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Flappy Bird by the Numbers

zachwill.com

81–90 of 149 posts

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#81

What disturbs me most about this is the complete lack of empathy people have for the guy. Just look at the comments on the link explaining that Flappy Bird was removed from the app store. Our culture is so completely and utterly obsessed with money that everyone says he's an idiot for taking down an app without realizing the chaos one goes through in a situation like that. They hurl insults like "weak" and "fragile"…

I for one find these kinds of success stories extremely demoralizing. They create unrealistic expectations. But certainly nothing could justify death threats and personal attacks…

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#82
post #75
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Precisely. If he didn't want the negative feedback, or he is "shy", why did he throw himself out in front of everyone? If you're shy, you don't do interviews, and you definitely don't boast. Things don't add up here.

The only charitable interpretation I can imagine is that he's both shy , and also a doormat. As in, he didn't want to do interviews, but he didn't know how to say no when asked for them. This sort of person also feels intense pressure to answer every fan-letter in their inbox, etc. I can see, if this is the case, why he would want to quit out of the situation.

Doesn't seem unlikely. "Shy, and also a doormat" is how I'd describe probably half of the developers I know. The stereotype of a nerd lacking in social skills is true for a lot of us, and having a difficult time saying "no" is often part of that.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#83
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say, given what money can do for you in this world -- how much easier it can make your life, the doors it can open -- that it is at the very least surprising that anyone would turn down this kind of success. In fact, I'll bet you'd have trouble finding one person out of a hundred who would not be willing to suffer pretty significant pain for two weeks if it meant they'd make $50,000 a day. Given that people a…

Average monthly salary for a software developer in Vietnam is, what, $600/mo? Nguyen was making around seven years' salary per day for two weeks. A lot of the doors that could be opened with money were already opened at that point.

Shouldn't he still be making ad revenue even if the app can't be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play? I'm sure those ad $$$s are still rolling in...

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#84
post #52
post #25

I get it. Here you have a developer who just wanted to make games, and maybe a bit of money. He creates a hit, by accident, with a game that has addicting gameplay (and it is, I personally love it). Then everyone in the media calls his game crap and accuses him of cheating the system (without producing any proof). I'd quit too.

I'm sure he was inundated with people wanting to buy it, license it, claim the made it, asking for tips, etc. I'd imagine this kind of thing basically ruins your email address. Then when he said he didn't like the attention, more hate came. Then when he said he was pulling it, death threats came. Reminds me of people who win the lottery. All their friends just want something, charities start bugging them, they can't…

I feel sorry for him too, but it seems like it should have been obvious that publicly pulling the game was not the way to make things better. It sucks, but the only way to make it go away is to just ignore it all for a while. The internet will find its new obsession in short order, and Flappy Bird's 15 minutes of fame will be over. Anything he does to try to avoid attention will just make it go on longer.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#85
So removing the app from the store doesn't turn off the ad revenue unless he kills his ad account. Removing it could be kind of a shrewd way to boost downloads one last time before people move on.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#87
post #80

What disturbs me most about this is the complete lack of empathy people have for the guy. Just look at the comments on the link explaining that Flappy Bird was removed from the app store. Our culture is so completely and utterly obsessed with money that everyone says he's an idiot for taking down an app without realizing the chaos one goes through in a situation like that. They hurl insults like "weak" and "fragile"…

Your post was brilliant but you ruined it with this.. >>only to be puzzled when having a large number in their bank account fails to actually solve any of their problems. I'm not sure what kind of utterly broken philosophy propagates this idea. Do people actually believe that some one starving, unable to afford any kind of medical care, who doesn't have a proper home, clothes or anything for that matter is far more h…

Your post was brilliant but you ruined it with this..

>>Not one single person who is rich I know isn't happy.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#88
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your post was brilliant but you ruined it with this.. >>only to be puzzled when having a large number in their bank account fails to actually solve any of their problems. I'm not sure what kind of utterly broken philosophy propagates this idea. Do people actually believe that some one starving, unable to afford any kind of medical care, who doesn't have a proper home, clothes or anything for that matter is far more h…

Your post was brilliant but you ruined it with this.. >>Not one single person who is rich I know isn't happy.

The whole point is we first need to define happiness, no?

There are a lot of people who are confused between things like sadness, disappointment, inconvenience, hopelessness and many such negative emotions.

The problem is we bundle them all en masse in to this category called 'happiness' or its opposite. To be happy is a overloaded term used to define many emotions.

Rich people suffer from the same negative emotions any human on earth goes through. Because they are humans. If their child doesn't win a soccer game, they may get disappointed, if some one in the family falls ill to a deadly disease without a cure they may feel hopeless. But these are emotions every human regardless of their financial status goes through. Whether you are rich or poor.

Having money will keep you well fed, clothed and housed. Your medical expenses are taken care of. Your children's needs are tended to and give you an overall sense of confidence and a sense of safety and freedom.

Being poor means you have a put up with a great deal of BS that life throws at you. You have to sacrifice every single thing, every single desire of yours. Its very exact opposite of what I wrote above.

I don't know of one single human who doesn't go through human emotions but yeah coming to being happy in the sense having to never really get screwed at every step along the way. Rich people never really stop being happy, and most poor people don't even what that kind of happiness actually is. Basically because they continually being fed this garbage that suffering in their current state is far better than breaking out of it.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#89
post #20

I really doubt anyone really got 9999. Not being cynical but what is the odd of so many ppl getting that thigh score?

If a player can get one point a second that's 2.78 hours of continuous play that would be needed to score 9999.

'Desert Bus' requires 8 hours to score one point...

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/07/the-w...

...and people play it for days, for charity!

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#90
post #20

I really doubt anyone really got 9999. Not being cynical but what is the odd of so many ppl getting that thigh score?

Hacking scoreboards is pretty easy for people who are skilled at reverse engineering. Once one of these people figures out how to do it (usually by mocking up the high score message the game sends to the server) they release their crack on Cydia, and thousands of people take advantage of it.
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