emergence & zynga

8/9/2019 Emergence & Zynga

1/18

Emergence:

Story Killer or Story Maker?

or

How to get millions of people to send you moneyfor something that doesnt actually exist!


2/18

Recall that

Traditional GAMES have:

DEFINED RULES

DEFINED SPACE

GIVEN SET OF COMPONENTS

SET OF VICTORY CONDITIONS

Source: Dave Szulborksi, TINAG


3/18

Recall that

New media (ARG) GAMES have:

EMERGENT PROPERTIES

IMMERSIVE REAL WORLD ELEMENTS

COLL

ABORATIVE INTE

RACTIVE STO

RYTELL

ING

SELF ORGANIZING STRUCTURE(OF THE ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK)

Source: Dave Szulborksi, TINAG


4/18

Recall that

A quest is a journeyacross a symbolic,fantastic landscape

in which aprotagonist or playercollects and talks to

characters in order toovercome challengesand achieve ameaningful goal.

Source: Jeff Howard Quests


5/18

Recall that

the QUEST is wherethe following meet:

GAME ----------- NARRATIVE

GAMING ----------- LITERATURE

TECHNOLOGY ------------ MYTHOLOGY

MEANING -------------- ACTION

Source: Jeff Howard Quests


6/18

Recall that

the four (key) properties ofour (key) properties of emergenceemergence in games are:in games are:

DiscoveryDiscovery -- The emergent properties of a system formThe emergent properties of a system forman explorable space. More complexity generally meansan explorable space. More complexity generally meansmore space.more space.

ChallengeChallenge -- A games emergent properties form itsA games emergent properties form itsstrategic vocabulary. New scenarios and obstacles canstrategic vocabulary. New scenarios and obstacles canemerge.emerge.

NarrativeNarrative -- story emerges from game eventsstory emerges from game events FantasyFantasy emergent properties dont necessarily supportemergent properties dont necessarily support

the fantasy. Contradictions are common creating absurdthe fantasy. Contradictions are common creating absurdfantasies.fantasies.

Source: personalhijinks.com


7/18

Recall that

Conways Game of life simulated life asemergence through three rules.

Oversimplification

Not really a game

A closed system

Source: personalhijinks.com


8/18

Enter


9/18

is

A casual game developer located in SanFrancisco.

A company that develops browser-basedgames that work both stand-alone and asapplication widgets on social networkingwebsites such as Facebook and MySpace.

The #1 social gaming company on theweb.


10/18

Zynga was founded in July 2007 by MarkPincus (and his dog).

They received USD $29 million in venturefinance from several firms in July 2008.

At that time, they bought YoVille, a largevirtual world social network game.

According to their website, as ofDecember 2009, they had 60 millionunique daily active users.

fun facts


11/18

fun facts

Weighing in at 150 lbs, is Mark Pincus, frenetic visionary of Zynga. His DNA is onestrand entrepreneur and one strand competitive gamer. Mark founded Tribe.net(www.tribe.net), one of the first social networks in 2003. Prior to Tribe, he was thefounder and CEO of SupportSoft (Nasdaq: SPRT), the world's leading provider ofsupport automation software. Prior to SupportSoft, Mark co-founded Freeloader, the

first consumer push information service.

Zynga was named after Zinga, Chief Animal Officer (1995 - 2008), Marks 13-yearold American Bulldog who sadly passed away in late 2008. Zingas name camefrom Enzinga, the Swahili name for an African Warrior Princess


12/18

Show me the $$

Zynga is supported in two manners: Viadirect credit card payments and partner

businesses.


13/18

Farm Cash Crash

Through 2009 Zynga made money from lead generation advertisingschemes, whereby game participants would earn game points by signing upfor featured credit cards or video-rental services.

These were criticized as being less cost-effective than simply buying gamepoints, and in some cases, being outright scams that would downloadunwanted software or unwittingly sign up for a recurring subscription.

Pincus later said that he had been

too eager to increase company

revenues through advertising, and

that operating in reactive mode by

taking down ads only after

receiving complaints had not

worked. The company removed all

ads for a time, relying only on

direct purchase of game currency,

then began reintroducing third

party ads only after they had been

screened.


14/18

Copy-wrong?

Zynga has also been accused several times ofcopying game concepts of popular games bycompeting developers.

The launch ofMafia Wars sparked a lawsuit from the makers of MobWars, which was settled out of court for $79 million.

Ars Technica noted that gameplay, design, graphics, avatars, andeven in-game items from Zynga's Cafe Worldand Playfish'sRestaurant Citywere "nearly identical.

Zynga's FarmVille is extemely similar to the earlier game Farm

Town.

Mark Pincus has dismissed the criticisms, saying thatcompeting video game makers have always released similartitles for each genre of game.


15/18

But the biggest problem is

non-players who grow tiredof seeing updates abouttheir friends' social gaming

activity. Facebook groupscreated to expressdispleasure regardingoverexposure of Zynga's

games attracted millions ofmembers!


16/18

GAMEPLAY Several Zynga games require an "Energy" characteristic to play.

Engaging in "Missions", a core feature of many games, consumes acertain amount of energy.

After expending energy, it slowly replenishes to the character'smaximum limit. This can take minutes or several hours (energyreplenishes whether or not players are logged into the game).

After energy is replenished, players can engage in additionalmissions. Waiting for energy to replenish is a significant limitingfactor in the games. Their support mechanisms take advantage ofthis.


17/18

GAMEPLAY Some games exploit a variant of this, allowing for

planting or cooking of anything ones resources allow,then counting down to harvest or serving at whichtime the cycle is repeated.

The games usually have a gifting and/or helping

mechanic which encourages social interaction within thegame as well.


18/18

STORY (?)

emergence & zynga

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