Top 25 MySpace Games
Thanks to Inside Social, the results are in for this month's top MySpace games and the results would be shocking for anyone who doesn't normally game on the platform. Essentially, things over at MySpace could be known as the bizarro world of social gaming. In a land where MySpace is second fiddle to Facebook, so is Zynga to Playdom in a strangely mirroring way with its hit game Mafia Wars (13.4 million players) beat out by its direct competitor, Playdom's Mobsters (14.9 million players) by over one million players.
However, this list includes products that are more web apps than true social games like Tag Me from BitRhymes sitting in the number 5 spot with 8.4 million users. Though, web apps and games competing for the same audience is also common on Facebook with Phrases recently dethroning FarmVille as the top app in town. In fact, web apps are the majority on MySpace with 12 spots on this list including Bumper Stickers in the number 3 spot with 12.8 million users and Own Your Friends in fourth place with 10.3 million users.
Filling out the rest of this month's top MySpace games are a slew of pet care games such as SuperPoke Pets by Slide in ninth place with RockYou Pets tailing behind them in the 10 spot. Then rest of the list includes more obscure titles by Zynga and Playdom such as the former's Street Racing in the 13 spot and the latter's Bloodlines in 24th place. All in all, it shows that despite the power and insane growth of social games, social web apps can still give this relatively new genre of gaming a challenge.
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn SocialGames. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn SocialGames. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Thứ Tư, 1 tháng 2, 2012
Thứ Hai, 30 tháng 1, 2012
Reuters to social, mobile gamers: 2011 will be better
Oh, the possibilities
Aside from the burgeoning and indisputably successful social and mobile games markets, video game sales suffered a year long slump in 2010. Industry professionals predict that game sales for this year will total four percent lower than 2009. But if a recent Reuters report is any indication, 2011 will be the year of the mobile and social, bringing revenue growth to the industry. And of course, that means more money to make even better social games, which Mark Skaggs, vice president of product development at Zynga, says will have "deeper gameplay, more polish, and be much more and better social experiences."
Carnegie Mellon professor and game developer Jesse Schell predicts that 2011 will ring in games that exist on all platforms from the PC to our phones and to our consoles and TVs, Reuters reports. The news service also predicts that 3D and motion gaming will grow in 2011 thanks to the oncoming Nintendo 3DS, the Xbox Kinect and 3D TVs that will be on display at this year's CES. (Well, on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, at least.)
But as for social and mobile gaming, we've already seen signs of this predicted boom in 2010 with marvels like Angry Birds on iPhone and Android along with the recent CityVille explosion on Facebook. So, 2011 could very well mean even more growth for social and mobile, but don't expect leaps and bounds when it comes to cross-platform play. Well, unless companies like Zynga continue to make use of HTML5 and the mobile web--then we're onto something.
Aside from the burgeoning and indisputably successful social and mobile games markets, video game sales suffered a year long slump in 2010. Industry professionals predict that game sales for this year will total four percent lower than 2009. But if a recent Reuters report is any indication, 2011 will be the year of the mobile and social, bringing revenue growth to the industry. And of course, that means more money to make even better social games, which Mark Skaggs, vice president of product development at Zynga, says will have "deeper gameplay, more polish, and be much more and better social experiences."
Carnegie Mellon professor and game developer Jesse Schell predicts that 2011 will ring in games that exist on all platforms from the PC to our phones and to our consoles and TVs, Reuters reports. The news service also predicts that 3D and motion gaming will grow in 2011 thanks to the oncoming Nintendo 3DS, the Xbox Kinect and 3D TVs that will be on display at this year's CES. (Well, on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, at least.)
But as for social and mobile gaming, we've already seen signs of this predicted boom in 2010 with marvels like Angry Birds on iPhone and Android along with the recent CityVille explosion on Facebook. So, 2011 could very well mean even more growth for social and mobile, but don't expect leaps and bounds when it comes to cross-platform play. Well, unless companies like Zynga continue to make use of HTML5 and the mobile web--then we're onto something.
