Wanna Date My Avatar?

Here's a funny and suprising catchy video I found.  I thought the class might enjoy it.

Cheers and good luck on finals!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urNyg1ftMIU

Zynga’s Massive Popularity

In the article questioning whether or not Zynga will become “the Google of Games,” a lot of Zynga’s successes are pointed out. According to the article, Zynga is on its way to gaining $500 million this year and took about half the time as Facebook did to reach 100 million users. However, all of this money that the company is making isn’t from selling the game, like how game companies usually make most of their revenue. Zynga cashes in when people pay a little bit of money for digital goods that help them make their farms look how they want. To individuals, the amount is close to nothing, but the fact that there are millions and millions of people paying for them adds up significantly. Its founder, Mark Pincus, is actually on his way to becoming a billionaire.

Although there have been a few hiccups on its way to stardom, Zynga has still fought through all of them to retain its success. For example, people on Facebook joined groups that specifically stood against the notifications of friends’ farms and other game updates. However, this did not have a large impact on the cash flow of the company because those who quit playing never really bought things in the first place.

The little playtime I have had with Farmville and Frontierville don’t really convince me to keep playing beyond this class assignment. I can see why they are very popular though. The game is easy and fun to compare farms and build upon your own. Seeing that it is free, some people don’t feel as bad buying extra components for their farms. This is a great idea and I can see them becoming even more popular in the future, especially considering how much money they are making. I don’t ever see myself spending actual money on this, even if I do play beyond this assignment, but we’ll see how that plays out.

Being a "Hardcore" gamer I always kinda laughed at these Zynga games like Mafia Wars and FarmVille. I never really saw the fun in them but after playing Frontier Ville for the weekend I have to say I was surprisingly hooked. I have never really had the ambition to be a farmer in the old west but even after my first play threw i was hooked. The simple and repetitiousness aspect of planting crops and clearing land in the game were very captivating. You had to preform these tasks in order to start a little farm and complete missions that were given to you by the game. The challenging part was that you only had so much "energy" or number of actions that you could do. I found this very frustrating because the only way to get more energy was to visit your friends farm and help them out or pay Zynga real money for the goods. If you already helped out your friends once that day then you couldn't get more energy from them untill the next day. It really limited the amount you  could play to basically once a day.

The brilliant part of this game is how they rely on micro-transactions to make a profit. If you ran out of energy like i did then you are able to pay a certain amount to Zynga in order to get more energy, supply's, and special items to decorate your farm. This will allow you to further advance in the game and save yourself the time you would have to wait instead. This has been extremely profitable for Zynga because they have maid Millions off of just little 60 cent transactions. This is often seen as the future of profiting in the video game industry. MMO's and console games are putting out DLC and extra content for small transactions all the time now so we can see that it is a really profitable way to structure your business in the video game industry. The one thing that I found frustrating( and i know many others did as well) was the constant pop ups, and asking to publish things on friends walls or news feeds. It was annoying while playing and is annoying to see in the news feeds. the only problem is that you can really have the games social aspects work any other way.

So do you think this is the future of Video Gaming? Have you ever paid for items in a game like this? or will this be just  a fad?

Behind the Success: Zynga the new Billionare?

Farmville is a new age of casual gaming that has taken over our social networks. Mark Pincus, the mastermind behind the whole operation has found an interesting market that can change the way we look at social network gaming forever. The Zynga Game Network has created a forum of many popular online games, but the real phenomenon is how has it been turned into a multi-billion dollar industry?

Zynga’s empire is made up of cartoonish online games that even Mr. Pincus acknowledges are goofy. And most striking, given its financial success, is the fact that the games are free to everyone. Zynga makes money, by and large, only when a small fraction of its users pay real money for make-believe “virtual” goods that let them move up in the games or to give their friends gifts.

Its amazing to see how what many people may look to as a free common casual game can turn into something that people are willing to pay money for in order to get " level ups". After playing Farmville for about 20 min. i realized that it wasn't a game for me, but i was interested in finding someone who enjoyed the game. I asked My 17 year old sister who constantly plays this game and she basically plays the game to "out farm" her friends who invited her to play in the first place. Although my sister hasn't bought any Farmville "power ups", she states that its tempting to at times because i can take a long time to get your farm at the level you want it through regular game play. With Zynga being valued at $4.5 Billion, there seems to be alot of people who are willing to pay to upgrade their farms.

Is it possible to become a hardcore gamer on a casual gaming platform?

Zynga's Success

After spending more time than necessary "trying out" both Farmville and Frontierville, I became tired of the incessant pop-ups requesting that I publicize and "share" my experience with friends. Moreover, I was amazed at how Zynga had managed to create a game experience in which players can spend nearly half their playtime working to advertise for Zynga while "enjoying" themselves and engaging in play. What really blew my mind was the fact that despite all of this, there were people willing to put money into these same games in order to buy items or advance their play abilities, so much so that Zynga is expecting "$500 million in revenues this year." This again brought my train of thought to a subject that we have discussed time and time again in this class: virtual goods and their value.

