REALITY INVADERS

A brief overview on the gaming industry, the types of games we play, and how elements from game design are being used outside of the consoles in order to influence our behaviour in the real world...

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FreeForm is a evening of discussion on technology, the non-traditional and cool stuff. As well as external experts, this time the contributors from 80 Charlotte Street were:

Saatchi & Saatchi28th September 2010

Matthew GuyCreative, Saatchi & Saatchi EMEA.@sergethew

Tom CallardPlanner, Saatchi & Saatchi London.@tomcallard

INTRODUCTION

TO VIDEO GAMES

In the last 5 years gaming has emerged as a mainstream activity. While once it might have been niche, nerdy and stuck in the bedroom or basement, it is now mass entertainment, and influencing every part of modern life.

GAMING HAS CHANGED.

The Industry itself has grown hugely. Looking at the entertainment industry as a whole, games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Guitar Hero are only surpassed in profit by the most successful of blockbuster films.

EXPANDING INDUSTRY.

Profits as of 15th of January 2010:

source: http://www.trustedreviews.com/video-games/news/2010/01/15/Modern-Warfare-2-As-Successful-As-Avatar/p1

$990m$750m

The diversity of the audience for games has also changed. Back when the console war between the Wii, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 begun, no one expected the casual gaming of the Wii to be the winner.

The controlling device normally associated with the family-friendly Wii is now being implemented in different degrees across all consoles. Video games are beginning to disassociate themselves with the coach potato image.

MOTION CONTROLLERS.They could even be considered exercise! Whereas on Wii you can practice your bowling, on Playstation Move expect to be able to beat someone's virtual face in with your own fists.

Films like Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World and the graphic novels it’s based upon use the language and conventions of gaming, letting characters “level up” and use multiple lives.

IN POPULAR CULTURE.Space invaders and SNES graphics are on T-shirts and jewellery. Anyone who has an iPhone is likely to have a few addictive little game apps, purchased for next to nothing.

One of the greatest developments in gaming has been the introduction of social: giving people the opportunity to share their gaming experiences with their friends and contacts. Farmville is obviously the most famous, with 80 million

WHATS A SOCIAL GAMER?monthly unique users. However inexplicable it may seem (it certainly does to us), this means it is more popular than Twitter. Farmville has proved so popular it even has its own parodies such as Cow Clicker.

We advertisers have been making games for years. Crispin Porter + Bogusky recently created an app for their baby carrot brand which allows you to play the game by chewing the carrot near your iPhone (via the microphone) to level up.

ADVERGAMING.Your healthy eating in real life thus actually changes the rules in the game. It is an interesting example of the diversity of modern gaming, and also a valiant attempt to get healthy eating to be fun.

Barclay’s 56 Sage Street teaches teenagers money management under the guise of a The Sims / Sim City style game. In the first 4 weeks it attracted over 55,000 players. Produced for the fraction of the cost of a ‘real

EDUCATIONAL GAMING.game’, it does what educators have been trying to do for years. Make learning feel like play instead of work. Banking is something I struggle with to this day, if only this was around when I was in school!

Gaming is also leaking into the real world. Mobile technology means we can play anywhere, and social gaming means we can play with anyone. The above is an example of a game where the action takes place in reality.

IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD?A cardboard track houses an RC car with a camera, and this is driven around the track on a modified arcade machine. But this is just the beginning of games becoming part of our world….

VIDEO GAME MECHANICS

IN THE REAL WORLD

WHY ARE WE ADDING

GAME MECHANICS

TO REAL THINGS?

At it’s core the idea is something like this...

A thingAdd game mechanics

That thing now has a new layer of fun it didn’t have before.

People are more likely to engage with that thing

IF THAT SOUNDS

FAMILIAR...

VW fun theory bottle bank

VOLKSWAGEN FUN THEORY.So good it took the Cyber Grand Prix at Cannes this year. It wasn’t the whole campaign that embodied the use of game mechanics in the real world, but this execution in particular is a great example.

In one day this bottle bank was used by nearly 100 people, with other nearby machines averaging just 2 uses. The effect on human behaviour is clear to see.

NIKE+ Here’s another example you’re probably all familiar with. Nike+ turns running into a social game.

CLEAR QUANTITATIVE FEEDBACK

YOUR RANK

TOTAL PROGRESS

CLEAR ACHIEVABLE GOALS EMOTIONAL FEEDBACK

CHALLENGE YOURSELF CHALLENGE OTHERS TUTORIAL

HOW MANY ORCS YOU’VE KILLED (???)

YOUR CHARACTERS LEVEL

TOTAL XP

XP NEEDED FOR NEXT LEVEL YOUR CHARACTER’S MOOD / ALIGNMENT ETC

QUESTS PLAYER VS PLAYER LEVELLING GUIDE

OR IF IT WAS AN RPG...10 points if you get the reference >

Short answer - Yes. But they’re not all that challenging and mostly only the top competitors are rewarded. Foursquare, Gowalla and their lesser known competitors are Location Based Social Networks. You get points for check-ins in the

LBSN - ARE THEY GAMES?real world and badges for your profile, think scout badges. In Foursquare it’s usually only the ‘Mayor’ of a location who can reap the rewards (e.g. a free coffee). Though checking-in to the same location daily can get dull quick.

