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Unfortunately, by removing Flappy Bird from the App Store, he opened the door for shitty clones to reach the top of the charts. This arguably made the lives of

Unfortunately, by removing Flappy Bird from the App Store, he opened the door for shitty clones to reach the top of the charts. This arguably made the lives of users worse. He also passed up the opportunity to make millions of more dollars in merchandising.

jaxytee 13y ago
Shitty clones would've been made irregardless of him removing the app from the store.
- Chronic26 13y ago
  False. Clones appeared because of the now open market. If Flappy Bird still existed, the clones would be discouraged due to the presence of the incumbent Flappy Bird.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
dTal 13y ago
Flappy Bird is itself a shitty clone - an imperfect copy of it runs even odds of being a better game.
_alastair 13y ago
At least it's given the world a new alternative to 'a to-do list' in demonstrating new technologies/languages/etc. There are ones for various different gaming frameworks: https://github.com/uralozden/flappy-bird https://github.com/uralozden/flappy-bird https://github.com/ellisonleao/clumsy-bird https://github.com/ellisonleao/clumsy-bird The ZX-81: http://bobs-stuff.co.uk/quack.html http://bobs-stuff.co.uk/quack.html and so on. To my shame, I made a version that you play by flapping your arms: http://experimenting.alastair.is/flappyarms http://experimenting.alastair.is/flappyarms
- drawkbox 13y ago
  Flappy Arms, nice one, might be fun on Kinect as well. Flappy Bird has become an experimentational platform of its own.
- wetmore 13y ago
  Oh cool, I made something similar at PennApps this year. I made a Chrome extension that let you play a bunch of flappy bird clones by flapping your arms on webcam.
tled 13y ago
Talking about shitty clones, many have been pulled down by Google: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airhoc.flappynyan https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airhoc.fla... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ante.nyancat https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ante.nyanc...
kerkeslager 13y ago
> He also passed up the opportunity to make millions of more dollars in merchandising. If you had enough money, would you realize it? In the US, one study found that income is positively correlated to happiness only up to $75,000/year. If the $50K/day claims are true, in the 41 days between January 1 and February 10, he made enough money to live at $75,000/year for the next 27 years, without investment of any kind. It's reasonable to guess that he will invest the money, and that the money/happiness plateau is significantly lower in Vietnam than in the US due to a lower cost of living. So he could be living at the happiness plateau for the rest of his life. So why exactly should he care that he's passed up millions of dollars in selling stuff nobody needs? Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell. [1] http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727770.101-money-can-buy-you-happiness--up-to-a-point.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727770.101-money-can...
thenonsequitur 13y ago
This part of the interview seems relevant here: "People can clone the app because of its simplicity," Nguyen says, "but they will never make another Flappy Bird."
thenonsequitur 13y ago
This part of the interview seems relevant here: "People can clone the app because of its simplicity," Nguyen says, "but they will never make another Flappy Bird."

jaxytee 13y ago

Shitty clones would've been made irregardless of him removing the app from the store.

Chronic26 13y ago
False. Clones appeared because of the now open market. If Flappy Bird still existed, the clones would be discouraged due to the presence of the incumbent Flappy Bird.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

dTal 13y ago

Flappy Bird is itself a shitty clone - an imperfect copy of it runs even odds of being a better game.

_alastair 13y ago

At least it's given the world a new alternative to 'a to-do list' in demonstrating new technologies/languages/etc. There are ones for various different gaming frameworks: https://github.com/uralozden/flappy-bird https://github.com/uralozden/flappy-bird https://github.com/ellisonleao/clumsy-bird https://github.com/ellisonleao/clumsy-bird The ZX-81: http://bobs-stuff.co.uk/quack.html http://bobs-stuff.co.uk/quack.html and so on. To my shame, I made a version that you play by flapping your arms: http://experimenting.alastair.is/flappyarms http://experimenting.alastair.is/flappyarms

drawkbox 13y ago
Flappy Arms, nice one, might be fun on Kinect as well. Flappy Bird has become an experimentational platform of its own.
wetmore 13y ago
Oh cool, I made something similar at PennApps this year. I made a Chrome extension that let you play a bunch of flappy bird clones by flapping your arms on webcam.

tled 13y ago

Talking about shitty clones, many have been pulled down by Google: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airhoc.flappynyan https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airhoc.fla... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ante.nyancat https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ante.nyanc...

kerkeslager 13y ago

> He also passed up the opportunity to make millions of more dollars in merchandising. If you had enough money, would you realize it? In the US, one study found that income is positively correlated to happiness only up to $75,000/year. If the $50K/day claims are true, in the 41 days between January 1 and February 10, he made enough money to live at $75,000/year for the next 27 years, without investment of any kind. It's reasonable to guess that he will invest the money, and that the money/happiness plateau is significantly lower in Vietnam than in the US due to a lower cost of living. So he could be living at the happiness plateau for the rest of his life. So why exactly should he care that he's passed up millions of dollars in selling stuff nobody needs? Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell. [1] http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727770.101-money-can-buy-you-happiness--up-to-a-point.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727770.101-money-can...

thenonsequitur 13y ago

This part of the interview seems relevant here: "People can clone the app because of its simplicity," Nguyen says, "but they will never make another Flappy Bird."

thenonsequitur 13y ago

This part of the interview seems relevant here: "People can clone the app because of its simplicity," Nguyen says, "but they will never make another Flappy Bird."