[casual_games] Casual games user groups (player side)
Duncan Gough
duncan at 3rdsense.com
Thu Sep 29 04:41:25 EDT 2005
With regards to casual games, there certainly seems to be a sweet
spot in terms of making a game appeal to males, females, kids and
adults. My favourite games are all hybrid action and puzzle games and
from our experiences on Playaholics, those games do get the most
sustained attention.
On 28 Sep 2005, at 21:07, Lennard Feddersen wrote:
> The tricky thing here is that when you venture into the realm of
> "kids games" then you are entering mainstream gaming and very big
> budget development. What does your game have to offer that the
> latest Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon or Harry Potter title doesn't?
> If we want to play to that demographic then we need to build
> something compelling and withhold enough so that you hook kids
> while still making them want more then you can bet those kids will
> bug Mom & Dad to part with hard earned sheckels. Personally I'm
> not chasing the kids market because I'm doing this as much for me
> as for the $ but also because I don't see how I can overcome the
> inherent advantages that the big players have in that market. All
> that said, my 4 year old daughter likes Mad Caps and, if she ever
> bugged me hard enough then my credit card would probably come out.
> Maybe that's the answer - make good games that offer unique
> experiences without regard to demographic and expect that, once in
> a while, you will catch lightning in a bottle.
>
> Lennard Feddersen
> CEO, Rusty Axe Games, Inc.
> www.RustyAxe.com
>
> Lennard at RustyAxe.com
> P. 250-635-7623 F. 1-309-422-2466
> 3521 Dogwood, Terrace, BC, Canada, V8G-4Y7
>
>
>
> Colin Cardwell wrote:
>
>
>> Hi Wade
>> This is something we've thought about and it is a potential
>> problem with MOG. We are about to introduce a new main category on
>> the site for downloadable games which will help I think, and there
>> is nothing to stop you putting download in as a keyword, however
>> that's not much use if people who like downloadable games don't
>> use the site.
>> I'm hoping that in time we'll see the demographics of the site
>> broaden. I'm guessing that the current users are mostly those who
>> 'get it', but as sites like del.isio.us and flickr.com and
>> hopefully MOG become more mainstream and more of your everyday
>> Joes 'get it' then I think the site will get a broad range of
>> users including those who like downloading and buying games,
>> especially if the site is a good source for those games.
>> Our challenge is in usability. Looking ahead when we've 50,000
>> games on there we need to find a way of making sure a user is as
>> few clicks away from the games they want as possible and we've got
>> a bit to go on that I think.
>> On a separate note, I think one of the challenges of the industry
>> is to find ways of getting game sales from a younger demographic
>> and I think this comes back to marketing, payment systems and an
>> attractive offering for them. 'Kids' spend fortunes on music,
>> console games, ring tones, and other stuff. We need to find ways
>> of making them part with their cash for casual games.
>>
>> Colin
>>
>> Colin Cardwell - Director - 3RD sense Australia Pty Ltd
>> *T.* +61 (0) 2 *9959 1008 M.* +61 (0) 401 888 322 *
>> E.* colin at 3rdsense.com <mailto:colin at 3rdsense.com> W. www.
>> 3rdsense.com <http://www.3rdsense.com/>
>>
>> www.playaholics.com <http://www.playaholics.com/> - play games and
>> win stuff
>> www.chickstop.com <http://www.chickstop.com/> - for girls who like
>> to play
>> www.millionsofgames.com <http://www.millionsofgames.com/> -
>> source, save and share your favourite online games
>>
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---
>> *From:* Wade Tinney [mailto:wade at largeanimal.com]
>> *Sent:* Thursday, 29 September 2005 1:13 AM
>> *To:* colin at 3rdsense.com; 'IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List'
>> *Subject:* RE: [casual_games] Casual games user groups (player side)
>>
>> MOG is a great idea and very well executed. Congratulations on
>> getting it off the ground. I've got the little "Mog it!" button on
>> my tool bar and have been using it.
>> I'm curious about the demographics of MOG users. I realize you
>> are not explicitly gathering this information, but I'm wondering
>> if you have any sense of it, nonetheless. My intuition leads me to
>> guess that the people featured on the WildGames page I referenced
>> ( http://www.wildgames.com/ECS/htdocs/contests.aspx?
>> dp=wildgames&bw=high <http://www.wildgames.com/ECS/htdocs/
>> contests.aspx?dp=wildgames&bw=high>) are probably *not* likely MOG
>> users, and that your users are probably significantly younger;
>> more like a Miniclip audience. Correct me if I'm wrong (either
>> Colin, or anyone else reading this), but I don't think this
>> younger audience is purchasing downloadable casual games. They may
>> be playing them, but I don't get the sense that they are paying
>> for them (at least not in significant numbers). That audience
>> seems like a perfect one to monetize via advertising, but not to
>> sell the "classic" downloadable, single-player game to.
>> Taking this assumption further, it seems that while a site like
>> MOG is a tremendous resource for gauging the success of one's web-
>> based (read: ad rev generating) game offerings, and to see what is
>> working in that market, it may not be such relevant data for try-
>> and-buy downloadable games, because its just not the same
>> audience. In other words, I can't assume that the games that are
>> popular with MOGgers (online, download, or otherwise) are going to
>> be popular with those people who are actually buying games. Also,
>> if my site doesn't have a way of monetizing traffic outside of
>> game sales (i.e. no advertising), then it doesn't help me to
>> attract lots of traffic to my site (via MOG, Newgrounds, or
>> whatever), since I'm only going to spend more money serving up
>> games to people who will likely not buy them.
>> To tell the truth, I hope that I'm wrong about all this; I just
>> wanted to throw it out there and see what people think. Hopefully
>> someone has some data/insight which will disprove this theory.
