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Flappy Bird by the Numbers

zachwill.com

121–130 of 149 posts

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#121

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 think what alot of people keep missing is that Vietnam has communism rooted deep in its culture. I would think that accumulating massive personal wealth like the Flappy Bird guy did can cause some problems with the government and the general population when the media portrays something in the way they did with Flappy Birds. It might just have been very unsettling for the guy.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#122
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Wealth removes a number of problems yes, but there are plenty of problems left to deal with.

Even with medical bills "taken care of", health issues don't just disappear. Making love work is just as hard for wealthy people as for anybody else. And some wealthy people feel trapped by their wealth and the responsibility that comes with it. I had a conversation with a guy who had been "told" by his mother that it was time for him to step up as CEO in the family business. We are talking about a large company and this guy flies his own helicopter. I met him in Bangkok where I was staying for the time because I was just traveling around. He told me that he envied me and I got the impression that he was truly miserable because he really didn't want to be CEO of this company. If this man is happy by your definition then it's definitely different from the definition that I subscribe to.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#123
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Wealth removes a number of problems yes, but there are plenty of problems left to deal with. Even with medical bills "taken care of", health issues don't just disappear. Making love work is just as hard for wealthy people as for anybody else. And some wealthy people feel trapped by their wealth and the responsibility that comes with it. I had a conversation with a guy who had been "told" by his mother that it was tim…

Making love work is just as hard for wealthy people as for anybody else.

It's less clear-cut with love, but at least marriage is much easier for wealthy people - or at least, non-poor people. Divorce rates are higher among poor people, and it makes sense: being low on cash creates a new stress factor, and relationships can be broken by that.

I'm not aware of clear evidence when it comes to love, but I'd wager that it looks at least similar.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#124

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 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…

I don't know what his background is, what his family is like, or what it's like to win the app lottery in Vietnam.

I could imagine scenarios where acquiring that kind of money could destroy your personal relationships, and make you a target of unwanted attention from governments, mafias, or weirdos.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#125
The most interesting question to me is what is you guys' experience with seeding app store reviews?

It seems that it definitely worked in that case (any many maybe more we don't know about). Are there some white hat review services, with people that actually download the app? Or is it all just black bot spammer'y?

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#126
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

What the ... I was referring to the fact that you presented "people you know" as a meaningful sample of the population.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#127
post #3

I don't know if I agree with this. I was just talking to my friend about Flappy Bird reviews. When I first got Flappy Bird in early February, the button to rate the game was in the same place where I usually tapped to make the bird fly. Since the "Rate this App" button appeared so quickly after losing the game, I almost rated the app like 5 times in just a couple of minutes. I would like to see the different versions…

He's left handed ( https://twitter.com/dongatory/status/431336238985920513 ).

^^^ hey look everybody, here he is !

but seriously best of luck to you if it is you.

you should remake the game now with a black swan in place of yellow bird.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#129

I find the endless accusations of a bot network quite tiring. Maybe he did and maybe he didn't. Either way there is zero evidence to support such a claim. My favorite part of this whole saga is from the polygon article. Nguyen via Twitter: "Press people are overrating the success of my games. It is something I never want. Please give me peace." Polygon: "We've reached out to Nguyen for comment and will update accordi…

The article presents some (non-conclusive) evidence of a sudden, steady influx of reviews, and more is coming up: https://sensortower.com/flappy-bird-scripted-reviews-analysi... . What kind of game developer doesn't want it's creations to succeed?

He's explicitly stated in an interview that he didn't do anything to game reviews, so do you stand by what you say, or are you calling him a liar? Not very game developer would resort to nefarious tactics for their own profit. Why does everyone have to look for a cause behind every event - can't you just accept that something might just have ... happened?

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#130
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

I saw reports that he removed the ads from the application.

Nope, ads are still there (Android version, at least)
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