Just add points? What UX can (and cannot) learn from games

A good presentation why games are so much fun, effective and how they can inspire developers...

Just add points? What UX can (and cannot) learn from games

View more presentations from Sebastian Deterding.

Heroes never die!

After writing my book 'Laat met je merk spelen' - soon to be published in English (end of 2010, called A Brand New Playground), I have started to become more philosophical and keep thinking why games are so special to me and to hundreds of millions of people around the globe...
Today I had an insight why games are so cool and the reason is that in games 'heroes never die'... comparable to most books, comics and films. We love heroic creatures and wished they live forever, protecting the world from harm.
It is only in real life that our life is so precious (we have only one). Still - our best friends, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters die even though they've done nothing wrong. In epic films like Lord of the Rings, some heroes die (Boromir), but the real heroes (Frodo and his friends, Aragorn and Gandalf) fortunately don't. I wonder how we would feel if they would all die and we would have to start to get to know new 'heroes' in part 2 and part 3 of the book / film...
How would you feel if you buy a RPG or action game and after playing it for ten minutes, your hero dies and the game is truly 'game-over'? Would you be angry? Or would you accept it and buy the game again (or choose a new / different hero)? I guess you would be really disappointed and angry. How much is a virtual life worth? Wouldn't you be much more cautious playing Call of Duty if you would have to pay a dollar for each life you spoil? It would make the gameplay much more interesting I guess, because the 'stakes are higher'. Maybe it would even be interesting if you gain 50 cents for each kill you make, compensating the costs you make for each life you spoil... ? And the more kills you get, the harder it would be for people to kill you (a build-in experience/skill-model, like in Fallout 3 for instance).
It would be interesting to see if a game-developer would take the chances of developing a game with these mechanics in it!

Virtual Goods: Why & How They Work

A nice overview in what way virtual goods can add value to gameplay or add value to your business model! Cool brands can actually make a lot of money selling their products within virtual environments (in-game). The horse in this example (slide 15) brought the developers of World Of Warcraft more than 2,5 million dollars in turnover in less than a day! More information through www.BrandNewGame.nl

Virtual Goods: Why & How They Work

View more presentations from amyjokim.

Pre-paid cards to buy ingame content

Copied largely from http://www.gamasutra.com

Social game developer Zynga announced that its prepaid game cards for titles like FarmVille and Mafia Wars are now available at several major U.S. retailers, including 7-Eleven, Inc., Best Buy, GameStop and Target.

The $10 and $25 cards, which offer an alternative way of buying in-game goods (e.g. virtual furniture, power-ups) to consumers who don't have access to credit cards or bank accounts, will work with Zynga's free-to-play titles on Facebook, as well as on standalone sites such as FarmVille.com, MafiaWars.com and YoVille.com.

Zynga's titles attract over 235 million monthly active users and 67 million daily users. FarmVille alone, which is easily the most popular application on Facebook, has more than 82 million monthly active users on the social network. The company's other well-known games include Cafe World, Texas HoldEm Poker, Fishville, and dozens of others.

The purpose of a game like FarmVille is to seed and harvest crops to make money to buy other gamecontent like a nice farm or lifestock. You can also invite vriends to become your neighbours and fertilize each others crops. Instead of having to wait weeks and weeks and harvest loads of crops you can also choose to buy extra content using Paypall, a credit card or... PRE PAID CARDS sold in retail (US Only for now).

"Social gaming is going mainstream and consumers around the world are connecting with people through games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars," says Zynga's senior vice president Vish Makhijani. "By partnering with 7-Eleven, Best Buy, GameStop and Target, our games can be accessed by a broader audience of new and existing players."

PlayStation Home had 10 Million unique visitors in 2009

PlayStation reports 10 million visitors to their virtual world 'Home'. Apart from that they plan to install an MMO portal (massive multiplayer online) to facilitate playing games through the Sony network (and PlayStation servers of course). They must be working on new business models like paid servers, monthly subscriptions, video on demand and micro transactions in MMO. If you like to see a case about Micro transactions check this website: BrandNewGame

Check CASE: "Diesel Store in PlayStation Home".

For more about Sony PlayStation & Home follow the link below.

PR Newswire

Playstation Home Diesel Clothes

Check out the latest collection of Diesel clothes available in PlayStation 3's virtual world Home - Really cool.

Prices vary between 0 and 1,5 euro's.

This video is consumer generated - just so you know...