Marcoullier.com

Ian and I chatted today about a hypothesis floated between he and Jeremy Liew: if crappy games do so well on FB, think of what real games would do.

My take:

• Most of these are game-like.
• They are basically ads for themselves. They’re memes.
• Most dies fast, but a few Energizer bunnies and old women screaming, “where’s the beef!” will last for years.
• As soon as you try to monetize them through sales, you are screwed. This is beyond casual, this is inertia.

Occasionally, 100 words really sucks, so I’m cheating. Chat transcript on permalink
(Length: 100 words)

Ian Bogost
I talked to Liew theother day btw

Eric Marcoullier
he’s a good guy

Ian Bogost
yeah, he seems like a good guy

Eric Marcoullier
what did you guys chat about?

Ian Bogost
facebook games, social games
he wants to invest in this area

Eric Marcoullier
everyone does

Ian Bogost
yeah, but nobody really knows how
it’s interesting
his claim was, if these shitty games are getting so many page views, what would a good one get.

Eric Marcoullier
I don’t know that I agree with him on that

Ian Bogost
ah yeah? tell me more
you think part of the value is the shittiness?

Eric Marcoullier
I think the part of it is that they are ultra casual
forget bookworm
they’re shitty from our point of view because they aren’t much games at all
they’re game-like
and for all the non-gamers, they’re the shit because they’re so lightweight
warbook is a real game
and it does pretty well, but it’s a fraction of a lot of the game-like games

Ian Bogost
so you think making things more like traditional games won’t result in more playership
or maybe that there is only room for so many of those?

Eric Marcoullier
full disclosure: I’m friends (well acquaintances) with Marc, I know the zombies guy and I’m chatting with Shervin (Warbook) on Monday
talking out of my ass, I think most of the game-like games are doomed to be month-long events
they’re not products, they’re memes
a few, like zombies, get so big that they’re pretty self sustaining

Ian Bogost
interesting… I think most people would say the opposite
zombies is a fad, warbook is a product

Eric Marcoullier
I’m sure most people say that, but most people are evaluating from a gamer perspective
gotta evaluate it from the non-gamer perspective
what I’m saying is that for them, NOTHING is really a product, because they don’t want it
think in terms of TV advertising
some of these non-games are like “where’s the beef” and “tastes great / less filling”
they’ll run for years
but no one watches the 30-minute sitcom based on the fucking Geico cavemen
feelin’ me?

Ian Bogost
yeah, it’s an interesting claim

Eric Marcoullier
All I’m saying is that as soon as you go to warbook territory, you sacrifice users for pageviews
which is good, because then you’re in the product business instead of advertising

Ian Bogost
yes, that is clearly true
but you can’t charge for the product!

Eric Marcoullier
as we know online, it’s a lot easier to sell ads than products
BINGO