"Analysts estimate that virtual goods could bring in a billion dollars in the United States and around $5 billion worldwide this year"

To many, virtual goods may seem trivial and of no worth but then again, it may also be argued that the purchase of a cow or tractor in Farmville with real world currency is not much different from purchasing dolls or throw pillows in real life. It again comes down to how much value an individual places in different sectors of their lives whether in virtual worlds or the "real" world. With computer technologies being incorporated into every single nook and cranny of day to day life, it makes sense that people would view the internet and virtual worlds as much a part of real life as watching TV, eating dinner, working, or playing with friends. So does it make sense then that people would pay money for goods that are technically intangible?

“'It’s an experience, like going to the movies. That’s how I describe it,' said Sara Merrill of Parsonfield, Me., who plays Pet Society on Facebook with her two young sons five times a week. Recently, the family used a credit card to buy $20 worth of the game’s currency, then bought items like a haunted mirror and a potion that helped their pet, Demon Baby, grow bat wings. 'It’s still cheaper than taking the kids to Target where they will ask for a toy,' she said."

Have you ever invested in virtual goods of any sort, and if so, can you specify what the virtual good was? Now, taking into consideration that we have payed for services since the dawn of time, is it really that different from paying for "virtual services?"(When taking into account that the term "virtual goods/services" does not necessarily have to refer to those found within virtual worlds or video games, many will quickly realize that they too commonly spend money on both virtual goods and services.)

Zynga's Success and Secrets

I never thought I would play games like Farmville or Frontierville because it doesn’t have a concrete goal to the game. In addition, these games are “grinding” game. It is honestly like playing MMORPGs that requires you to do the same thing over and over again. After trying it out for the first time, I have to say that I did not find it very interesting but it is really addicting. To some, the interest factor correlates with the addicting factor. I would like to think so too but it is not the case with this game.

As I mentioned before, this game isn’t appealing to me because of the depth as well as the graphics and gameplay. However, the game is addicting because of the instant gratifications you get from the repetitive actions. When we talked about casual gaming in class, one of the features it has is the gratification system. Bejeweled will let you know every time you scored or moved up a level. Similarly, both Farmville and Frontierville do the same. When you plant a crop, harvest it, or some other action; the system will flash icons letting you know what you have acquired or achieved. This is one of the reasons why the game is so addicting.

Another reason that I find this game addicting is the timer on everything in the game. This tells the player that you will earn something after this amount of time. In games such as WoW or Aion, the luck factor is emphasized making the game much harder and unpredictable. This game style deters competitive gamers but lures in the casual gamers that don’t have the time and energy to deal with uncertainty and frustration. As Professor Nakamura mentioned in class, many adults play Farmville in our school. It makes a lot more sense for adults with a job to be attracted by these games because it is based on a strict timing. When you work 8-5 everyday, you can plant your crops around those times so that you don’t have to worry about rotting them. These games are perfect for the majority workforce.

Still motion games like these don’t have a strong social aspect to it. Zygna changed that by constantly incorporating the help each other initiative in these games. This strategy creates a sense of community for players. For the game producers, it is nothing more than a way for existing players to lure their friends into playing the game. In another word, free advertising.

These games are starting to permeate and spread into the family setting as well.

Recently, the family used a credit card to buy $20 worth of the game’s currency, and then bought items like a haunted mirror and a potion that helped their pet, Demon Baby, grow bat wings. “It’s still cheaper than taking the kids to Target where they will ask for a toy,” she said. (NY times)

Computers are very common among households in the 21^st century. Kids are growing up with these technologies instead of the physical toys. It becomes an easier way for parents to satisfy their children’s needs. Buying toys can take up space but a computer game will only take up the same space. It is very possible that Zynga will become the leading company in the gaming industry. It is also very possible that more games will adopt this type of pay structure.

Question: How much would you pay to be good at these games?

What makes people play Zynga games?

From when I began to play Frontier Farm (Thursday) to Today, I have not found out the funness in this game. Therefore, I was surprised when I realized that Zynga is expecting to reach $500 revenue in 2010. However, after reading the interview with Zynga's CEO, I began to understand how their games succeeded.

First of all, it is not as time consuming as other games. This also relates to the hardcore vs. casual gaming discussion that we had in the beginning of the semester. I also realized that people I know who are into this game are all employed. They do not have much time playing normal games and as Mark Pincus points out that "One of the biggest reasons people don't play games is they say that they don't have the time," Zynga games are, in fact, addressing modern people's concern about not wasting too much time on entertainment, yet get the chance to enjoy gaming.

Secondly, the platform of Zynga's game is the world largest social platform: Facebook. The biggest attraction about facebook is that you get to socialize with your "real-life" friends and Zynga games definitely benefits from this function. The fact that friends can have fun together in the same game at anytime is a major attraction because there aren't that many chances when you and your friends are playing in the same game at the same time like those games outside of facebook. Therefore, part of Zynga's success has to give credit to Facebook.

According to Mark Pincus, their games earn money only from the selling of virtual goods. However, I am kind of surprised by Mark Pincus' explanation of why people would buy those virtual goods because according to him, people buy goods for the sake of standing out in crowd and "changing your friends' view of you," which is saying that Zynga games are actually competitive games that allow people to compare and show off their goods.

Question: would you buy any virtual goods on FrontierFarm? why and why not?