Jimquisition: Monetizing Whales For The Retention Of Virality

[Username Redacted]

Full disclosure: I did not thoroughly read the comments here.

Point of clarification: I believe the term 'whale' originated with the gambling industry to describe a high roller who isn't actually very good at gambling.

The extension of that term to high spending casual/social gamers sounds, sadly, like a pretty accurate extension of the traditional usage.

That said I think that 'Dishonered' had the right idea when it came to how to deal with whalers:

 

[Redd the Sock]

Wow, don't hold back Jim.

One disagreement though: the handling backlash thing is something all companies need to deal with. Yes, any and all decisions based around screwing over the customer should be killed on sight, but even legitimate decisions about mechanics or artistic direction can get a lot of flak from the consumer base, and it can be made worse in how it gets handled. Complaints about gamer entitlement aren't unwarranted, but they can come off like you expect your audience to clap on your command like a trained seal even when you do something it seems unlikely they'd like. It surprises me how few companies seem to have anyone that knows how to sell an unpopular decision instead of just complaining the customers aren't giving them enough free reign to do whatever they want.

 

[Ohlookit'sMatty]

Man this subject really got under Jim skin, but for very good reason // What was been talked about at GDC seems to be more along the times of "who to stops gamers from hating all the bad stuff we are doing" rather than "We really should stop doing all that bad stuff"

-M

 

[crimsonshrouds]

This is by far the most awesome Jimquisition I have ever seen. Jim you are fast becoming my favorite person on the escapist.

 

[MCerberus]

A cookie per game you identify from the lists.

I'll take a whack at it.

Spoiler: Answer box

"Well you already gave us money. Enjoy the hats and free content." Hat Simulator 2012 TF2

"You won't progress as quickly to the big iconic tanks, but whatever." World of Tanks?

"Then you'll just have to play the game to unlock more characters." Marvel Heroes or League of Legends

"We've been giving you free currency since you've been around since before f2p. You'll have an xp penalty though. Oh, and have all these free xp boosters." The Secret World or Tera Online

"You're only renting the guns. Also you can't have these guns that are better than yours." 99% of F2P FPSs

"You're done playing, see you in 12 hours where it turns out no progress was made but log in anyway or you'll get penalized." Dungeon Keeper or facebook games in general

"The first two zones are free. Have fun grinding trash mobs to be able to afford what's next. Also no being part of the economy. Can't have that." No idea -1 cookie ;_;

"You payed for the game, enjoy the cash shop." Guild Wars 2?

"We realize that having a new character on our subscription game means a lot of leveling, give us $60." World of Warcraft

Do I win?

OT: Wow. I'm not surprised the industry has a low opinion of consumers, I'm just surprised that they are this brazen about it.

Cookie for TF2, WoT, LoL, every F2P FPS ever, facebook games, GW2 I guess since it does fit but looking for something else, and WoW

 

[Kameburger]

While I don't think it's wrong to talk about monetizing, since striking a balance between what makes companies money and makes consumers happy is also a way to spin that word. But I couldn't agree more with a seminar about 'managing backlash.' That does make 'backlash' seem somehow like an inevitable part of making mobile games, which I'm pretty sure it isn't. So that being said, lets be a bit cool headed, and say that the mobile game has been huge recently, and has grown faster and stronger then anyone could have expected. and the worst part is the industry doesn't really fit together and when bubbles burst, 3 new ones spring up in its place. So in all honesty, let people talk and realize that certain tactics are good, certain ones are bad, and certain ones really really really piss people off.

Or else EA is gonna reclaim its title as worst company again next year, and every year after that until we stop using cell phones.

 

[Burning Desire]

Jim you are my god

 

[JarinArenos]

That was GLORIOUS.
I'd really like a list of people who gave those whale panels so I can never give them a penny ever again.

