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Google Secretly Invested In Zynga, Preparing To Launch Google Games

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Re: Google Secretly Invested In Zynga, Preparing To Launch Google Games

#61

Post by qq66 »

MartinCron wrote: post #58
glhaynes wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe it'd be fun because you'd be making something that people can relax and enjoy and that adds a little extra social interaction to their everyday experience, often with people that they don't have another "reason" to be in contact with.

That's how I felt, as a guy who feels pretty "meh" about lolcats, when I was working at Cheezburger Network. Even now, I know that software that I wrote is helping to make literally millions of people happy every day. That feels a hell of a lot better than helping a big cable company with video DRM, that's for sure.

Cheezburger Network is an honorable career. Nothing makes me as primally delighted as seeing a really cute lolcat. To be able to do that for tens of millions of people is more than most people accomplish in their lives.

Re: Google Secretly Invested In Zynga, Preparing To Launch Google Games

#63

Post by ryanwaggoner »

robryan wrote: post #54
eli wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than you not liking it, how is it fundamentally different from any other game?

The games are designed to be addictive, not fun in the long term. You could argue the same about WoW but at least in that case there is a lot to do over a long period before you truly get into the addictive repetition phase. Something like farmville is pretty much that from the start.

The games are designed to be addictive, not fun in the long term.

Sorry, but I think you're pulling that out of your ass. All (good) games are addictive to some degree, precisely because they're fun, and I bet if you surveyed all the people who play Farmville, virtually all of them would say they enjoy it and are having fun.

Don't confuse "I don't enjoy it" with "No one enjoys it."

Re: Google Secretly Invested In Zynga, Preparing To Launch Google Games

#64

Post by glhaynes »

robryan wrote: post #54
eli wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than you not liking it, how is it fundamentally different from any other game?

The games are designed to be addictive, not fun in the long term. You could argue the same about WoW but at least in that case there is a lot to do over a long period before you truly get into the addictive repetition phase. Something like farmville is pretty much that from the start.

Seems awfully presumptuous to say that tens of millions of people aren't actually enjoying themselves and that you know better than they do what's "fun" for them. Would you call knitting merely addictive repetition? In a sense it is, but who cares: many people need and want things to enjoy and help them pass the time.

Re: Google Secretly Invested In Zynga, Preparing To Launch Google Games

#65

Post by c1sc0 »

robryan wrote: post #54
eli wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than you not liking it, how is it fundamentally different from any other game?

The games are designed to be addictive, not fun in the long term. You could argue the same about WoW but at least in that case there is a lot to do over a long period before you truly get into the addictive repetition phase. Something like farmville is pretty much that from the start.

I would say that making a game addictive is the holy grail of gaming, no?

Re: Google Secretly Invested In Zynga, Preparing To Launch Google Games

#66

Post by marcusbooster »

Jun8 wrote: post #29

I think Google's worry about Facebook (partly justified, partly not) is starting to cause them to make pointless (and time wasting) decisions. If I had 5mins with Sergei and Larry, I would say (after taking a long sip from the free organic drink I just got from the snack bar we're standing next to) "Look, the real enemy is not FB but Apple (and sometimes your own engineering hubris, e.g. Buzz), so focus all your troo…

And I like to think they'd respond,

"Look Jun8, in 12 years we've built a company worth upwards of 150 billion dollars, and you've amassed roughly 844 karma points."

Re: Google Secretly Invested In Zynga, Preparing To Launch Google Games

#67

Post by exit »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #63
robryan wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The games are designed to be addictive, not fun in the long term. You could argue the same about WoW but at least in that case there is a lot to do over a long period before you truly get into the addictive repetition phase. Something like farmville is pretty much that from the start.

The games are designed to be addictive, not fun in the long term. Sorry, but I think you're pulling that out of your ass. All (good) games are addictive to some degree, precisely because they're fun, and I bet if you surveyed all the people who play Farmville, virtually all of them would say they enjoy it and are having fun. Don't confuse "I don't enjoy it" with "No one enjoys it."

i wouldn't deny intravenous drug users enjoy their highs

Re: Google Secretly Invested In Zynga, Preparing To Launch Google Games

#68

Post by donw »

colinplamondon wrote: post #57
donw wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that their hiring and internal quality-control process excludes it, actually. For building Google's search engine, you need people who know search and sorting algorithms backwards, forwards, inside-out, and upside down. You need hardcore A/B testing based on statistical significance, and rigorous respect of the data you collect. To make the iPhone and the iPad, you need neither of those. You need one guy who…

Even then they're still screwed- you're talking about two features, Apple is marketing an experience. "We let you root your phone" is not a marketing strategy, and that's the base of Android so far. They let you customize, Apple gives you something kick ass that just works.

That's exactly my point. Google isn't making any effort to make Android an 'experience', but if they do, they can't just copy Apple.

Note that I said nothing about being able to install Linux on your phone, or about the open development platform.

If Google grows a marketing brain and decides to create an experience, they need to do one based around their core strength -- finding stuff. Which is where leveraging their voice-search technology would be a good start.

Especially because vocal interfaces are socially inclusive. If I want to find a Thai restaurant on an iPhone, I usually sit there in silence and poke at it a bit. If I want to do it on a Droid, I can just ask it. Which one of these fits more naturally into a social setting without breaking the flow?

That's not all, obviously, but it's a good start towards framing Google/Android as the 'personal robot butler' to Apple's 'computer for the rest of us'.

Re: Google Secretly Invested In Zynga, Preparing To Launch Google Games

#70

Post by code_duck »

mynameishere wrote: post #25
code_duck wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this different than the rest of the game industry?

You have to play farmville, first of all. It isn't a game. It's just as I described it--"cow goes moo" and that's the extent of it.

I'm quite willing to believe this. But then, I played Animal Crossing for a while and that involved mooing, as well (... if I recall correctly). I'm willing to believe a game can be made out of mooing, however I would assert that a Japanese game about mooing is almost certainly better than one owned by shady Russian investors, or whatever Zynga is.
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