Last week this quite interesting talk from the recent Games Developer Convention surfaced online. Jesse Schell addresses a few key talking points but the most interesting to me was how Gameplay could be used as an incentive in everyday life. I recommend you find half an hour today to watch this video! Once you’re done my thoughts on how you could use these ideas in your business are after the jump.

Gameplay and progression are such powerful incentives for consumers and they become super charged incentives when placed in social structures. Farmville would not be played by the millions of people that play it if it wasn’t for its social foundations.

Plenty of local cafes run reward point schemes, they are all pretty basic, each purchase gets you a stamp, 8 stamps gets you a freebie.

These are fine but what more could those businesses do to make being a customer more fun? What about bonus points for coming outside of lunch hours, or achievements for being the first person to order a certain meal. Rather than stamps for purchases maybe you can use them to reinforce positive behavior, bonus stamps for saying please and thank you or bringing your plate back to the bar.

Internally why not give staff experience points for performing tasks, doing the washing up, eating a fruit each day of the week, turning up on time! You can plot these online or just on a whiteboard. Perhaps when staff “level up” they can be rewarded with different things “Congratulations on reaching Level 10 Tom you have unlocked a £100 bonus!”.

Start looking at your own business and look for areas where you want to positively enforce behavior, this may be in your customers or even your staff. Think about how game play and social structures can be used both online and offline to make being your customer and working in your organisation just that little more rewarding.

Word of warning just make sure your look at the strategy and not the technology. It is easy to get bogged down in setting up Twitter account and Foursquare sites but unless you know why you are doing it..dont! Also just because everyone else is doing it is not a good reason! Have fun and let me know if you come up with or see any great examples

High scores started in the arcades. Whilst “Insert Coin” flashed at the bottom of the screen the rest was a leaderboard of the best player with only 3 letters to identify them. Arcades were gaming hubs and being top scorer meant you were the best in the local area.

Those 3 letter names were infamous in friendship groups and you know who you needed to beat. It created a social incentive to want to be better than your friends, play one more time and put more money into the machine.

With modern online gaming the leaderboard is back. You can now see how good you are at the game compared to the rest of the world. But knowing you are 231,321^st out of 2 million players isn’t as impressive as being in the top 10 in your local arcade.

Some of the most powerful incentives we have are social ones, and trying to be better than millions of other people will only compel the few. We need to make the leaderboards local and unique to each user. This creates a much higher social incentive and makes players play more to beat their friends.

Games are turning our social circles into personalised leaderboards. Every user has a unique leaderboard that only shows the scores of their friends. Being the best of your ten friends is a lot more compelling than being better than millions of strangers.

The beauty of these modern games is that they can always be connected online. They can always be plugged into our social circles.

This means no one ever needs to play a game in isolation (unless they chose to) it also means you don’t have to play a game with everyone, you can choose to just play with the people that matter to you.

Now when I play Bejewelled Blitz on Facebook the game is constantly reminding me of how I am doing compared to my friends. I don’t know if I am the best player in the world, I don’t even know if I am in the top million, but it doesn’t matter.

What I do know is that (for a short while) I had the highest score of all my friends and it was great, but my high score just encouraged others to play until they beat it.

This is just the first step soon games will go beyond reflecting your social circles scores. They will start using our social circles to make our games more personalised and unique to us. Our experiences will be used to enhance other peoples games and we are starting to see the beginning of this with games like Spore using our friends creations in our game to make our experience matter just that little bit more. I expect a whole lot more of this over the coming years.

Now I must go and get the top score again on Bejewelled!

I have spent a fair amount of time saying how games need to bring themselves closer to the social web, it now looks like the social spaces might be ready to shoot/splice there way into games.

Even in this day and age of developer blogs and podcasts there is still an element of mystery around how many games comes to exist. There is no mystery however on the origins of “Dudebro: My Sh*t is F*cked Up So I Got to Shoot/Slice You II – It’s Straight-Up Dawg Time”. This game was born by an off-hand comment on a messageboard and by trying to belittle the common “hardcore” game the user cuyahoga has ended up inspiring one!