CityVille social features fueled by selfish interests, game designer says
CityVille is fueled by selfishness
The incredibly rapid growth and potential success of CityVille has not only piqued the interest of the media, but folks in the field as well. Game designer Tadhg Kelly, in the second half of a two-part feature on Gamasutra, claims to have discovered the secret to the game's success. And it's not exactly pretty.
According to Kelly, the social features in CityVille are "all incentive driven." He goes on to say that at every turn, the game prompts players to make use of their friends with the incentive of Energy, coins, experience points and more. "In each case, the dynamics exist to tantalise a player with a tangible reward," Kelly asserts. "If you visit your friend, you get a prize. If you send them a free gift that costs you nothing, they might send you one back. If you set up a bakery in their town, you will both gain from that. If you harvest their crops for them, you will gain reputation points."
Because of this, the designer claims that social games aren't actually social. That type of interaction is useless to the developer, so instead these social interactions are built as amusements, Kelly claims. "Socialising in amusements is more akin to having spare Poker chips at the table that you give to someone else, and maybe they'll give you some back later," Kelly says. "It is reciprocal trade, assistance for incentive, not charity. While this does not preclude the possibility that some players will engage in acts of charity for personal reasons, the social dynamics are not created with that in mind. They are built to work with self-interest."
The poignant feature goes on to explore CityVille's financial model and how it works, but more importantly, it goes on to explain why social game developers have little hope of combating Zynga in the social games race. In his eyes, Zynga won a long time ago. Comparing Zynga to Google, he finishes with the claim that social game developers aren't going to beat Zynga at its own game, advising them to utilize different strategies for personal success.
"Hearing a social game company talk about how they are going to spend $300k on development, making their own cheap knock-off games, and then become The Next Zynga is like listening to small startups convincing themselves that they just need to make a better search engine to take down Google."
Do you agree with what Kelly has to say about CityVille? Do you think it's possible for social games to succeed on a level comparable to Zynga using a different strategy?
The incredibly rapid growth and potential success of CityVille has not only piqued the interest of the media, but folks in the field as well. Game designer Tadhg Kelly, in the second half of a two-part feature on Gamasutra, claims to have discovered the secret to the game's success. And it's not exactly pretty.
According to Kelly, the social features in CityVille are "all incentive driven." He goes on to say that at every turn, the game prompts players to make use of their friends with the incentive of Energy, coins, experience points and more. "In each case, the dynamics exist to tantalise a player with a tangible reward," Kelly asserts. "If you visit your friend, you get a prize. If you send them a free gift that costs you nothing, they might send you one back. If you set up a bakery in their town, you will both gain from that. If you harvest their crops for them, you will gain reputation points."
Because of this, the designer claims that social games aren't actually social. That type of interaction is useless to the developer, so instead these social interactions are built as amusements, Kelly claims. "Socialising in amusements is more akin to having spare Poker chips at the table that you give to someone else, and maybe they'll give you some back later," Kelly says. "It is reciprocal trade, assistance for incentive, not charity. While this does not preclude the possibility that some players will engage in acts of charity for personal reasons, the social dynamics are not created with that in mind. They are built to work with self-interest."
The poignant feature goes on to explore CityVille's financial model and how it works, but more importantly, it goes on to explain why social game developers have little hope of combating Zynga in the social games race. In his eyes, Zynga won a long time ago. Comparing Zynga to Google, he finishes with the claim that social game developers aren't going to beat Zynga at its own game, advising them to utilize different strategies for personal success.
"Hearing a social game company talk about how they are going to spend $300k on development, making their own cheap knock-off games, and then become The Next Zynga is like listening to small startups convincing themselves that they just need to make a better search engine to take down Google."
Do you agree with what Kelly has to say about CityVille? Do you think it's possible for social games to succeed on a level comparable to Zynga using a different strategy?
Thứ Bảy, 7 tháng 1, 2012
Are social games really 'evil'?
