4 ms·

What a strange idea! "My website is boring, so I'll add something to distract people from my content to make it less so?" Seriously? How is it different from j

by vtail 16y ago

What a strange idea! "My website is boring, so I'll add something to distract people from my content to make it less so?" Seriously? How is it different from just opening a game in another browser window, and why would users keep coming to my website to play the game instead of some centralized location?

teej 16y ago
Hey, it worked for Facebook :P
- vtail 16y ago
  True, but what worked for Facebook/Zynga will not necessarily work for Joe's homepage/Heyzap. Facebook is a destination for people to socialize and sometimes play with their friends, so games there are complementary goods. Most other sites (news, personal finance, technical documentation etc) have different objectives, and it's not clear why games will be complementary.
pstevensza 16y ago
Bit of a head scratcher for content owners as you point out. It would however make a nice bullet point for considering a web site: if you're considering HeyZap, you have a problem.
- pavel_lishin 16y ago
  Unless you're running a casual forum, in which case it could be another thing for people to discuss and compete about.
  - pstevensza 16y ago
    Valid point.
immad 16y ago
A lot of websites are out there for people to Socialize, interact with content and have fun on (outside Facebook.com). Those are the main target audience for embedding Games. The user does not leave the website, can leave the games when they want and return to the site. Makes the experience similar to Youtube embed of videos.
loganfrederick 16y ago
An alternative view (which I got from listening from watching an interview with of the founders) is that HeyZap is more akin to "what comics were for newspapers". That is, online social games could be ubiquitous with the online experience the way comics are in newspapers. HeyZap seems to be providing additional tools and platforms for enhancing the online games experience while being increasingly less intrusive on the experience of enjoying the content (why flip between tabs and sites when you can pop up or close a bar at the bottom like GChat?)

by vtail 16y ago

teej 16y ago

Hey, it worked for Facebook :P

vtail 16y ago
True, but what worked for Facebook/Zynga will not necessarily work for Joe's homepage/Heyzap. Facebook is a destination for people to socialize and sometimes play with their friends, so games there are complementary goods. Most other sites (news, personal finance, technical documentation etc) have different objectives, and it's not clear why games will be complementary.

pstevensza 16y ago

Bit of a head scratcher for content owners as you point out. It would however make a nice bullet point for considering a web site: if you're considering HeyZap, you have a problem.

pavel_lishin 16y ago
Unless you're running a casual forum, in which case it could be another thing for people to discuss and compete about.
- pstevensza 16y ago
  Valid point.

immad 16y ago

A lot of websites are out there for people to Socialize, interact with content and have fun on (outside Facebook.com). Those are the main target audience for embedding Games. The user does not leave the website, can leave the games when they want and return to the site. Makes the experience similar to Youtube embed of videos.

loganfrederick 16y ago

An alternative view (which I got from listening from watching an interview with of the founders) is that HeyZap is more akin to "what comics were for newspapers". That is, online social games could be ubiquitous with the online experience the way comics are in newspapers. HeyZap seems to be providing additional tools and platforms for enhancing the online games experience while being increasingly less intrusive on the experience of enjoying the content (why flip between tabs and sites when you can pop up or close a bar at the bottom like GChat?)