Facebook has a new venture: mobile games publishing
Basically, Facebook has a new program to help indie game developers get recognition through Facebook's many services. Is this a good idea? Do Facebook games have the potential to change how games are made and marketed? Are we going to see a big push towards smaller/less technical games like Farmville or Candy Crush instead of the technically advanced and involved games like Skyrim?
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Gaming Happiness
Gaming Leads to Happiness?
For those of us that play video games, studies like this are not surprising. Essentially, researchers have found that gaming can lead to more life satisfaction and happiness. MMOs such as World of Warcraft, Rift, and Guild Wars 2 create an immersive environment. If you have played any MMO for a period of time you begin to notice that the social environment and game economy begin to mimic real life. It is as if these games are a microcosm for real life.
As a trained anthropologist and gamer, I am always attracted to the anthropological approach to gaming. Humans have been making games for as long as we have been human. The need to play is ingrained in us. All work and no play makes for very unhappy people. That's why when I feel stressed, I stop what I am doing and pick up a game. Though sometimes, the game itself is stressing me. Then it's time for a different activity (such as watching Arrested Development on Netflix).
What do you think about this kind of research? Do you think this kind of research can help people or is it just a waste of time and money?
For those of us that play video games, studies like this are not surprising. Essentially, researchers have found that gaming can lead to more life satisfaction and happiness. MMOs such as World of Warcraft, Rift, and Guild Wars 2 create an immersive environment. If you have played any MMO for a period of time you begin to notice that the social environment and game economy begin to mimic real life. It is as if these games are a microcosm for real life.
As a trained anthropologist and gamer, I am always attracted to the anthropological approach to gaming. Humans have been making games for as long as we have been human. The need to play is ingrained in us. All work and no play makes for very unhappy people. That's why when I feel stressed, I stop what I am doing and pick up a game. Though sometimes, the game itself is stressing me. Then it's time for a different activity (such as watching Arrested Development on Netflix).
What do you think about this kind of research? Do you think this kind of research can help people or is it just a waste of time and money?
Free to Play Gaming
I posted this on my facebook today and had the start of an interesting discussion. This lead to the idea of the creation of this blog. So, I'm going to repost the comments here:
Why Core Gamers Hate Free to Play
I feel like the free to play works well in the MOBA format because you arent paying for items. You don't use real money for the runes or masteries in LoL either. You're real money only buys champions and skins. And you don't even need real money to buy champs. So there is no gross disadvantage to a player who DOESN'T use real money. That's the problem with these RMAH scenarios, IMO.
John:
The learning curve for MOBAs is pretty steep compared to other games, with an insane level of nuance. That's another great reason to make them free to play.
The author failed to mention the difference in perception between freemium co-op/PvE style games and PvP. I've played a few pay-to-win style PvP games, and the freemium experience just gets bogged down by paid players over time.
Maple Story is free-to-play cash shop done right; mostly timed cosmetic items and "convenience"items that last a month; you can buy extra bag space, XP boosts (effectively a subscription), and items that automatically pick up the tons of junk loot that drops.
Me:
The situation of free-to-play games is more complicated than presented here. Most likely because the author was trying to address one single segment of the population. But this kind of discussion is very interesting. There isa huge trend towards F2P/freemium gaming. A large segment of the Asian subscription base in WoW was dropped for these kinds of games. The theory is that this is occuring because the companies that are"paying" these Asian gamers is more interested in the larger cash-crop economy these games offer. This is probably why Blizzard developers are throwing around ideas of an in-game Blizzard store. I'm very leery of this kind of idea in a game like WoW. I don't think a F2P environment would do well in such an established game. I think it would turn off new players and further commoditize (is that a word?) the game, characters and items.
John:
The kinds of cash stuff he's suggesting for borderlands, extra power-up slots and the like, would totally break the balance of the game. Stuff like extra inventory space would not.
Yes, I believe commoditize is a word Don't get me wrong; I would blow a gasket if WoW had an RMAH, for the same reasons you mentioned.
Ironically, the main reason China has such a robust freemium MMO market is because of the rampant piracy. Devs there couldn't possibly make money from development alone due to this. Freemium is the ONLY option.
Side note: I wonder if/how bad ps4 and xbone piracy is going to be. China hasn't allowed consoles in the country for like 12 years.
Region 1 gamers and devs are kind of lucky to have the experience we do.
Why Core Gamers Hate Free to Play
I feel like the free to play works well in the MOBA format because you arent paying for items. You don't use real money for the runes or masteries in LoL either. You're real money only buys champions and skins. And you don't even need real money to buy champs. So there is no gross disadvantage to a player who DOESN'T use real money. That's the problem with these RMAH scenarios, IMO.
John:
The learning curve for MOBAs is pretty steep compared to other games, with an insane level of nuance. That's another great reason to make them free to play.
The author failed to mention the difference in perception between freemium co-op/PvE style games and PvP. I've played a few pay-to-win style PvP games, and the freemium experience just gets bogged down by paid players over time.
Maple Story is free-to-play cash shop done right; mostly timed cosmetic items and "convenience"items that last a month; you can buy extra bag space, XP boosts (effectively a subscription), and items that automatically pick up the tons of junk loot that drops.
Me:
The situation of free-to-play games is more complicated than presented here. Most likely because the author was trying to address one single segment of the population. But this kind of discussion is very interesting. There isa huge trend towards F2P/freemium gaming. A large segment of the Asian subscription base in WoW was dropped for these kinds of games. The theory is that this is occuring because the companies that are"paying" these Asian gamers is more interested in the larger cash-crop economy these games offer. This is probably why Blizzard developers are throwing around ideas of an in-game Blizzard store. I'm very leery of this kind of idea in a game like WoW. I don't think a F2P environment would do well in such an established game. I think it would turn off new players and further commoditize (is that a word?) the game, characters and items.
John:
The kinds of cash stuff he's suggesting for borderlands, extra power-up slots and the like, would totally break the balance of the game. Stuff like extra inventory space would not.
Yes, I believe commoditize is a word Don't get me wrong; I would blow a gasket if WoW had an RMAH, for the same reasons you mentioned.
Ironically, the main reason China has such a robust freemium MMO market is because of the rampant piracy. Devs there couldn't possibly make money from development alone due to this. Freemium is the ONLY option.
Side note: I wonder if/how bad ps4 and xbone piracy is going to be. China hasn't allowed consoles in the country for like 12 years.
Region 1 gamers and devs are kind of lucky to have the experience we do.
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