>> Thanks!
>> Wade
>>
>> Wade Tinney
>> partner, game designer
>> Large Animal Games
>> http://www.largeanimal.com <http://www.largeanimal.com/>
>> wade at largeanimal.com
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> *From:* casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-
>> bounces at igda.org] *On Behalf Of *Colin Cardwell
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, September 27, 2005 9:54 PM
>> *To:* 'IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List'
>> *Subject:* RE: [casual_games] Casual games user groups (player side)
>>
>> As some of you know, we've launched MOG (www.millionsofgames.com
>> <http://www.millionsofgames.com>) in the last couple of weeks.
>> The
>> very purpose of the site is to provide a community for casual
>> game
>> fans. Although at the moment Moggers (our members) can store
>> their
>> favourite games and rate them, they will soon be able to add
>> comments/reviews of games. We also track game plays and who has
>> Mogged a game. The data is time based so once we have sufficient
>> volume of usage, we'll be releasing daily, weekly, monthly charts
>> overall and in each game category, hoping to give everyone who is
>> interested in casual games a very valuable source of useful data.
>> The growth of the site I think is interesting. It has
>> been picked
>> up by quite a lot of news sites, the home page of Slashdot helped
>> a lot. What's key for us though is that almost 900 games have
>> been
>> added in only 3 weeks by our Moggers and if that rate continues,
>> we'll pretty soon have the largest list of online and casual
>> games
>> around, which is our goal. Add to that reviews and the other data
>> we're collecting and you can begin to see the potential of the
>> site. I'm not just trying to tell you how wonderful our
>> site is by the
>> way, I'm just trying to explain some of its potential, it
>> certainly still has a long way to go. We very much want this
>> to be
>> a community site so we would be very interested in
>> views/ideas/feedback/requests from this group in particular. If
>> this site builds to the level we anticipate, it will be a great
>> place to promote any new games you have (and old ones for that
>> matter), get ideas for games, see who likes what, find out what
>> doesn't work, etc etc. I hope this was useful..
>> Colin
>>
>> Colin Cardwell - Director - 3RD sense Australia Pty Ltd
>> *T.* +61 (0) 2 *9959 1008 M.* +61 (0) 401 888 322 *
>> E.* colin at 3rdsense.com <mailto:colin at 3rdsense.com> W.
>> www.3rdsense.com <http://www.3rdsense.com/>
>>
>> www.playaholics.com <http://www.playaholics.com/> - play games
>> and
>> win stuff
>> www.chickstop.com <http://www.chickstop.com/> - for girls who
>> like
>> to play
>> www.millionsofgames.com <http://www.millionsofgames.com/> -
>> source, save and share your favourite online games
>>
>>
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---
>> *From:* casual_games-bounces at igda.org
>> [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org] *On Behalf Of *Wade Tinney
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, 28 September 2005 12:30 AM
>> *To:* 'IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List'
>> *Subject:* RE: [casual_games] Casual games user groups (player
>> side)
>>
>> Just to clarify, James. You are asking about groups/sites where
>> casual games are discussed and/or reviewed by players, right
>> (and NOT links to sites that simply distribute said games)?
>> It's a very good question. I've had a tough time finding
>> such
>> sites in the past. I'd love to hear what you uncover.
>> There is a lot of player-to-player interaction on Pogo,
>> of course,
>> but it happens in real-time during play.
>> Also, if you've never checked out the contest winners
>> pages on
>> WildGames, those are pretty interesting/entertaining as well. At
>> the bottom of this page, you'll find a whole set of "view
>> winners"
>> links:
>> http://www.wildgames.com/ECS/htdocs/contests.aspx?
>> dp=wildgames&bw=high
>> <http://www.wildgames.com/ECS/htdocs/contests.aspx?
>> dp=wildgames&bw=high>
>> I realize it's not exactly what you're talking about, but if
>> you're looking to better understand the casual audience, I think
>> its pretty useful.
>> -Wade
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> *From:* casual_games-bounces at igda.org
>> [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org] *On Behalf Of *Jack
>> Pearson
>> *Sent:* Monday, September 26, 2005 4:16 PM
>> *To:* Andy Makely; IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
>> *Subject:* RE: [casual_games] Casual games user groups
>> (player
>> side)
>>
>> www.tournamentgames.com <http://
>> www.tournamentgames.com> online pay to play tournaments.
>> All DirectX casual games
>> online since since 1997.
>> 236 million games played to date. 350,000 played each week
>> Jack Pearson, CEO
>> Tournament Games Inc,
>> www.TGPool.com
>> www.TournamentGames.com <http://www.TournamentGames.com>
>> jack at tournamentgames.com <mailto:jack at tournamentgames.com>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> *From:* casual_games-bounces at igda.org
>> [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]*On Behalf Of *Andy
>> Makely
>> *Sent:* Monday, September 26, 2005 1:39 PM
>> *To:* IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
>> *Subject:* Re: [casual_games] Casual games user groups
>> (player side)
>>
>> www.jayisgames.com <http://www.jayisgames.com> is a great
>> games blog that covers primarily web games, but also
>> touches on downloadables sometimes.
>>
>> -- andy
>>
>> On 9/26/05, *James Baker - WDDG/Inferno* <james at wddg.com
>> <mailto:james at wddg.com>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> I'm trying to put together a database of user-groups
>> and/or websites on
>> the user/player side that are dedicated to casual
>> games. Anything from
>> forums dedicated to word games to yahoo groups to
>> newsgroups to websites
>> would help me out.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> James Baker
>> Principal
>> WDDG/Inferno/Funtank
>> 212-219-9222
>> james at wddg.com <mailto:james at wddg.com>
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>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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>>
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