Comments for Betable Game Monetization Blog http://blog.betable.com We are the only real-money game monetization platform. Welcome to the Gold Rush! Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:45:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Comment on The Principles of Game Monetization by “Can We Learn about Monetization from Commercial Games?” | Pamela M. Kato, EdM, PhD http://blog.betable.com/the-principles-of-game-monetization/#comment-550 “Can We Learn about Monetization from Commercial Games?” | Pamela M. Kato, EdM, PhD Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:45:54 +0000 http://blog.betable.com/?p=322#comment-550 [...] here to read the Tyler York’s “Principles of Game [...] [...] here to read the Tyler York’s “Principles of Game [...]

]]> Comment on What happened to innovative games? by admin http://blog.betable.com/what-happened-to-innovative-games/#comment-491 admin Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:38:14 +0000 http://blog.betable.com/?p=310#comment-491 Hey Steve, great reply that echoes what I'm hearing around the game industry. However, I think the "beef" here, so to speak, is that the majority of gamers (the uninformed masses, if you will) vote with their dollars for the clone that has the biggest marketing organization behind it. Discovery is a huge problem for app developers, especially indies, and so a developer that has their game copied by Zynga can usually do little more than cringe as they are outspent 10:1 on marketing. To be fair, Zynga has made significant strides on the game analytics side that enable it to afford these massive marketing campaigns, but there is something to said for the substantial advantages of scale they enjoy. Our hope is that by increasing CLV (via real-money gaming), indie game studios will then have the firepower to attract the users their game deserves. Hey Steve, great reply that echoes what I’m hearing around the game industry. However, I think the “beef” here, so to speak, is that the majority of gamers (the uninformed masses, if you will) vote with their dollars for the clone that has the biggest marketing organization behind it. Discovery is a huge problem for app developers, especially indies, and so a developer that has their game copied by Zynga can usually do little more than cringe as they are outspent 10:1 on marketing. To be fair, Zynga has made significant strides on the game analytics side that enable it to afford these massive marketing campaigns, but there is something to said for the substantial advantages of scale they enjoy. Our hope is that by increasing CLV (via real-money gaming), indie game studios will then have the firepower to attract the users their game deserves.

]]> Comment on What happened to innovative games? by Steve Peterson http://blog.betable.com/what-happened-to-innovative-games/#comment-487 Steve Peterson Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:19:54 +0000 http://blog.betable.com/?p=310#comment-487 I think it's very hard to draw a line, and I think there's sufficient legal protections for the most egregious cases. Is it morally or ethically the same when a small company copies a big company game as when a big company copies a game from a small developer? I think people will vote with their dollars, ultimately, and companies that don't put sufficient creativity into their games will will have some reputation problems that may actually affect sales to some extent. I think it’s very hard to draw a line, and I think there’s sufficient legal protections for the most egregious cases. Is it morally or ethically the same when a small company copies a big company game as when a big company copies a game from a small developer? I think people will vote with their dollars, ultimately, and companies that don’t put sufficient creativity into their games will will have some reputation problems that may actually affect sales to some extent.

]]> Comment on Exposing Social Gaming’s Hidden Lever by What happened to innovative games? | GAME INFO http://blog.betable.com/exposing-social-gamings-hidden-lever/#comment-461 What happened to innovative games? | GAME INFO Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:17:06 +0000 http://wordpress.betable.com/?p=146#comment-461 [...] though afterwards Crush a Castle was desirous by others that diversion before it. Social games even borrow many of their diversion mechanics from container machines to boost retention. So what is copying, or some-more importantly, that tools of it are dignified [...] [...] though afterwards Crush a Castle was desirous by others that diversion before it. Social games even borrow many of their diversion mechanics from container machines to boost retention. So what is copying, or some-more importantly, that tools of it are dignified [...]

]]> Comment on What happened to innovative games? by Nina http://blog.betable.com/what-happened-to-innovative-games/#comment-460 Nina Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:51:38 +0000 http://blog.betable.com/?p=310#comment-460 This frustrates me so much because Tiny Tower is one of the only games I have continued to play without losing interest. It’s so simplistic in requiring no particular devotion of time, so for smart phone addicts like me who still need to be productive with their day, it is perfect! So while this imitation doesn’t surprise me, the only way I think Zynga or other companies should be allowed to “be inspired” in a way that is near to flat out duplication is if they add some major functional change. Angry Birds put a new spin and story on an old game. At the very least Zynga should be made to prove a significant change, otherwise I hope everyone sees it as a rip off and rejects it. Hopefully in high school English class you were taught plagiarism is greatly frowned upon. You avoid this by reflecting what you’ve learned in your work and doing so in your own way. I believe the same concept goes for games. This frustrates me so much because Tiny Tower is one of the only games I have continued to play without losing interest. It’s so simplistic in requiring no particular devotion of time, so for smart phone addicts like me who still need to be productive with their day, it is perfect! So while this imitation doesn’t surprise me, the only way I think Zynga or other companies should be allowed to “be inspired” in a way that is near to flat out duplication is if they add some major functional change. Angry Birds put a new spin and story on an old game. At the very least Zynga should be made to prove a significant change, otherwise I hope everyone sees it as a rip off and rejects it. Hopefully in high school English class you were taught plagiarism is greatly frowned upon. You avoid this by reflecting what you’ve learned in your work and doing so in your own way. I believe the same concept goes for games.

