Change in Facebook Metrics for "Longer-Term Engagement"

I’m actively following all the discussion about new metrics for Facebook widgets. I’m fascinated by apps that are supposedly “wildly popular” but seem really shallow to me. Facebook metrics went from number of installs (something that could easily be manipulated) to daily usage (something that encourages flashy content and fleeting engagement). Which is why the latest move to tracking monthly active users for apps is a smart move on Facebook’s part. It forces app developers to think about how to sustain interest and engagement over time.

Thinking about my own Facebook usage recently. I was a near addict to the game Pack Rat. I spent hours playing on a daily basis for nearly 2 months. But now, I’m done with it. I’ll probably never go back.

And then there’s GoodReads (it’s also my favorite social network). I never spend a lot time on it but I come back throughout the month to update what I’m reading and rate the books that I recently finished.

Which use is viewed as more successful to developers in my case? We’ll let the ever-evolving metrics to decide.

Ranking and Monthly Active Users on both apps from developerAnalytics:
PackRat #223, 81,261 MAU
Goodreads #879, 30,040 MAU

August 28th, 2008  by Tina / 1 Comment / Trackback / Facebook, Social Networks, Games, Metrics

Rewiring Our Brains

“Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.” This metaphor is at the heart of Nicholas Carr’s recent Atlantic Monthly article: Is Google Making Us Stupid?

So is it? No, I don’t think so. The Internet, however, is changing not just how we read, but the way we process information. You’ve heard it before…that our attention spans are decreasing as we’re hit with shorter bits of text, disruptive flashing headlines, etc.

But this article is of particular interest for a couple of reasons:
1. It looks at the Internet in perspective, by referencing past technological advances (e.g. the printing press) and how they’ve changed our way of thinking.
2. It discusses how the Internet is subsuming other intellectual technologies and altering traditional media in the process.

If you don’t have time to read it in full (sigh), here are a few points worth pondering:
- As Marshall McLuhan would say, media channels shape how we process information. Are our minds mimicking the “staccato” quality of the Net?
- Deep reading cannot be separated from deep thinking. How is the Internet’s focus on bite-sized info helping us draw our own inferences or cultivate our own ideas?
- The human brain can reprogram itself on the fly, taking on the qualities of the technologies it uses. How is the Internet diffusing our concentration levels?

What price are we paying for efficiency? I’m anxious to hear your thoughts. For now though, I’m running to the bookstore.

August 21st, 2008  by Jessica / 0 Comments / Trackback / minds, thought process

The Trajectory of an Exploding Barrel

People love stories. Your first hit was most likely the bedtime kind then you went eyes wide at comics, books and movies. We gravitate to people who can entertain us - we usually don’t call the introvert to meet up at the bar for kicks and giggles; they may sometimes remark with snap crackle pop, but they are not an exploding barrel of laughs.

In the next couple of years - perhaps even months - the majority of gamers will find themselves gravitating to the games that tell a good story. Pulling way back, gameplay has evolved at a much slower rate than graphics (a topic I’d like to discuss further in a future post). This yearly growth spurt is not necessarily something we should look down on since killer looks captures the masses. The Game Industry embraces the blockbuster and it, too, is infatuated with Hollywood style. “Look at my cut scenes, all lean and cinematic can I have your phone number?”

Interactive storytelling is another way developers/publishers try to capture the masses. Bad storytelling outweighs the good, and the good still suffer from moments of dissonance between story and gameplay.

Sometimes it feels like a story is an afterthought, sometimes it feels like the gameplay diminishes the story and its purpose. If people - me included - are hell-bent on game writers trying to take our emotions to paradise, then how bout we have games where the gameplay and its limitations are central to the story. Then we can start making games like:

- The Curious Case of the Immovable Trees
- I See You, Mr. Invisible Wall
- Sim Explodable Barrels
- Re-Spawninator: Didn’t I Just Kill You?
- The World Ends With You In A Sewer
- The Sims Explodable Barrels: Explodable Barrels Expansion Set
- Bullet Sponge presents The Amazing Adventures of Kevlar and Clay
- > Help I’m Stuck

August 19th, 2008  by Mike / 0 Comments / Trackback / games, game writing, story

Everything old is new again: Transmedia goes traditional

According to the LA Times, Trent Reznor is in talks with HBO to turn the Year Zero campaign, a marketing ARG developed to promote and narratively augment the last NIN album, into a two-year limited series.

There’s been a lot of discussion in recent years about how marketing is becoming increasing about giving viewers and users valuable content and interactions, and coming to resemble entertainment more and more. With transmedia and ARGs making their way into the marketing toolbox, we began to see something that was technically developed as “promotion,” though in a way that provided a rich, innovative means to developing and expanding the story in over a range of platforms and media in ways that were limited by “old” media.

Now, we’re seeing these stories cycle back, getting developed further by traditional broadcast media, reminding us that it is not these mediums themselves that are limiting, but the insistence of fitting increasingly complex stories and rising demands for more robust user experiences into any single form. We are not moving from old to new media, trading in one for another, but adding to our repertoire. Media in transition, media in accumulation: this is the age media multiplicity.

August 13th, 2008  by Xiaochang / 0 Comments / Trackback / transmedia, ARGs, year zero

Help Big Spaceship Land At SXSWi 2009!

Last Friday, the infamous SXSW Panel Picker opened its doors to the public, with a list of over 1,000 proposed panels for the 2009 South By Southwest Interactive Festival.

If you’ve never been to SXSW, it’s a fascinating — and rapidly evolving — four day marathon in Austin, TX, that brings together pop culture aficionados, marketers, programmers, content creators, entertainment professionals, advertisers, and a wide range of other new media types for panels, workshops, informal lunches, hallway discussions, countless open-bars, all night parties and soirees, and launch events for geek-chic brands, products, services and startups.

That sounds like a marketing plug, I guess, but it’s not intended as one — it’s just a lot of fun, and a great place to meet interesting and motivated people.

This, on the other hand, is a conscious plug: now that voting for the 2009 panel lineup has commenced, Big Spaceship needs your help! Among the 1000+ panel submissions, you’ll find a handful featuring BSS crew members discussing everything from our unorthodox creative and development processes, to the future of Alternate Reality Games and transmedia narratives.

So if you’ve got 15 seconds to spare, please swing over to the SXSW Panel Picker and cast your vote for the following panels, featuring talent from Big Spaceship:

Big Spaceship: Digital Creative Agency
Gain insight into the approach and process the team at Big Spaceship uses to create innovative and award-winning digital programs for entertainment and consumer brands. Among other things, we’ll talk about our strategy and brainstorming process, cross-disciplinary collaboration, tools and techniques, while giving behind the scenes looks into our culture and using examples of recent work. 
Vote Here

FPO: The Beast Behind the Beauty
Learn how integrating developers into the early stages of a project not only fosters mutual respect, but also improves your ability to meet tight deadlines. We will share real examples of FPO frameworks, motion tests, tools for designers, failures, successes, and even dreaded timeline tweens.
Vote Here

Alternate Reality Gaming: Behind the Curtain
What really goes on behind the scenes of an ARG? Get a glimpse backstage, as a diverse group of veteran puppet masters and experience architects share insights on how to build, deploy and navigate an ARG through an unpredictable sea of players… and how to prepare for the unexpected. 
Vote Here

And if you have questions or suggestions of what you’d like to see us cover, we want to hear them! Just leave a comment here or on the individual panel pages, and we’ll be sure to respond.

See you in Austin!

August 11th, 2008  by Ivan / 0 Comments / Trackback