4 ms·

And what do you do if you're a startup founder at the next Zynga and discover... It depends on what your goals were. :) If you were in it for the money you plo

by DenisM 16y ago

And what do you do if you're a startup founder at the next Zynga and discover... It depends on what your goals were. :) If you were in it for the money you plow right ahead. If you waned to make the world a better place (and get paid for that) you dump it on your investors and move on to the next thing. Another option is to see if you can put what you learned about compulsive behaviors to better uses - I think the world would be better off if people were compulsive about maintaining good finances, hygiene, business schedule etc. Better yet, compulsively making sure they did the best they could for their family.

cabalamat 16y ago
> I think the world would be better off if people were compulsive about maintaining good finances, hygiene, business schedule etc. Better yet, compulsively making sure they did the best they could for their family. I imagine they would, but that sounds like a hard problem to me. I suspect it's AI-complete; the only way to do it would be for post-singularity AI to control the destiny of the human species. I've never seen the attraction of grind-y games like WoW or Farmville. (Caveat: I've never played farmville; I have played WoW and found it pointless). Perhaps games could be created that taught people useful skills, e.g. something like Guitar Hero that teaches you to play an instrument.
- chops 16y ago
  Rock Band 3 Pro Mode will actually teach you to play instruments: From: http://www.rockband.com/zine/rock-band-3-announcements http://www.rockband.com/zine/rock-band-3-announcements The Rock Band 3 Squier Stratocaster is a fully functional, full-sized, six-string electric guitar that also functions as a game controller that Fender and Harmonix have teamed up to develop.
  - DenisM 16y ago
    Is it true? Can you actually learn to play guitar on this thing? I got to try it. Fondling strings should be an effective way to get away from it all.
    - chops 16y ago
      That's the goal. FTA: Ever had someone ask you why you play plastic guitar instead of learning a real instrument? Now you can tell them you ARE learning a real instrument. Rock Band 3 empowers players to develop actual musical skills through the fun of Rock Band Pro gameplay. Start at Easy and work your way up through Expert on three different Pro Modes, just like you did with the plastic guitars and plastic drums. It applies to drums (adds additional cymbals), keyboard (though it's only two octaves), and guitar, which according to promotional videos, if you play through expert on Guitar, you're playing every real note on the guitar.
philwelch 16y ago
It's a tough career move, but I think you'd be morally obligated to destroy the thing you created instead of just passively abandoning it. Or at least fix it. Adding automatic crop harvesters/replanters to Farmville would do a lot to heal Zynga's soul. WoW though, you just might have to turn off.
- eru 16y ago
  Just add perma-death to WoW (and some incentives for not just grinding, but risking your virtual life). But that won't suit the bottom-line of Blizzard.
  - blasdel 16y ago
    I don't know about that, nethack is habit-forming in its own ways.
    - eru 16y ago
      I know that all too well. But it gives you geek-cred.
zackattack 16y ago
This is exactly what I'm doing now. I used principles that I elaborated on in this post[1] to help guide construction of my new social app, http://www.EndAnts.com http://www.EndAnts.com, built to combat thinking disorders. [1] http://www.zacharyburt.com/2010/06/why-games-are-fun-the-psychology-explanation/ http://www.zacharyburt.com/2010/06/why-games-are-fun-the-psy...
lsc 16y ago
>Another option is to see if you can put what you learned about compulsive behaviors to better uses - I think the world would be better off if people were compulsive about maintaining good finances I've said before that I think many resource-building games have similar reward mechanisms to running a business[1] Look at, for example, eve online. I know at least one very smart guy who put more effort into accounting within that game than I put into accounting at my business. If you could figure out how to exploit this; you know, to make doing the accounting for my business as rewarding to this guy as doing accounting in eve online, hot damn, you could make a lot of money. [1]http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/5/15/5477/35240 http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/5/15/5477/35240

by DenisM 16y ago

cabalamat 16y ago

> I think the world would be better off if people were compulsive about maintaining good finances, hygiene, business schedule etc. Better yet, compulsively making sure they did the best they could for their family. I imagine they would, but that sounds like a hard problem to me. I suspect it's AI-complete; the only way to do it would be for post-singularity AI to control the destiny of the human species. I've never seen the attraction of grind-y games like WoW or Farmville. (Caveat: I've never played farmville; I have played WoW and found it pointless). Perhaps games could be created that taught people useful skills, e.g. something like Guitar Hero that teaches you to play an instrument.

chops 16y ago
Rock Band 3 Pro Mode will actually teach you to play instruments: From: http://www.rockband.com/zine/rock-band-3-announcements http://www.rockband.com/zine/rock-band-3-announcements The Rock Band 3 Squier Stratocaster is a fully functional, full-sized, six-string electric guitar that also functions as a game controller that Fender and Harmonix have teamed up to develop.
- DenisM 16y ago
  Is it true? Can you actually learn to play guitar on this thing? I got to try it. Fondling strings should be an effective way to get away from it all.
  - chops 16y ago
    That's the goal. FTA: Ever had someone ask you why you play plastic guitar instead of learning a real instrument? Now you can tell them you ARE learning a real instrument. Rock Band 3 empowers players to develop actual musical skills through the fun of Rock Band Pro gameplay. Start at Easy and work your way up through Expert on three different Pro Modes, just like you did with the plastic guitars and plastic drums. It applies to drums (adds additional cymbals), keyboard (though it's only two octaves), and guitar, which according to promotional videos, if you play through expert on Guitar, you're playing every real note on the guitar.

philwelch 16y ago

It's a tough career move, but I think you'd be morally obligated to destroy the thing you created instead of just passively abandoning it. Or at least fix it. Adding automatic crop harvesters/replanters to Farmville would do a lot to heal Zynga's soul. WoW though, you just might have to turn off.

eru 16y ago
Just add perma-death to WoW (and some incentives for not just grinding, but risking your virtual life). But that won't suit the bottom-line of Blizzard.
- blasdel 16y ago
  I don't know about that, nethack is habit-forming in its own ways.
  - eru 16y ago
    I know that all too well. But it gives you geek-cred.

zackattack 16y ago

This is exactly what I'm doing now. I used principles that I elaborated on in this post[1] to help guide construction of my new social app, http://www.EndAnts.com http://www.EndAnts.com, built to combat thinking disorders. [1] http://www.zacharyburt.com/2010/06/why-games-are-fun-the-psychology-explanation/ http://www.zacharyburt.com/2010/06/why-games-are-fun-the-psy...

lsc 16y ago

>Another option is to see if you can put what you learned about compulsive behaviors to better uses - I think the world would be better off if people were compulsive about maintaining good finances I've said before that I think many resource-building games have similar reward mechanisms to running a business[1] Look at, for example, eve online. I know at least one very smart guy who put more effort into accounting within that game than I put into accounting at my business. If you could figure out how to exploit this; you know, to make doing the accounting for my business as rewarding to this guy as doing accounting in eve online, hot damn, you could make a lot of money. [1]http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/5/15/5477/35240 http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/5/15/5477/35240