are destroying America's productivity.
2 comments:
Regarding your first question, I think Kyra actually answered it in the quote you pulled. Once kids enter the early stages of sexual awareness, there's a move from virtual worlds (ie: avatar-based interaction) to social networks (ie: you-based interaction).
Sexual awareness goes hand-in-hand with individualism. As children move from adolescence, they begin to understand and define their own identities. I didn't grow up with social networks so I can't say with any certainty, but I suspect that these websites have been modes of expression for identity and individualism in the "tweens" [shudder] of recent years.
My guess: this explains the early success of MySpace (whose minimum age for users is currently 14). Ass-ugly? Yes. But all the backgrounds and badges and music widgets are expressions of identity; It's how PyroGirl93 defines herself.
Regarding the last question, it's something we see in the two modes of our single community. The gameservers for Pirates of the Burning Sea are most loaded on the weekends when people can use their fancy gaming rigs and long idle periods at home. The forums are most loaded during the week when they are logged in from work and can't get away with a full screen game that takes over your computer.
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