What Virtual World features have really impressed me?
ourWorld - Avatars. Anime-inspired design combined with literally hundreds of different clothing items results in a nearly infinite array of looks for the players. With so much game time spent looking at avatars, I think avatar design is critical to the success of a VW. Ourworld's diveristy is only eclipsed by sites allowing user generated content (like 2nd Life), but without the challenges that come with UGC.
Dizzywood - In game play. Most of the fun of Dizzywood happens right in the main world. Activites, both solo and group, are everywhere. Much of the action happens in plain view of everyone. If you are engaged in a game that takes place in its own window, your avatar displays an icon so the other players know you're engaged. If I was 10, Dizzywood would be my game.
Smallworlds - Missions. Until they run out, Smallworlds keeps new players busy with a large assortment of rewarded tasks. They show off the world, teach how things works, provide an income, and kill boredom. I gave up on Smallworld soon after the missions dried up.
Whirled - User generated content. I'm a sucker for UGC. Whirled does a reasonable job of sorting the stuff so the best is accessible and the worst remains obscure. While there's a community of creators, the barrier was too high for me to participate. Still, there's some really interesting stuff on Whirled that no 'pro' would ever think to make happen.
YoVille - Parties List. With a lack of real games, YoVille is essentially a big chat service. Players can always check the party list to see if there are any like-minded people hanging out. If you don't see one you like, it takes about 10 seconds to start a party of your own.
Pet Society - Avatar Games. It's simple, and there's not enough variety yet, but I love the fact that I can play ball, frisbee, and jump-rope with my Pet Society pet. The games are super simple, but it keeps track of personal bests and issues trophies and rewards for exceeding benchmarks. I think this sort of play-with-my-avatar stuff would work in a lot of other games.
YoVille, Pet Society - Facebook Apps. I can't believe how quickly games built into Facebook grow. It's nice to have them right at my fingertips as I'm always checking Facebook anyway.
Toppstown, Bella Sara - Real World Tie-In. Products bought at retail unlock Virtual World content online. I think we'll be seeing a lot of this in the future, as the potential for revenue is huge.
Most of these 'bests' are really just great ideas that other worlds haven't adopted as standard yet. Cross pollenation is inevetible, because there's no way you can ignore a great idea just because somebody else thought of it first (unless they 'own' it somehow.) Avatars, games, public and private rooms, and stores selling virtual stuff for play money WAS pretty innovative. Obviously, there's room for so much more. These worlds have already started taking those next steps. I can't wait to see what's next. Heck, perhaps I'll come up with what's next!
-Adam!!!
Showing posts with label Bella Sara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bella Sara. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
WoW spelled backwards is...oh, never mind
Warhammer Online Creative Director says World of Warcraft "has had a corrupting effect" on game development.
I couldn't agree more. I saw it at Wizards of the Coast, I saw it at Hidden City Games. I haven't seen too much of it at my current gig, as not too many of my current com padres play.
Wizards appears to have drunk the cool-aid with their newest edition of D&D. 4th edition of D&D is designed to play more like an MMO. Maybe in the table top format, that's an improvement, but it sounds more like marketing/executive creative thinking than game designer creative thinking. I can't say for sure, as I haven't played 4th edition D&D.
All the developers and designers at Hidden City Games were neck-deep in WoW, and it seemed to me, who doesn't play, every single design choice for the Bella Sara website (yes, horses for girls was influenced by WoW) was compared to how it was done in either WOW or XBox Live. I don't mind telling you it became tiresome.
To quote Paul Barnett from the article a started this post with:
-Adam!!!
I couldn't agree more. I saw it at Wizards of the Coast, I saw it at Hidden City Games. I haven't seen too much of it at my current gig, as not too many of my current com padres play.
Wizards appears to have drunk the cool-aid with their newest edition of D&D. 4th edition of D&D is designed to play more like an MMO. Maybe in the table top format, that's an improvement, but it sounds more like marketing/executive creative thinking than game designer creative thinking. I can't say for sure, as I haven't played 4th edition D&D.
