Every once and a while a game comes out that goes truly viral. Flappy Bird, for example, became extremely popular very fast, despite being created by an unknown (at least to the west) developer. However, what do these viral gaming patterns suggest about games as a whole?
The big question here, obviously, is why are all these people playing these games, and what does it mean? What is it that attracts people to these simple games? Farmville, Cookie Clicker, Words with Friends, and now Flappy Bird? What do these games creators and marketers do right? Is it a coincidence that they do so well? Or is there something in their business model that we need to learn from?
These are importance questions to ask, as viral games need to have something about them that make them especially attractive. To learn what the specific mix is that make them so popular. To figure out if the secret to a successful game is science, or luck. However, this would be a strong power. If a game was created that combined the very best attributes of the above, that was that addicting, imagine the chaos that would unfold. People would skip work to spend time playing this game, and would never stop.
However, incorporating just a little bit of their improvements into every game, could greatly increase enjoyment, or it's appeal. However, it couldn't work with everything. Games with long winding narratives would obviously not benefit from a small mobile platform, or from the simple style of play used in Flappy Bird.
Most importantly though, is how these games made themselves known. The real success was nothing in gameplay, but in how the game was advertised. A few key individuals promoting the game in unique ways, as well as the sheer amount of people that responded, and continued the chain of promotion is what lead to the success. Now, these strategies could work for anything, and, at worst, could only increase the chances. But how exactly did they do it? That is definitely something worth knowing.
The big question here, obviously, is why are all these people playing these games, and what does it mean? What is it that attracts people to these simple games? Farmville, Cookie Clicker, Words with Friends, and now Flappy Bird? What do these games creators and marketers do right? Is it a coincidence that they do so well? Or is there something in their business model that we need to learn from?
These are importance questions to ask, as viral games need to have something about them that make them especially attractive. To learn what the specific mix is that make them so popular. To figure out if the secret to a successful game is science, or luck. However, this would be a strong power. If a game was created that combined the very best attributes of the above, that was that addicting, imagine the chaos that would unfold. People would skip work to spend time playing this game, and would never stop.
However, incorporating just a little bit of their improvements into every game, could greatly increase enjoyment, or it's appeal. However, it couldn't work with everything. Games with long winding narratives would obviously not benefit from a small mobile platform, or from the simple style of play used in Flappy Bird.
Most importantly though, is how these games made themselves known. The real success was nothing in gameplay, but in how the game was advertised. A few key individuals promoting the game in unique ways, as well as the sheer amount of people that responded, and continued the chain of promotion is what lead to the success. Now, these strategies could work for anything, and, at worst, could only increase the chances. But how exactly did they do it? That is definitely something worth knowing.
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