]]> Comment on Exposing Social Gaming’s Hidden Lever by Why Social Gambling is starting to make sense | Yet another Social Media blog http://blog.betable.com/exposing-social-gamings-hidden-lever/#comment-451 Why Social Gambling is starting to make sense | Yet another Social Media blog Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:14:49 +0000 http://wordpress.betable.com/?p=146#comment-451 [...] is to gambling, and how it basically triggers the same kind of brain reaction, was recently posted here. See if this sounds familiar to you: To play, you put currency into the game. You then pull the [...] [...] is to gambling, and how it basically triggers the same kind of brain reaction, was recently posted here. See if this sounds familiar to you: To play, you put currency into the game. You then pull the [...]

]]> Comment on Roger Dickey’s Hacks for Game Monetization by Game monetization lenses « Gamamoto http://blog.betable.com/roger-dickeys-hacks-for-game-monetization/#comment-437 Game monetization lenses « Gamamoto Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:25:33 +0000 http://blog.betable.com/?p=214#comment-437 [...] Dickey (2011) Roger Dickey’s Hacks for Game Monetization  (Mafia Wars, Zynga & more) [...] [...] Dickey (2011) Roger Dickey’s Hacks for Game Monetization  (Mafia Wars, Zynga & more) [...]

]]> Comment on Social Gamers Are Gamblers by Sebastian Sujka http://blog.betable.com/social-gamers-are-gamblers/#comment-420 Sebastian Sujka Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:55:28 +0000 http://blog.betable.com/?p=287#comment-420 Thanks for the discussion guys. John, I agree with you in most points but I think the author has a valid point in saying social games use the random reward principle. A prominent example is the "daily spin" PopCap`s game Bejeweled Blitz. The daily spin pops up once a day and is actually a slot machine. More random rewards are found within social games when it, for example, comes to finding items in harvesting etc. The discovered items of varying quality appear totally random to the player in a sense that for the same actions he receives different rewards. In fact the distribution is not random but controlled by the developer and depending on factors like last login date, but as it seems random to most users I think it is justified to talk about random reward mechanics here. Thanks for the discussion guys.

John, I agree with you in most points but I think the author has a valid point in saying social games use the random reward principle. A prominent example is the “daily spin” PopCap`s game Bejeweled Blitz. The daily spin pops up once a day and is actually a slot machine.

More random rewards are found within social games when it, for example, comes to finding items in harvesting etc. The discovered items of varying quality appear totally random to the player in a sense that for the same actions he receives different rewards. In fact the distribution is not random but controlled by the developer and depending on factors like last login date, but as it seems random to most users I think it is justified to talk about random reward mechanics here.

]]> Comment on Social Gamers Are Gamblers by Benjamin Joffe http://blog.betable.com/social-gamers-are-gamblers/#comment-419 Benjamin Joffe Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:07:24 +0000 http://blog.betable.com/?p=287#comment-419 Though gambling has links to social gaming, aren't you a bit quick with conclusions? - You are finding cause where there is mere correlation. - Since your conclusion seems to be mostly based on gender and age group, you could have as easily concluded "Social Gamers are Sudoku players" or "Social Gamers are romance and mystery novel readers". - In such case, you would not be far off: "hidden object adventure games" are comparable (according to BigFish) to mystery novels. Mobile dating RPGs are like romance novels, and puzzle games are the digital sudoku. - The motivations for playing casual games and gambling are fairly different - the hope of winning real money in a gambling game is a core motivator (would they "play" slot machines otherwise?), which means that social games must have something else. - How large a % is the "female gambling population"? (I imagine mostly US, here? a large number of "social gamers" are in emerging markets and hard to monetize). The market if you can attract them to social games rather than offline slots is potentially large, but only represents a small demographic. In conclusion, while it is possible that real-money betting on social games attracts some group of female middle-aged players, it is unlikely to be as large as the one you suggest. "Social games" did not create gamers out of thin air, those were people who already enjoyed "offline games" like sudoku, puzzles, crosswords or found a similar pleasure they had reading romance or mystery books. Though gambling has links to social gaming, aren’t you a bit quick with conclusions?
- You are finding cause where there is mere correlation.
- Since your conclusion seems to be mostly based on gender and age group, you could have as easily concluded “Social Gamers are Sudoku players” or “Social Gamers are romance and mystery novel readers”.
- In such case, you would not be far off: “hidden object adventure games” are comparable (according to BigFish) to mystery novels. Mobile dating RPGs are like romance novels, and puzzle games are the digital sudoku.
- The motivations for playing casual games and gambling are fairly different – the hope of winning real money in a gambling game is a core motivator (would they “play” slot machines otherwise?), which means that social games must have something else.
- How large a % is the “female gambling population”? (I imagine mostly US, here? a large number of “social gamers” are in emerging markets and hard to monetize). The market if you can attract them to social games rather than offline slots is potentially large, but only represents a small demographic.

In conclusion, while it is possible that real-money betting on social games attracts some group of female middle-aged players, it is unlikely to be as large as the one you suggest. “Social games” did not create gamers out of thin air, those were people who already enjoyed “offline games” like sudoku, puzzles, crosswords or found a similar pleasure they had reading romance or mystery books.

]]> Comment on Exposing Social Gaming’s Hidden Lever by Bill http://blog.betable.com/exposing-social-gamings-hidden-lever/#comment-417 Bill Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:43:56 +0000 http://wordpress.betable.com/?p=146#comment-417 But as an analytics company they can choose not to reward the player when their data shows that player will likely expend a form of in game currency to achieve a goal. Snd by expending that currency, they are then more likely to purchase more of the scrip for real money. In short, if they are going to use a gambling game loop there needs to be some assurance that the loop is truly random. But as an analytics company they can choose not to reward the player when their data shows that player will likely expend a form of in game currency to achieve a goal. Snd by expending that currency, they are then more likely to purchase more of the scrip for real money.

In short, if they are going to use a gambling game loop there needs to be some assurance that the loop is truly random.

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