Unlike the previous slide this location based service is flexible enough to reward players at all levels of involvement. Unlike Foursquare which is often a race to get the most check-ins, a SCVNGR challenge might

SCVNGR. (SCAVENGER)simply be to snap a photo at a location. Completing this challenge could earn you a free coffee or half off your meal, depending where the challenge was. Such rewards are normally reserved for the top players on other platforms.

VIDEO DEMO OF SCVNGR - http://vimeo.com/15175607

CHROMAROMA.A game you play by checking in with your Oyster card. This is Foursquare for the London Underground. The details of the game are vague at the time of writing. They mention it’ll be used to connect commuters and challenge people to

explore the parts of London they’ve never been to before. I like this because it requires no extra effort from you to join in - just keep travelling around London as you do everyday. Unlike Foursquare where check-ins can get tiresome.

VIDEO DEMO OF CHROMAROMA - http://www.chromaroma.com

As well as check-ins to locations, several platforms have sprung up allowing you to check-in to media. What you’re listening to, what you’re watching etc. GetGlue, Miso and Philo are all similar services. Similarly you earn points and

MEDIA CHECKINS?badges, but these services are more about the social element than gaming. A check-in to a live TV show will instantly place you in an ad hoc community of other people watching the show, so you can converse with other fans.

On the topic of check-ins, Checkpoints and Shopkick rewards you for checking-in to products and shops. I think this is check-ins gone a bit mad. Personally I grew tired of getting my phone out of my pocket to check-in to places

PRODUCT CHECKINS???after a few months. I can’t see myself searching round a supermarket to scan a bunch of barcodes for points, but this probably appeals to a different demographic. Much like Call of Duty appeals to a different gamer than Farmville.

A very Japanese idea - “Gotta catch ‘em all!” This app allows you to catch virtual butterflies from the real skies above Japan. The butterflies differ by location so trading and other social play is encouraged.

iBUTTERFLY.The bugs you capture may even reward you with a money off voucher! I think this is a better way of earning rewards as an actual game of catch is played, rather than just clicking a button to check-in.

I like to sum up this idea as Nike+ for materialistic people. Only joking, the obvious target of this device is the young.It gives them an opportunity to earn vouchers to spend on stuff they care about like iTunes or... Farmville?

SWITCH2HEALTH REPLAY.Instead of asking Mom and Pa for that $10 they can earn it themselves. More importantly it gives them another reason to get active! An Xbox 360 might be the right motivation some kids need.

= 22 hours & 40 minutes

= 200 hours

Here’s two examples. Of course you should factor in it costs about $20 to buy the Replay. So technically, if you like music, you’d have to do 43 hours and 20 minutes exercise before you can break even.

S2H - WHAT CAN I BUY?On S2H.com you’ll find other game elements like leaderboards for the week, month and forever. I’m sure some smart kid in the USA has attached one of these to his dog and put it on a treadmill.

Nokia’s PUSH started as a smart chip in your skateboard synched with your phone, now it’s moving into snowboards.The real thing instantly gains addictive elements from their virtual counterparts, and gives you quantitative feedback.

NOKIA PUSH.As Stuart Wells says in the video, in 5 years time everyone could have this kit. I should hope so. A great aspect of this is the fact that from using points and high scores, we’ll easily be able to discover new talent in these sports.

A to-do list with a Lord of the Rings style setting. Genius.EPICWIN turns the real world into the World of Warcraft, which is possibly the scariest idea I’ve ever heard. Unlike WOW, no players pets have died of malnutrition or

EPICWIN.negligence yet. Quite the contrary, remembering stuff like that is the point of the app! This is an extreme example of game mechanics in the real world and slightly tongue-in-cheek, but it’s really helping some people sort their lives out!

SO IN CONCLUSION:

SHOULD I JUST

ADD POINTS AND A

LEADERBOARD AND

BADGES TO MY

THING?

NO.Points are meaningless as a motivational force unless the user is enjoying themselves. Points are something that should be accrued in the background while the player is having fun interacting with your game.

The important thing about games is they should be seen as play. If all you want to do is earn points from a repetitive activity then doesn’t that feel more like work?

Great game design is key to enjoyment and it has to be tailored to your target demographic.

As a generalisation, men tend to be more inclined to competitive games like you’d find on a console. Whereas women will like a more relaxed place and less risk involved.

Another thing we should note is that most of the physical rewards from these games (free coffees, money off vouchers, etc) are really aimed at the young crowd. Typically on a low wage and with lots of spare time on their hands (which they can use to play these games!). Why would a middle aged banker want to play a silly game for a free coffee?

THANKS!(+10 points for finishing presentation)

FROM THE EXPERTS.We work in advertising, we’re no experts on gaming. If you’d like to learn more

about game mechanics we recommend watching these presentations.

Jesse SchellVisions of the Gamepocalypse.http://fora.tv/2010/07/27/Jesse_Schell_Visions_of_the_Gamepocalypse

Jane McGonigalGaming can make a better world.http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

Seth PriebatschThe game layer on top of the world.http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_priebatsch_the_game_layer_on_top_of_the_world.html

Sebastian DeterdingPawned. Gamification and its discontents.http://www.slideshare.net/dings/pawned-gamification-and-its-discontents