http://www.sirlin.net/blog/2010/2/22/external-rewards-and-jesse-schells-amazing-lecture.html
More Comments on the lecture here:
http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2010/02/jesse-schell-future-of-games-from-dice-2010/
Facebook is Big, Strange & Unexpected
Facebook Math
There are more Farmville players than Twitter
Lead Gen is greater than direct payments
Sign up for a credit card to get virtual money earns more revenue than direct payments.
Also unexpected…
Wii & Wii Fit
Club Penguin
Guitar Hero
Webkins
What is common?
“Velvet Elasticity”
Free to play
Get virtual money – spend $6
“I spent time on this, so it must be valuable.”
“I spent $20 to re-up, so it must be valuable.”
All these games bust through to reality.
Gillmore & Pine: Authenticity
Are things real? Are they authentic?
We live in a bubble, technology cuts off from reality, we’re no longer self sufficient.
“There is a hunger for reality”
Technology convergence – brings us all together? No, Technology is divergent
Games are a part of every day life, from the Ford dashboard to marketing point systems.
Technology is disposable. Schells predicts every product having an interface, screen & camera on it.
Concludes wondering if people will alter their behavior b/c they know it is being monitored, recorded and analyzed. And since people know they’re being watched, and they want good external outcomes, will that make them better people? That’s a deeper theological question, but I think I can find priests and psychologists who would agree on the potential.