After creating that title as a way of mocking the “mature” games, cuyahoga inspired the popular gaming forum Neogaf into an idea frenzy. Users began to speculate on what the game might be, what Dudebro looked like, how the game played until it was decided they would make it into a real game. (check out the full story here)

Not only was Dudebro created in Social Media, the creators are using a variety of social tools to make the game. Right now the team is creating design docs using Google docs, using a Wiki to share information on the game, Youtube is being used for users to audition for voice parts or share their Dudebro music, there are Twitter and Facebook pages, there is even a Cafepress to purchase DudeBro Merchandise.

The game, regardless of final quality, will be a great triumph for the hundreds of Neogaf users that have come together to create something. It is inspiring to see a group of people using the power of social media to find all the creators they need to make the game work. What is an important take away is that although the final game may not be as grand and impressive as a retail game, these guys are already using Social Media tools in a far better way then the majority of their professional peers.

I think big developers and companies could learn a lot from how these guys are using Social Media. It isn’t just about setting up a Twitter and Facebook for marketing, they are using tools for internal communication and collaboration. These tools are not just for the community managers and digital marketers they are for everyone! Start looking for communication problems and opportunities in your business (be they internal or external) and start experimenting with social tools and see how they can enhance the things you are already doing.

I look forward to seeing how Dudebro turns out later this year

5 of the best Social Media stories of the week as chosen by the Qubites. Also 5 of the rest aka “Things MC Hammer says you can touch”.

5 of the best

Google’s Privacy Principles

There are times when I worry about how much Google knows about me. They know all of my web history, my conversations, my personal blogging…the list goes on. On the one hand I can see how it creates better results for me (in both the paid and natural results) as well as providing me with plenty of highly useful services for free. How much should our privacy cost though and how much are you willing to give up? This video calms me a little that Google is thinking about these things and says they will let me remove private information when I choose, but is this enough?

UK Internet Map (as featured on the BBC’s Virtual Revolution)

The BBC’s new show on the virtual revolution had an amazing 3D diagram of how Internet traffic flows in the UK. Here you can see it in all its 2D glory and realise that maybe cyberspace isn’t as big as we think, or at least for all its size we visit a few websites very often and the many websites much less.

The State of the Internet

We love pretty graphs. Here is a collection of useful and interesting top level views of how people are using the Internet.

Five lessons from MyDavidCameron

My David Cameron is both a stab at political satire and interesting social experiment. I would recommend that everyone running social media campaigns reads the findings and see how they reflect their own experiences. I particularly like the “Crowd Sourcing is Good” and “Crowd Sourcing is Bad” section.

Government 2.0: Communication and Engagement Are On a Collision Course

Couldn’t agree more with the differences between communication and engagement strategies. There is a huge difference between using Twitter as an alternative to the phone or website and actually going out and engaging in conversations where members of the public are. Food for thought for any government officials.

5 of the rest

70-Minute Video Review of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

Any Star Wars fan (and Phantom Menace hater) should find 70 minutes to enjoy this beautiful, witty and spot on analysis of the Phantom Menace that shows how off-base Lucas really was.

Internet archaeologists find ruins of “Friendster” civilisation

Very funny and makes you wonder how long it is until something similar to this becomes reality. Maybe I should start trawling through the way back machine for similar findings, I wonder how Friends Reunited is getting on. Also this Onion video has me chuckling .

Ashen’s Tech Dump – Retro Games

The BBC are doing some great web comedy content. Short in length but not low in quality. This is a funny look into the “past”, They don’t make them like they used to!

The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” quotation marks

This is a very “Funny” series of photos

Currently “PR” is the weapon of choice with regards to companies getting information about their games online. This entails a series of press releases and interviews appearing on the biggest gaming websites which then filter down through the smaller sites and eventually into the communities.

This practice is only a slight evolution of the old PR model used when print was king. The aim was getting column inches in the biggest newspapers and magazines and bagging the much sought after magazine cover. PR stands for Public Relations but most of this sounds like Media Relations to me.

