Notes from GDC, Friday
Some brief notes from the Game Developers Conference two weeks ago in California. Apologies for how late these are, and for the formatting.
Sulka Haro, Habbo
- most kids are 13-16
- 2006 $50m revenue
- not really ugc; it’s player generated activity
- no game mechanics so it’s all emotes and role play
- do global teenager research
- only 44% of teens have positive attitudes towards foreignors
- virtual hikikomori
- showed player typed and demographics - see pictures
- identity - who you are, where you live, what you do, age, taste, style, who you know
- adult identities are mostly established, kids’ are not
- so a lot of what happens in habbo is kids experimenting with identity
- groups around trends, media, political causes like global warming
- real suspension of disbelief for kids
- teens try things in habbo that are totally uncool irl, like gardening
- armies, gangs, mafia, hospitals, running tracks
- so it’s all about identity
- check OpenID and Data Portability Workgroup
- see users in action can really be a learning experience
- more research in the future
- global habbo youth survey 2008
Diner Dash
- first gem age, then higher prod value
- casual games are hot, why change?
- 2% conversion, cooperation breaking down
- where are cas games going? Showed slide w habbo, gaia, puzzle pirates, etc
- how is diner dash diff? multi-player lobby, coop and pvp play, design your restaurant, gives more free gameplay, free multiplayer, has dedicated site
- 57% of buyer in sub $5 items are buying first time; never bought at $20 price tag
- showed history of diner dash, took main char flo onto myspace, added virtual items for her, etc
- connect four multiplayer was learning point for mmo
- still at 2-3% conversion
- had to build a story world around it, find the right biz model
- serialized narratives work well and keep the long tail alive
- had to get www content and interface right
- serving www content into client
- full stack is components: client, game, e-commerce; updater, item mgr
wikipedia
- compared wikipedia editors to mmo players
- fascinating presentation
invasion of comunities
- prefab guilds going into your world
- invasion not always bad
- prefab guilds usually really big
- bring their players with; so they can be huge n00b groups
- well organized externally with many diff play styles
- often have griefer mentality, depends on source community
- but… Bring new players, bring attention
- in casual mmos: habbo example
- all identical avatars with same name root
- habbo invasion stopped people from moving; organized grief
- in casual mmos, they dont bring rev but they get bored & leave
- watch your game mechanics and forums
- for casual mmos, you dont want them. They are not core and dont bring users or $; they just grief
startup launchpad
- challenging to move from engineering to mgmt
- hard to let things fail
- talk a lot & be open; people will help you
- network of people really helps
- best ceos dont fear sharing with other people in the industry
- right now is exciting because there are really low barriers to entry
- game industry challenges: secrecy, paranoia, competition for talent
- revenue vs traffic - which is more important
- scalability and product mgmt as you grow
- how to find good people:
- outspark/adspark & cryptic & gopets and gaia online
- equity questions are tough and need to be settled up front
- all equal is really tough to manage
- treating equally is not really treating fairly
- better to reserve equity for later to reward people than to give it all away now to be fair & equal
- knowing if you are right to be ceo is a gut check
- for investors, most important is do you trust them and do they know the space
- most common early mistakes: hiring, not trusting yourself, people never make the mistake of firing when they should not have; instead they dont fire soon enough and regret not doing it earlier; labor is your biggest cost so bad labor hurts you a lot
