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Flappy Bird by the Numbers

zachwill.com

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Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#41

Post by corresation »

10feet wrote: post #21
blackhole wrote: post #4

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"…

> 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. It is not obsession with money, it is just confusion over it. I mean, it isn't that hard to ignore all the bad comments and emails, and a small price to pay for riches. There must be something else going on, and that is the bit th…

It is not obsession with money, it is just confusion over it.

The actions and statements of the author seem completely at odds, and he literally could not do more self-promotion if he tried. Seriously, beyond assassinating a world leader dressed as flappy bird, I cannot fathom how he could have cemented more attention.

He had a hit game. These come and go, usually with the creators completely shrouded and hidden. But he does an interview where he states enormous income levels, guaranteeing an incredible amount of media attention. He is all hands on twitter. Then, in the face of supposed negative attention (or simply attention), and coincidentally at what many would say is almost certainly the crest of the game's popularity, he announces that he is removing the game...in a day. So get in and get those downloads, before you lose your chance. Again, enormous attention across the media.

Had he not done the original interview. Had he not announced that he was making $50K per day on ads. Had he not then announced a 24-hours until its gone window...he would have remained yet another anonymous game creator. Instead we know how it played out.

It could entirely be cultural misunderstandings, but it is tough to listen to the whole "just leave him alone" claims in the face of actions that the most manipulative, talented PR agency would dream up.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#42

Post by ricardobeat »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #15
blackhole wrote: post #4

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…

The possible subtext is that he is shutting it down in fear of bad repercussion - like being exposed for gaming the app store rankings - or to simply avoid such accusations.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#43

Post by baddox »

jmduke wrote: post #35
10feet wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. It is not obsession with money, it is just confusion over it. I mean, it isn't that hard to ignore all the bad comments and emails, and a small price to pay for riches. There must be something else going on, and that is the bit th…

it isn't that hard to ignore all the bad comments and emails The gravity and emotional toll of receiving death threats and verbal harassment is often incredibly underestimated by those who haven't received them.

I think the commenter meant to literally ignore comments and emails, as in, don't read them.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#44

Post by dclara »

rismay wrote: 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…

Oh, you've caught a point. It's such a smart cheat!

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#45

Post by corresation »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #23
corresation wrote: post #11

Some externals that had a huge influence on Flappy Bird are Vine and then a couple of huge play along YouTubers (such as "pewdiepie"). I made the analogy before that Flappy Bird is the 2 girls 1 cup of games, and while I saved myself from ever seeing that video, it became famous in reaction videos. Exactly the same thing happened with Flappy Bird, first on Vine in early January, and then as the mega-YouTubers picked…

Interesting. So there were a lot of reaction-style vines of people playing Flappy Bird?

Absolutely. There are thousands of them. Indeed, the whole "this game is super frustrating" was a meme the author of the game picked up on and leveraged in December. e.g.

https://twitter.com/BarlowConnor/statuses/412712696102932480

(Dong is one of the retweeters)

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#46

Post by code_duck »

gabemart wrote: post #30

I think the story of this game exemplifies the fact that content needs a minimum amount of attention to reveal it's true value. The journey of Flappy Bird appears to me like this: Stage 1: Almost no attention, almost no growth Stage 2: Some kind of grey market paid downloads / ratings service Stage 3: Attention of minimum critical mass of early consumers (increase in audience of 1 or perhaps 2 orders of magnitude) St…

The music market has worked similarly for a long time.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#47

Post by code_duck »

blackhole wrote: post #4

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 the genesis of the obsession you describe is that having significantly not enough in your bank account causes severe problems.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#48

Post by arn »

mcphilip wrote: post #28
corresation wrote: post #11

Some externals that had a huge influence on Flappy Bird are Vine and then a couple of huge play along YouTubers (such as "pewdiepie"). I made the analogy before that Flappy Bird is the 2 girls 1 cup of games, and while I saved myself from ever seeing that video, it became famous in reaction videos. Exactly the same thing happened with Flappy Bird, first on Vine in early January, and then as the mega-YouTubers picked…

It's worth noting that pewdiepie has 22+ million subscribers. The flappy birds video[1] from January 27th already has 9+ million views. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQz6xhlOt18

Ya, but the pew pew video wasn't posted until well after the game hit number 1.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#49

Post by micampe »

blackhole wrote: post #4

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"…

Thank you for saying this.

On the other side there are also people like %#&$* Scoble that say this is just a marketing play. The lack of empathy and awareness that not everyone in the world is as greedy and selfish as you really upsets me. But you said it better anyway.

Re: Flappy Bird by the Numbers

#50

Post by uptown »

ricardobeat wrote: post #42
jamesaguilar wrote: post #15

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…

The possible subtext is that he is shutting it down in fear of bad repercussion - like being exposed for gaming the app store rankings - or to simply avoid such accusations.

That's my guess. For all, for the sake of argument, let's say this developer did hire somebody to pump up his numbers. They could even be extorting him to pay them more in exchange for their silence. It reminds me of the movie 'Office Space' ... where they rig their software to shave fractional-pennies off of each transaction for an eventual payday, only to have their plan work too well too quickly.
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