This old school way of doing things is fine in the most part. A lot of gaming enthusiasts visit these sites so it makes sense to target them first. If you do get a story on there the site’s influence and advocacy will add kudos to your brand’s reputation.

That is if you even manage to get your story onto those sites in any meaningful way. Ad-funded sites need as much web traffic as possible so your news story could be old news within minutes.

Old school PR doesn’t reach those gamers not on these websites, the mums buying Wii Fit, the kids pining for a Ben Ten game and it’s hard to imagine all of those Call of Duty sales exactly matching the web traffic of Gamespot and IGN. Finally this top down message is all one way traffic. How often do you see game companies commenting on their own news stories with more insight, correcting misinformation or just answering questions from the community.

Another Way?

Just because you are making a game does not mean IGN or Gamespot are your best bet for reaching the widest audience. Really work out what your game is about and who would like it, different communities have different common interests.

Try looking at smaller games communities with niche interests that match your product, look further afield at communities that aren’t all about videogames. You may find that Mumsnet is a better place to get information for your new fitness game to reach its target audience than any games website.

In all honesty that bit of the job is the easy part, making your PR actual relations with the public requires more time and care. Make the information relevant to them and actually talk about what it is you are trying to sell. When someone asks a question go answer it. Show that you care about your audience and build your online reputation.

Having conversations with the right people and communities is much more important than a one way message to be disseminated from on high. Use all the social media tools (forums, blogs, Twitter, Facebook etc) to have real interactions with the people that matter most – your customers!

As we are in the first month of 2010 I am still allowed to make a prediction for the year. I predict this year we will see social media become a big part of videogames.

Right now there are a few standout shining examples in a sea of lame attempts and auto tweeting options. I will highlight a couple of these fantastic communities designed to allow players to interact with each other and the game while away from their console.

Bungie.net

Bungie.net is probably the poster child for linking a game and web community into one experience. Bungie have created a space that brings players of the popular franchise Halo together, wherever they are.

The site allows you to see global stats such as how many people are playing online and where they are, but more importantly it acts as a better way to share information than the in-game interface.

Bungie.net is a great resource for finding and sharing user generated content. Users are constantly sharing and rating their favourite content to share their experiences and add content to other peoples.

Killzone.com

Killzone.com joins the gaming community of the highly rated, Playstation 3 game, Killzone 2 together. Killzone.com also offers similar levels of stat tracking, enabling you to see who the best players are in the world and what online tournaments are coming up.

The site also allows me to check out my own statistics away from the game. I can also quickly check which of my friends are online playing and compare my progress to theirs. Now my friends can rub in how much better they are in the pub and use their iPhones to prove it (please don’t do this.)

Why are they so important?

Creating a web based user interface allows for greater flexibility than a game interface where the user is confined to a controller. A browser combined with a keyboard and mouse is much better for interacting with large sets of data and information. The experience shouldn’t be completely separated from the game but should enhance the options already available to the player. It should also act as a window into the game’s community away from the console.

For example Bungie.net allows the user to search the Bungie community for user created maps. The user can then filter these by tag or rating until something takes their fancy, then with the press of a button the map is queued up ready to download the next time they turn on their console. That level of integration is vital for joining the web and console communities together.

Social networks, such as Facebook, already have huge pull for users, so rather than reinventing the wheel with an isolated gaming community these existing platforms should be enabled. On Bungie.net a user can share links to their own maps, videos and statistics across their other social networks. Being able to share a great moment of fun or a level you have found across your Facebook or Twitter makes more sense than just sharing it within the game’s own space.

This can also pull players back into the game as their friends highlight why the game is still fun and may even help to drive sales as potential players see their friends enjoying themselves and want to get involved.

The communities allow all of your activity to be linked together, so when I ask a question on the forums I can see if the answer I am getting is from a player who knows what’s what (ie how much has he played Killzone and is he any good.) The beauty of all this is it happens without need for user input, I don’t have to manually input my stats or tell the site who my Playstation friends are, it just pulls all that data in. Again linking any communities that exist outside the game as closely as possible to the in-game community needs to be done as tightly as possible.

The more ways you allow the players to interact with your game and their friends when they are not sitting in front of the TV, the more likely they are to keep coming back and playing it and therefore more likely they are to keep telling other people about it.