In a recent interview with PC Gamer, game developer Jonathan Blow was asked whether he though social games are "evil." The Braid creator responded with an emphatic, "Yes. Absolutely." Currently working on his second major release, The Witness, the independent game designer has spoken choice words about the genre in the past. But this is the first time Blow has associated social games with such a Biblical term as evil. His argument is that by design social games invade your free time as a whole by stringing you along to the next object or feature that you want. But does this make social games evil?
Jonathan BlowBy design, social games tend to be exploitative. "If you want to play more, you've got to pay more," is the motto of just about every game on Facebook. And Blow (pictured right) points this trait out repeatedly in his time with PC Gamer, but with a lens that every social gamer will become hopelessly obsessed with games like CityVille or Bejeweled Blitz. So are they the Grinch of the gaming industry? Sure they are, but in saying that we're deeming one half of the equation completely innocent: the players.
Yes, there have been plenty of tragic cases of social game addiction over the past year, but compared to the 250 million Facebook gamers out there this is nothing. Are MMOs like World of WarCraft evil for supporting the addictive tendencies of gamers? How about the Call of Duty series? If this is the case, then every game that persists for longer than its shelf life through enticing downloadable content (DLC), expansion packs or a subscription fee is evil. At least just a smidgen.
Mass Effect 2 by Bioware received Game of the Year at the Interactive Achievement Awards this year, but technically speaking it wasn't complete upon release. DLC has extended its story ... for a price. You could easily argue that BioWare could have extended its development cycle to include this content at the same launch price of $60. Yet the developer decided to do the unthinkable and charge us extra to experience the rest of its story. And we all put up the $5 or $10 more time after time.
Exploitative? Absolutely. Evil? Well, you don't have to buy it, right?
Or do you? Games might not have in the 1980s, but today just about all types of games play to the varying levels of addictive tendencies in all of us. The engrossing storyline in BioShock can be just as addicting as the risk-reward, carrot-on-the-stick gameplay of FarmVille. But we're equally responsible for shutting the computer down and, say, loving our children. Blow might have directed his statement at social game designers, but players are equally as important in the design process and we have a certain level of control over what's created. Social games, like all video games, are only as evil as you allow them to be.
[Image Credit: Deccan Chronicle]
Do you think social games are inherently evil? How responsible are game designers for the exploitative nature of their games?
Jonathan BlowBy design, social games tend to be exploitative. "If you want to play more, you've got to pay more," is the motto of just about every game on Facebook. And Blow (pictured right) points this trait out repeatedly in his time with PC Gamer, but with a lens that every social gamer will become hopelessly obsessed with games like CityVille or Bejeweled Blitz. So are they the Grinch of the gaming industry? Sure they are, but in saying that we're deeming one half of the equation completely innocent: the players.
Yes, there have been plenty of tragic cases of social game addiction over the past year, but compared to the 250 million Facebook gamers out there this is nothing. Are MMOs like World of WarCraft evil for supporting the addictive tendencies of gamers? How about the Call of Duty series? If this is the case, then every game that persists for longer than its shelf life through enticing downloadable content (DLC), expansion packs or a subscription fee is evil. At least just a smidgen.
Mass Effect 2 by Bioware received Game of the Year at the Interactive Achievement Awards this year, but technically speaking it wasn't complete upon release. DLC has extended its story ... for a price. You could easily argue that BioWare could have extended its development cycle to include this content at the same launch price of $60. Yet the developer decided to do the unthinkable and charge us extra to experience the rest of its story. And we all put up the $5 or $10 more time after time.
Exploitative? Absolutely. Evil? Well, you don't have to buy it, right?
Or do you? Games might not have in the 1980s, but today just about all types of games play to the varying levels of addictive tendencies in all of us. The engrossing storyline in BioShock can be just as addicting as the risk-reward, carrot-on-the-stick gameplay of FarmVille. But we're equally responsible for shutting the computer down and, say, loving our children. Blow might have directed his statement at social game designers, but players are equally as important in the design process and we have a certain level of control over what's created. Social games, like all video games, are only as evil as you allow them to be.
[Image Credit: Deccan Chronicle]
Do you think social games are inherently evil? How responsible are game designers for the exploitative nature of their games?
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