Gabe Zichermann - ALL THE WORLD'S A GAME: HOW FUNWARE AND SOCIAL NETWORKING CHALLENGE THE CASUAL STATUS QUO

Gabe Zichermann: Slide slides & audio (41 MB)

All the stickiest websites in history have been based on powerful, status-oriented meta games: eBay (a shopping game), Yahoo Answers (a research game) and Facebook (an affiliation game) just to name a few. While these applications were not explicitly designed as games, they point the way to a fundamental premise: people love to play and compete with each other in every area of their lives: both as distraction and intrinsic activity.

This shift to Funware (the merger of games and web apps) portends that games will become more enmeshed with real life and less of a separate activity, while the web becomes more gamey. Driven partially by the rise of social networking, Funware creates tremendous opportunities and threats for the casual game industry. This session will explore the latest and greatest crop of Funware applications, and how innovative game design is reshaping the web from shopping to photosharing and beyond. It will also explore how the social networking meme creates new casual game design opportunities and challenges both from financial and creative standpoints, and how various players are responding. Finally, the session will endeavor to share tangible data from market research to help shape the discussion. Takeaway: Attendees will takeaway an understanding of the emerging Funware category, sample companies in the space, and their game design philosophy. Additionally, a discussion of Funware business models and innovation opportunities for casual game developers will be shared. Finally, some quantitative data will be shared about user habits as they relate to Funware applications and casual games.

Delivered at Casual Connect Amsterdam, February 2008

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Gabe Zichermann (email)

Gabe Zichermann developed the concept for ChroniQL in early 2007 after realizing that he had stopped enjoying the process of dealing with his friends’ online photos, and that a game-centric approach might fix the problem. Gabe is a ten-year games industry veteran, having previously worked for CMP Media on the Game Developers Conference, Gamasutra and Game Developer magazine, as well as helping to launch and guide Trymedia Systems from start to sale as its head of Strategy and Marketing. Prior to joining the games industry, Zichermann held roles with Cisco, CheckPoint Software and Nortel/Bay Networks. Now residing in New York City, Gabe muses about why the city that has everything can’t make a good burrito.

HOME \| LECTURES & ARTICLES \| VISIONARY \| ALL THE WORLD'S A GAME: HOW FUNWARE AND SOCIAL NETWORKING CHALLENGE THE CASUAL STATUS QUO slides & audio (41 MB) All the stickiest websites in history have been based on powerful, status-oriented meta games: eBay (a shopping game), Yahoo Answers (a research game) and Facebook (an affiliation game) just to name a few. While these applications were not explicitly designed as games, they point the way to a fundamental premise: people love to play and compete with each other in every area of their lives: both as distraction and intrinsic activity. This shift to Funware (the merger of games and web apps) portends that games will become more enmeshed with real life and less of a separate activity, while the web becomes more gamey. Driven partially by the rise of social networking, Funware creates tremendous opportunities and threats for the casual game industry. This session will explore the latest and greatest crop of Funware applications, and how innovative game design is reshaping the web from shopping to photosharing and beyond. It will also explore how the social networking meme creates new casual game design opportunities and challenges both from financial and creative standpoints, and how various players are responding. Finally, the session will endeavor to share tangible data from market research to help shape the discussion. Takeaway: Attendees will takeaway an understanding of the emerging Funware category, sample companies in the space, and their game design philosophy. Additionally, a discussion of Funware business models and innovation opportunities for casual game developers will be shared. Finally, some quantitative data will be shared about user habits as they relate to Funware applications and casual games. Delivered at Casual Connect Amsterdam, February 2008 DOWNLOAD Gabe Zichermann (email) Gabe Zichermann developed the concept for ChroniQL in early 2007 after realizing that he had stopped enjoying the process of dealing with his friends’ online photos, and that a game-centric approach might fix the problem. Gabe is a ten-year games industry veteran, having previously worked for CMP Media on the Game Developers Conference, Gamasutra and Game Developer magazine, as well as helping to launch and guide Trymedia Systems from start to sale as its head of Strategy and Marketing. Prior to joining the games industry, Zichermann held roles with Cisco, CheckPoint Software and Nortel/Bay Networks. Now residing in New York City, Gabe muses about why the city that has everything can’t make a good burrito.