david vs. goliathville: a call to arms for social game designers

David vs.

GoliathVillea call to arms for indie social game designers

Scott Jon Siegel@numberless

http://numberless.netscottjonsiegel@gmail.com

montreal international game summit 2010

David vs.

GoliathVillea call to arms for indie social game developersThe opinions expressed

here are those of the presenter, and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer.

but first, a brief disclaimer:

Scott Jon Siegel@numberless

http://numberless.netscottjonsiegel@gmail.com

Scott Jon SiegelSocial Game DesignerZynga; June 2008 - August 2009

‣ Scramble Live, iPhone

‣ Café World, Facebook

Playdom/Disney; September 2009 - Present‣ City of Wonder, Facebook

intro

call to arms

call to arms

call to arms

CALL TOARMS

call to arms

call to arms

call to arms

call to arms

part one

part one

part one

part one

the outsider

the outsider

THE OUTSIDER

the outsider

THE INSIDERS

the outsider

(sausage fest)

the outsider

Three Simple Questions

the outsider

1. HOW DO YOU DEFINE “INDIE”?

2. HOW DO YOU DEFINE “SOCIAL GAMES”?

3. WHY DO INDIES HATE SOCIAL GAMES SO MUCH?

Three Simple Questions

the outsider

indie

the outsider

indie

the outsider

“These are dumb questions.”Chris Hecker

Co-Founder, Indie Game Jam

the outsider

“The whole ‘what's indie’ thing is a pointless circular discussion I’m trying to distance myself from.”Phil FishChief Creative Officer, Polytron

the outsider

“A lot of people seem to want to talk about that, but it never produces

interesting ideas or useful discussions.”

Jonathan BlowDesigner/Programmer, Braid

the outsider

“Indie is hard to define.”Jenova ChenCo-Founder, ThatGameCompany

the outsider

“There’s indie as method [...] and then there’s indie as style...”Frank LantzChief Creative Officer, area/code

the outsider

Whether you’re indie as method, or indie as style, social games have something compelling to offer.

the outsider

WTF ARE SOCIAL GAMES?

the outsider

“GAMES ON FACEBOOK”

the outsider

“GAMES INVOLVING SOCIAL INTERACTION”

the outsider

“IT’S A POOR TERM, WHATEVER IT IS”

the outsider

WTF ARE SOCIAL GAMES?

the outsider

WTF ARE SOCIAL GAMES?

the outsider

Social Games are those which evoke “emergent social play”

- Zimmerman/Salen, 2004

the outsider

the outsider

SOCIAL GAMES

the outsider

SOCIAL GAMES^network

the outsider

SOCIAL GAMES^network

‣ social graph‣ platform communication channels

the outsider

WHY ALL THE HATE?

the outsider

“Indie game developers generally don't make social games because they tend to actually like games, and

they tend to respect their players and want to give the players good experiences. ‘Social game’ development is generally about the opposites of these things. It should

be pretty obvious.”

the outsider

I OBVIOUSLY DISAGREE.

I SOCIAL GAMES

part two

i <3 social games

they’re HUGE.

i <3 social games

‣ over 195,000,000 active users on Facebook every day

‣ 24% of all internet users in US & UK play social games.

‣ of those users, 49% log in to social networks specifically to play social games.

Source: Information Solutions Group, February 2010

11%

80%

9%

The complete lack of necessity for a chart on this slide.The pressure to do it anyway so the slide wouldn’t feel unbalanced.How sad I make myself sometimes.

i <3 social games

they’re DIVERSE.

i <3 social games

0%

6%

12%

18%

24%

30%

< 18

18 -

21

22 -

29

30 -

39

40 -

49

50 -

59 60+

Percentage of Social Gamers by Age

Perc

enta

ge

US UK

0%

12%

24%

36%

48%

60%

Male Female

Percentage of Social Gamers by Gender

Perc

enta

ge

Source: Information Solutions Group, February 2010

i <3 social games

Source: Information Solutions Group, February 2010

the average social gamer is a

43 year-old woman.

i <3 social games

Source: Information Solutions Group, February 2010

the average social gamer is a

43 year-old woman.

i <3 social games

they’re PROFITABLE.

i <3 social games

‣ 28% of social gamers have spent real money in social games.

‣ users who spend once are exponentially more likely spend again.

‣ Virtual goods on track to generate $1.6 billion in US revenue in 2010.

‣ Estimated to account for 20% of all gaming revenue by 2011.

Sources: Information Solutions Group, February 2010 http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-20004317-62.html http://www.socialtimes.com/2010/02/56-of-social-game-buyers-buy-again-according-to-social-gold/

i <3 social games

social gaming is

BROADsocial gaming

PRINTS MONEY

i <3 social games

social gaming is

BROADsocial gaming

PRINTS MONEY

i <3 social games

Parking Warsarea/code, 2007

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

^ MY STREET

MY FLEET >

i <3 social games

= $

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

SkyratesCarnegie Mellon, 2006

i <3 social games

SkyratesAirship Studios, 2006

i <3 social games

Sharkrunnersarea/code, 2007

i <3 social games

Sharkrunnersarea/code, 2007

i <3 social games

“SOCIAL” GAMES

i <3 social games

RSSReally Simple Syndication

i <3 social games

Before RSS

i <3 social games

After RSS

i <3 social games

INFORMATION COMPULSION

i <3 social games

INFORMATION COMPULSION‣ News Sites‣ Blogs‣ YouTube‣ Facebook‣ Twitter‣ Tumblr

i <3 social games

SHALLOWESCAPISMa short-form indulgement of distraction, often as a punctuated instance of a more long-term form of escapism.

i <3 social games

SOCIAL GAMES^network

‣ social graph‣ platform communication channels

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

i <3 social games

Source: AppData.com, November 2010

i <3 social games

amaitokyo.deviantart.com

part three

david vs. goliathville

david vs. goliathville

david vs. goliathville

Source: DeveloperAnalytics.com, November 2010

david vs. goliathville

MO USERSMO PROBLEMS

david vs. goliathville

david vs. goliathville

david vs. goliathville

david vs. goliathville

the end

Scott Jon Siegelhttp://numberless.net

scottjonsiegel@gmail.com@numberless

THANKS!IMAGE CREDITS:‣ sijm.ca‣ indiecade.com‣ expdot.com‣ babycastles.com‣ apps.facebook.com/cowclicker‣ flickr.com/photos/masterslate/2529062829‣ apps.facebook.com/friendwheel‣ apps.facebook.com/parkingwars‣ areacodeinc.com‣ http://www.flickr.com/photos/splityarn/3483403854‣ commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Red_Magic_Circle.gif‣ skyrates.net‣ sharkrunners.com‣ flickr.com/photos/joanna_young/3167061329‣ flickr.com/photos/9422878@N08/4005702259‣ someecards.com‣ amaitokyo.deviantart.com

ILLUSTRATIONS by Shelley Monahan‣ amachinethatmadesilence.tumblr.com

SPECIAL THANKS to Jenova Chen, Eric Zimmerman, Chris Hecker, Darius Kazemi, Phil Fish, Frank Lantz, Jon Blow, & Chaim Gingold.