Of course all the worst offenders were advertising companies and micropublishers, who are greedy bastards pretty much by nature. There's a few shameful devs though. Here's a list of games/devs to avoid. It's not completely exhaustive, but I eyeballed all the panel titles on the list and checked which ones were by actual game developers:

Playmatics (you're not missing much... [http://www.playmatics.com/games.php])
Wooga [http://www.wooga.com/games/]
GSN [http://www.gsn.com/games/] (bunch of casino junk)
FlowPlay [http://www.flowplay.com/corp/products.shtml]
XEODesign [http://www.xeodesign.com/work.html]



Also a whole PILE of seriously shitty panels by Facebook, Google, and Amazon so draw from that whatever conclusions you will.

Edit: here's the list [http://schedule.gdconf.com/list] if you'd care to browse for yourself.

 

[xGrimReaperzZ]

That was amazing, i was grinning the whole time..

(I did watch the Co-optional podcast and i love how you had to mention that JesseCox is a "fellow Dynasty Warriors fan")

 

[Strazdas]

When there was a "featured article" about GDC panelists i just wanted to leave a comment of "i learned this year that peopel speaking at GDC are morons", but i thought that was being unfair as i only saw it from perspective of escapist articles. However now looking closer it seems that its more like escapist picked only the good ones and really was far worse. I knew GDC is basically a circlejerk for developers but this is a new low.

Since when did making a fun game stop being the best marketing tactic?

Since Candy Crush started make $1.5M dollars a day.

The problem is Candy Crush is actually fun (that is, when it does not crash on perfect score BEFORE it remmebers it so you have to try again). I actually played it before the whole king fiasco that made me delete it sicne i dont support shitty companies.

And any microtransactinos in that game is actually optional. i done completely fine without paying a cent actually.

 

[senordesol]

When there was a "featured article" about GDC panelists i just wanted to leave a comment of "i learned this year that peopel speaking at GDC are morons", but i thought that was being unfair as i only saw it from perspective of escapist articles. However now looking closer it seems that its more like escapist picked only the good ones and really was far worse. I knew GDC is basically a circlejerk for developers but this is a new low.

Since when did making a fun game stop being the best marketing tactic?

Since Candy Crush started make $1.5M dollars a day.

The problem is Candy Crush is actually fun (that is, when it does not crash on perfect score BEFORE it remmebers it so you have to try again). I actually played it before the whole king fiasco that made me delete it sicne i dont support shitty companies.

And any microtransactinos in that game is actually optional. i done completely fine without paying a cent actually.

It's fun, sure. But you look me in the eye and tell me it's #1 on the Top Grossing charts for more than a year fun.

 

[Strazdas]

It's fun, sure. But you look me in the eye and tell me it's #1 on the Top Grossing charts for more than a year fun.

Is it? From what charts i saw its around 3-4 in position. Thought, its absolutely not something i would even put into top ten of from mobile games, so yeah its not that good. apperently pleny of people disagree with us, but then again there were people that played flappy bird....

 

[VladG]

Anything free to play I don't even bother with anymore. It just freaks me out that this micro transaction garbage has made its way into the paid market.

Not all free2play is bad. At least in the PC space. In fact there are some excellent examples out there, like Path of Exile, that offers ALL content for free and sells a bunch of purely cosmetic stuff. It's a good game too.

Dota2, League of Legends, Epic Quest for Mighty Loot (which I appreciate all the more since it experimented with a really shitty f2p model a while back but reverted to a pretty good model) just to name a few of the more popular titles.

 

[IndieGinge]

Hey Jim? While I'd like to hope that nobody who's not trying to justify their own bad behavior would disagree with your video, I'd also like to hope you aren't bigoted against us skinny-jeans wearing latte-chuggers. There certainly are a few horrible douchenozzles that down delicious lattes and wear tight-fitting pants, but a lot of us are NOT a bunch of greedy fucksticks who've earned a slap to the face with a dragon dildo through their greed inspired dickery. Rather entertaining video all the same, thanks for all the contributions!

 

[themilo504]

Your panel on how to reduce backlash was way too long, this is my panel: Don?t be a greedy twat and make good games.

Even your panel is redundant. "Make good games" should cover it. The money will come. Maybe not as much as soon, but it will have a long-term positive effect.