To Wrap Up

Those are just some of the features these community sites offer. There are a host of other communities developed around games (listed below.) I recommend you check some out and spend some time getting to know why they are so interesting and how you might make a better one! If you know any other good examples let me know in the comments.

Over the coming year I expect a lot more integration of videogames in other places, whether it is checking out your friends’ stats on the web or sharing your top score on Facebook. Gaming’s integration into social media isn’t going away. It is only going to get bigger and better.

Fifa (http://www.eafootballworld.com)

EA Skate (http://skatereel.ea.com/)

Spore (http://eu.spore.com/sporepedia/)

5 of the best

State of the Blogosphere 2009

As 2009 draws to a close what is the state of the Blogosphere and what have this years hot topics been?

Twitter needs to step up to the mark to protect children

How can Twitter do a better job to protect children from some of the dangers of online media?

Foursquare

This idea fascinates me, on its surface it is a way of finding where your friends are or getting people out for a meet up. Beneath this is a social game of reward points for doing certain activities (Going out to a club multiple nights of the week earns you a “Bender” achievement) and if you visit a place enough you become the “Mayor”. Slightly scared by the slant towards alcoholic venues…but the idea sounds really interesting. Online social networks are merging with where we are in the real world.

30+ Twitter Lists and 5000+ Twitter accounts worth following

Twitter lists are here! You can now group people together into a twitter list to share with everyone.. ok so its not that exciting but it could be really useful Here are a bunch of lists that might be worth following.

There is now a mobile device dedicated to Twitter. Why?

I guess this might be useful to someone? I do like that there are online enabled devices popping up that dont tie you in to a data plan (such as the Kindle). Although in this case it seems slightly over priced.

5 of the rest

Football Hero Looks Difficult, Totally Awesome

Sometimes….”Viral” videos are really clever Like this one.

Nathan Barley AKA Trashbat Soundboard

Not really for anyone who isn’t an Chris Morris fan….you might also want to look at the Alan Partridge soundboard, AHA!

PicTranslator: Snap and Understand

Turning a picture into words is clever, but even more clever when it translates the words! When I next go on holiday I will be asking for the local menu….to be smug and show off.

Site review: BBC Democracy Live

Seems like every week we are getting closer to gov2.0! A really well put together website from the BBC (It should be for £1m!!)

File-sharers are big spenders too

Perhaps the online piracy debate isn’t as black and white as some would have you believe?

Our 5 favourite Social Media stories from the past week and  5 other random things that may or may not be interesting.

5 of the best

LikeMinds Conference: Social Media is Not Free

A recent event on social media that addresses the common myth that “Social Media is free”

Q&A: First direct’s Lisa Wood on their social media campaign

I have always felt that bank have kept the Internet at arms length, they have slowly moved towards web based platforms and interactions. First Direct have taken a brave step into the world of online conversations. Showing positive and negative comments about their services and brand is something most businesses would be far to afraid to do, so kudos to First Direct.

Roll your own shortlinks server

I am not that technically gifted but this looks pretty straightforward. Once installed you can have your own url shortener like tiny url shame qu.be doesn’t seem to be available

Editors street view mashup

The music group Editors have launched an online campaign for their new album. Internet mash ups can be really interesting and it is cool to see how they have added their own secret routes to street maps while also streaming the music to you.

App combines maps & reviews to find meeting points

An iPhone app to help you and your friends arrive at the same meeting point. It can even help picking a meeting point that is suitable between you and the other person.

5 of the rest

Surfing the Net May Improve Brain Function

I knew all these years in front of my screen hadn’t been wasted! It’s making me smarterer!

10 Most Extraordinary Twitter Updates

Some of the most extraordinary twitter updates, it is amazing to see what the Internet has allowed us to do from saving lives to finding love.

Tampon Crafts for Christmas

The Internet has something for everyone I guess..

Mystery t-shirts are handpicked for customers

I am terrible at picking out clothes. Fortunately for me my girlfriend is my personal stylist..but for those of you less fortunate perhaps this will yield you a t-shirt that is “so you”.

