5 ms·

The talk is a really good one: thought provoking, and worth the watch. I really don't think he's right about his grand vision of where the technology is headed

The talk is a really good one: thought provoking, and worth the watch. I really don't think he's right about his grand vision of where the technology is headed, though. The point system attracts a certain percentage of the population, its true. But most people just don't get obsessed by points. Only gamers really get really obsessed by the them, and not even all gamers do. E.g. The credit card industry has been using the point rewards system forever, and it does drive sales, but if it were really the be all end all, all credit cards would have point rewards systems. I think that Jesse Schell, while a really smart, insightful guy, has trouble seeing the universe from outside the perspective of a hardcore gamer. E.g., he sounded pretty shocked that the wii did so well. I remember when the video of the Nintendo execs playing tennis was going around, and a lot of hardcore gamers failed to see the appeal. Everyone else was just like, man, that looks insanely fun. If you can't intuitively see the appeal of products that have a lot of mass appeal, it's kind of hard to predict where the technology is going to go. Not saying I would be any better at predicting things. I just don't see his predictions quite adding up.

arohner 17y ago
If you take the presentation literally, yes it was overblown. However, I think he made a few very insightful points: 1) Understanding psychological factors is extremely powerful, and probably even more important than good game design. i.e. WoW isn't successful because of art design and gameplay, it's successful because some people find "the grind" very addicting. Farmville isn't successful because a videogame about farm animals is fun, it's successful because it integrates with your Facebook friends. 1b) Discovering, understanding and exploiting new psychological factors is extremely profitable. 2) The rest of the world has a lot to learn from game design on how to optimize products to take advantage of these factors. I agree with you that gamers are hooked on the point systems more than everyone else, but I disagree that it's a binary system. Like alcohol, nicotine, and gambling, it probably affects everyone to differing degrees. The definition of gamers has had to change a lot over the last decade. When I was a kid, only nerdy kids played games. Now those gamers are fathers. Now mothers and grandmothers play farmville / scrabble / bejeweled. Even if you're right that this only affects gamers, the percentage of the population that are classified gamers is growing. With hundreds of millions of potential customers, even small changes are extremely profitable. Take Starbucks. If they convince one new customer to make starbucks part of their morning routine, that has an expected value of like $1000/year. I heard they started offering coupons to people in the morning, that are only valid if they come back later that day. If Starbucks figures out to apply the Farmville secret sauce, watch out.
teej 17y ago
I disgaree that only gamers get caught up in points. There are 80 million people (very few of which identify as gamers) who find value in the number of "points" hey have on their virtual farm. 40% of those people will log in on Monday to see how high their score is, and blow some time improving it. Context can have a huge affect on what motivates people.
- Snark7 17y ago
  This is absolutely correct - the average FB gamer is a middle-aged female. Farmville is a substitute for soaps and being superior to members of your peer group (just like tennis, car, golf score, the plays you see, etc...)

arohner 17y ago

If you take the presentation literally, yes it was overblown. However, I think he made a few very insightful points: 1) Understanding psychological factors is extremely powerful, and probably even more important than good game design. i.e. WoW isn't successful because of art design and gameplay, it's successful because some people find "the grind" very addicting. Farmville isn't successful because a videogame about farm animals is fun, it's successful because it integrates with your Facebook friends. 1b) Discovering, understanding and exploiting new psychological factors is extremely profitable. 2) The rest of the world has a lot to learn from game design on how to optimize products to take advantage of these factors. I agree with you that gamers are hooked on the point systems more than everyone else, but I disagree that it's a binary system. Like alcohol, nicotine, and gambling, it probably affects everyone to differing degrees. The definition of gamers has had to change a lot over the last decade. When I was a kid, only nerdy kids played games. Now those gamers are fathers. Now mothers and grandmothers play farmville / scrabble / bejeweled. Even if you're right that this only affects gamers, the percentage of the population that are classified gamers is growing. With hundreds of millions of potential customers, even small changes are extremely profitable. Take Starbucks. If they convince one new customer to make starbucks part of their morning routine, that has an expected value of like $1000/year. I heard they started offering coupons to people in the morning, that are only valid if they come back later that day. If Starbucks figures out to apply the Farmville secret sauce, watch out.

teej 17y ago

I disgaree that only gamers get caught up in points. There are 80 million people (very few of which identify as gamers) who find value in the number of "points" hey have on their virtual farm. 40% of those people will log in on Monday to see how high their score is, and blow some time improving it. Context can have a huge affect on what motivates people.

Snark7 17y ago
This is absolutely correct - the average FB gamer is a middle-aged female. Farmville is a substitute for soaps and being superior to members of your peer group (just like tennis, car, golf score, the plays you see, etc...)