'Not as much as soon' sounds a lot like a 'day late and a dollar short' to a lot of people (particularly bill collectors). It'd be super nice if we lived in a just world where titles with artistic integrity were the chart toppers, unfortunately for those of us who've got rent to pay; that's not always the case.

See that's the problem with this industry and most for that matter though. "Chart Toppers" isn't necessary to "pay the bills" as you say. Everybody wants to be number 1. Jesus. **** number 1. When did people stop caring about doing things for the art and love of it. Musicians don't make millions always and they get by happy and fine mostly. Artists certainly aren't "chart toppers" as most of their work doesn't sell for millions until their dead.

Videogames devs want to be artist but don't treat it as such. What did they expect?

Well, when you face the dilemma of 'artistic integrity' and 'unemployment line'; some tough calls gotta be made.

Yes, not everyone is going to be or *can* be a chart topper; but when you look at the chart toppers they tell you one very important thing: What your customers are buying. Now, you *can* take that information, take a risk and do something no one was expecting. Maybe it works out for you, or maybe mommy has to be the bread winner for a while. So you can do that, *or* you can learn from and emulate the best and put out a product that brings food to your table.

The whole 'starving artist' chic really loses its lustre when you are, indeed, starving. The artistically uncompromising (i.e.: 'expensive') games just don't tend to bubble to the top in certain markets. So that tells us that isn't what people are looking for, so how can you expect the industry to do anything other than provide what their audience has proven they want to pay for?

Games copying other games fail just as often if not more than risky new projects, consumers have no reason to buy a game that?s similar to a chart toping game because guess what most of them already own that game.

 

[Spankable]

I've been a gamer for more than 25 years, I'm enjoying the return to independent games, based on a good idea & a small passionate person or small group. The fact many are free to play to bring in a wide audience is no bad thing IMHO. But I do understand they often need to raise money & to make them purely free would cut numbers, quality & is just unfair.


I wouldn't blame a 3 person team who wished to turn there hobby into full time gig, be able to go to conferences, pay to fill in there skill gaps, ect & maybe use it to make a mortgage payment or 2.

Management speak is like Morris dancing, a sign of a evil heart. but spreading ways to allow start ups & independents to get there games to the most players while still covering there nut is no bad thing.

Getting people to fork out there cask is generally & naturally a negative experinace, the fact they are trying to "reduce back lash" means they are trying to make make it better.

Lets face it the big boys know how to do this if only in a bad way, the fact the smaller guys are talking about it & recognizing the problems isn't inherently bad.

f2p & independents need monetization, talk & learning from mistakes seems like a good solution for gamers long term

P.S. Travian would consider me a bit of a whale

 

[drschplatt]

Hell yeah! That last part had me cracking up.

 

[Antsh]

The co-optional podcast last week was great! So much fun has come out of it
It's a shame you and TB didn't let Jesse talk that much though lol.

Happens a lot when they're discussing topics that others aren't that well versed or opinionated on.

Like when Japan comes up, Jesse is all over that. Or Dodger and Love Sims lol

And USB drives are great for those times when your bowels are feeling unretentive.

 

[gamegod25]

Makes me want to create my own panel at GDC and schedule it to run right after one of those that was mentioned. It would be called "How best to crash an industry as quickly and catastrophically as possible" and I would simply walk onto stage, motion over to the asshats who just walked off and say "What they just said." and then leave.

If this really is how cynical, greedy, and blatantly uncaring for their customers the industry has become, then fuck, a crash is not only possible it's simply a matter of time. When there is a panel specifically focused on how to lessen backlash for bullshit decisions, and the solution is not "...then don't fucking do it" like Jim said, then this is the beginning of the end.

 

[Pebkio]

The problem is that as soon as the term "whale" was described to me I could think of one person I know personally who is just like that... and was immediately disappointed in my friend. Listen, committees are soulless money-fueled monsters. It's like trying to blame the Borg for being the Borg.

My indignation is with the people who actually fuel the stereotypes of which they base their systems.

But ALSO, at the same time, without those people I wouldn't be able to enjoy F2P games whilst not spending a dime.