All the developers and designers at Hidden City Games were neck-deep in WoW, and it seemed to me, who doesn't play, every single design choice for the Bella Sara website (yes, horses for girls was influenced by WoW) was compared to how it was done in either WOW or XBox Live. I don't mind telling you it became tiresome.
To quote Paul Barnett from the article a started this post with:
"You can't be the Beatles. If you try and be the Beatles, you'll end up as the Monkees,"
-Adam!!!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Monday, August 20, 2007
Winner Take All
With GenCon now in the rear view mirror, I had the good fortune to run into some old friends from Wizards in the lobby of my hotel. Not so surprisingly, talk quickly turned to games, gaming, and the games industry. This is the conclusion I came to following our discussion.
The games industry is a Winner Take All industry. Unless a company or product breaks the mold in a major way, it's also a zero-sum industry. Taken with my theory of Viral, Hardcore, Vanish, this means in order to go viral, and reap the rewards that come with viral success, you have to generate a new sort of game/category (and new audience), or you have to knock another game out of it's place at the top of the pile.
There is no room for another Fantasy TCG, unless Magic goes away.
There's no room for another Kids Anime TCG, unless Pokemon goes away.
There might be room for a non-kids Anime TCG.
There's no room for another plastic miniatures game, unless Clix goes away (which it might.)
And so on.
See how kids anime and adult anime fall into two different categories. That's important. The smaller the slice of category pie, the more chance to you have to gain traction and become the Winner-Take-All success of that more specialized category. Unfortunately, the category has to be small enough that you can dominate it, but also large enough that domination results in your game's success. It's a particularly tricky piece of the puzzle of success. If you create a new, smaller category, but aren't brining new people into the zero-sum equation, your success will still be limited to the number of people you can convert from other products.
While working at the Bella Sara booth, it was so clear. We were the only stop for girls at the whole show. The only question was whether there would be enough girls (or people who had girls in their lives) to make the show worth it. It was. Every other booth in the hall had competitors, except us. Blue ocean, smooth sailing.
Zero-Sum
Viral, Hardcore, Vanish
Winner Take All (for Viral success)
-Adam!!!
The games industry is a Winner Take All industry. Unless a company or product breaks the mold in a major way, it's also a zero-sum industry. Taken with my theory of Viral, Hardcore, Vanish, this means in order to go viral, and reap the rewards that come with viral success, you have to generate a new sort of game/category (and new audience), or you have to knock another game out of it's place at the top of the pile.
There is no room for another Fantasy TCG, unless Magic goes away.
There's no room for another Kids Anime TCG, unless Pokemon goes away.
There might be room for a non-kids Anime TCG.
There's no room for another plastic miniatures game, unless Clix goes away (which it might.)
And so on.
See how kids anime and adult anime fall into two different categories. That's important. The smaller the slice of category pie, the more chance to you have to gain traction and become the Winner-Take-All success of that more specialized category. Unfortunately, the category has to be small enough that you can dominate it, but also large enough that domination results in your game's success. It's a particularly tricky piece of the puzzle of success. If you create a new, smaller category, but aren't brining new people into the zero-sum equation, your success will still be limited to the number of people you can convert from other products.
While working at the Bella Sara booth, it was so clear. We were the only stop for girls at the whole show. The only question was whether there would be enough girls (or people who had girls in their lives) to make the show worth it. It was. Every other booth in the hall had competitors, except us. Blue ocean, smooth sailing.
Zero-Sum
Viral, Hardcore, Vanish
Winner Take All (for Viral success)
-Adam!!!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
CSI - Customer Service International
Bella Sara has launched in Italy. That's really cool, but it's stressing both me and the website out. We've got a web upgrade scheduled for next week which will really take care of the speed issues, and a bunch of other things that have been chronic for months. Must...hang...on...a...bit...longer....
What's interesting is how we've got a brand new group of customers, BAM!, joining all at once. We've got a new partner who's just dived into the deep end of the Bella Sara customer service pool. Its sink or swim time. It's my job to be the life preserver.
-Adam!!!
What's interesting is how we've got a brand new group of customers, BAM!, joining all at once. We've got a new partner who's just dived into the deep end of the Bella Sara customer service pool. Its sink or swim time. It's my job to be the life preserver.
-Adam!!!
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