World Of Goo Sale Offers Fascinating Results

I mentioned this game being on sale last week (it still it is you are interested). The results from their “pay what you like” sale are really interesting, yes some people got the game for essentially free but others paid way over the odds. It also boosted sales of the game on sites that didn’t even have the sale! Even more interesting is some of the responses from the survey 2D boy conducted on the sale. Fascinating stuff with some interesting lessons to learn.

Our 5 favourite social media stories from the past week and  5 other random things that may or may not be interesting. Also if you like it, Retweet now there’s a good boy/girl (delete as applicable).

5 of the best

Let’s Kill The CPM

A really great article that you should go and read now!

Done that? Good. my only slight problem is Shelby doesn’t offer enough solutions, but I will! Obviously I am talking about social media, passive advertising might generate big numbers but is it really creating advocates and giving you value for money? As people become more immune to the banners are your impression numbers even reflective of how many people are paying attention?

Gov 2.0 in action

I think government at large has been slow to keep up with the internet age. We need more information now with better levels of access. Movements like rewired state are giving us some really interesting projects, but we need more involvement from the top. Britain will get there, we just might need to follow America’s lead.

Fifa 10 and the smart media partnership

Games are starting to converge more with our social media and Fifa is using the game itself as way of building awareness and engagement. Users are sharing their experiences away from the game in social spaces, the videos just help to facilitate and create the conversations. On that note, what do you think about my sweet goal with Frank Lampard?

Sport England teams with Facebook to get people playing sport

I think this could be a great way to reach people and get involved with them about sport. Sport is such an important part of our society and it is nice that the powers that be realise that just because we like to spend time on the computer does not mean we don’t want to go out and play!

AskPeopleYouKnow.com

An interesting idea currently in its beta phase. I think it is worth keeping an eye on but for now I get my knowledge and recommendations from asking my connections on Twitter or Facebook.

5 of the rest

Charlie Brooker’s Gameswipe

Whether you are an avid gamer or not I think you will find some entertainment value in Charlie Brooker’s latest installment of his Wipe format. More of you than not should be interested as a recent survey says that 73% of the country are gamers!

Today Now! / Facebook, Twitter Revolutionizing How Parents Stalk Their College-Aged Kids

Fantastic satire from the Onion with a creepy underlying truth.

MacLane’s photostream

A really cool collection of geeky Lego models! I heart Wall-E and Optimus Prime. Also who doesn’t love Boba Fett?

A periodic table of visualization methods

If you ever need something visual to help you explain a concept or make some data more interesting check out this table! It is a little dry at face value but full of really great ideas.

People of Walmart

Oh internet you do seem to revel in finding the quirkiest and weirdest people in life. Check out this collection of Walmart shoppers and be glad you are not one of them (hopefully)

I spoke a couple of weeks ago about how games are becoming more integrated into our social networks. Then not much later one of Sony’s big Christmas games, Uncharted 2, showed how it was integrating Twitter. Firstly here is a screen shot of said feature and the original article that alerted me to it.

Source: Uncharted 2 features Twitter integration

My first thought was great! However that excitement quickly turned into fear. Twitter is inherently a broadcast medium but it also has an instant messaging quality to it. The problem with this integration of Twitter is that most of the tweets it spits out are inherently anti-social and begin to move towards spam. This could quickly become annoying to followers, especially those that are not interested in the game or games at all!

Obviously this is an optional feature and alerts can be turned on individually, but for me it largely misses the point. Tweeting when you have started playing the multiplayer or when you upload a cinema file has some social value to your followers but I find it unlikely that anyone would be interested in when I have completed level 3. Twitter integration needs to have value and not just supply you with automated announcements that, if they were really worthwhile you could do yourself.

Hopefully Twitter will start to allow for better filtering so that when a device is tweeting for someone it can be easily silenced. I would hate to have to un-follow an interesting person just because they chose to spam their stream with trivial game progress.

I am interested to see how social networks integration into games progresses and will be keeping a close eye on the results. What do you think? Is Twitter doomed to collapse under a weight of spamming applications?