(If this sign was in England, it would no longer read “Get Hooked”)
Zynga, the creator of casual social games on Facebook, was the talk of the digital scene when I was in California interviewing people about emerging trends in technology and media. When Jesse Schille gave this must-watch speech, Farmville, their biggest hit had more monthly players than Twitter had accounts. More people play Farmville than live in the UK or Germany; there are over 82m Farmville players, and her (yes, her) average age is 43.
Of course FarmVille isn’t the only Zynga game. They’ve also got FishVille, CafeWorld, Mafia Wars, PetVille and Zynga Poker. And Zynga isn’t the only developer of social casual games, there’s also Playdom, Playfish and others, all with similar, sometime very similar games.
I knew Farmville was big when I caught the bed and breakfast owner at the place I was staying in Wales playing whilst I was checking in, but I’d no idea how big. This isn’t a start-up: Zynga employ well over a thousand people.
Games have provided social glue for centuries. Growing up, I played games all the time: Risk, Escape from Colditz, Frustration, Sorry … we spent hours and hours playing games. Recently a colleague introduced me to Settlers of Catan and my joy of board games was refounded. But until recently computer games have, for the most part, lacked this social element. Simple Flash games like Farmville have reminded us of games’ role as a social lubricant. Farmville is the new bingo.
How will this industry develop? Even Zynga admitted they didn’t know. Will folk still be playing Farmville in 10 year’s time, or will we see users grow bored of old titles and migrate onto new ones. Only time will tell.
One of the most interesting aspects of these games is their economics. They might be free to play, but make no mistake: these businesses are taking in cash. One interviewee talked about the colleague who’d spent $200 on fuel for his Farmville tractor. Interestingly you don’t even need to pay cash to buy these virtual goods: Zynga (controversially) lets users earn credit for signing up to offers and special deals with third parties. Why not if users want to keep playing for free, as long as the terms of those offers are explicit?
Children playing these games face the barrier that you still tend to need a card to pay online, which they can’t get. I was pointed to another controversial service, Kwedit, which attempts to solve this. Stephen Colbert lampooned their service for introducing kids to credit on his TV show.
Another fascinating company I found in this space is Virtual Greats, who aim to bring high value copyrighted material from celebrities and luxury brands into virtual worlds and social networks.
Social gaming felt like the biggest goldmine in SIlicon Valley right now. I’d heard about the games, but not realised just how important or big they were. I’d read about the ScamVille accusations, but failed to appreciate how well respected Zynga is for executing brilliantly on ideas that have borrowed heavily from others. Passing fad? I don’t think so: game playing is as old as the hills.
