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User Experiences in Social Games
1. Gaming, Communicating, Sharing Users and their Experiences in Social Games Janne Paavilainen Project Manager Game Research Lab, University of Tampere, Finland BETA
2. Content Presenting tentative results from in-depth interviews with Facebook users, who play or have played social games. What is their perception on social games, motivations to play, reasons for frustration, look on sociability, fanatism, and attitudes towards paying micropayments for content. Scratching the surface of social games experiences. Be vary, this is not based on metrics and people tend to lie to themselves, and to others, all the time.
3. Game Research Lab Based in University of Tampere, Finland Found in 2002 Lead by Professor Frans Mäyrä About 15 researchers in various projects Close co-operation with industry partners http://gamelab.uta.fi
4. SoPlay Research Project SoPlay, a two year research project which studies play and games in social media, started in Jan 2009. Buzzword is social playability. Especially from the perspective of design and evaluation We’re looking both implicit and explicit forms of games and play social web. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, Forums, IRC… Current research focus is in Facebook games. http://soplayproject.wordpress.com DEADLINE 31.12.2010
5. SoPlay Research Project The goal is to produce theories and tools for both researchers and game designers What are good qualities of social games? What is social playability? What is the role of sociability in online money games? The research scope is both wide and narrow, theoretical and practical So far SoPlay has been mostly qualititative research
6. SoPlay Research Team Professor Frans Mäyrä Scientific Leader Janne Paavilainen Project Manager Usability, playability and user experience in social games Jaakko Stenros Researcher The border between game and ordinary life Jani Kinnunen Researcher New forms of gambling and social money games
8. SoPlay Research Analysing social web, keeping an eye for play Examining current social games Workshops in co-operation with industry partners Workshops with end users Co-operation with department students Doing surveys and interviews Building theories and practical tools like heuristics Releasing publications and giving presentations
9. Publications and Presentations I Critical Review on Video Game Evaluation Heuristics: Social Games Perspective (2010) Paavilainen, J. Future Play 2010. Vancouver, Canada. Playing the System. Using Frame Analysis to Understand Online Play (2010) Stenros, J. Future Play 2010. Vancouver, Canada. The Many Faces of Sociability and Social Play in Games (2009) Stenros, J., Paavilainen, J. & Mäyrä, F. MindTrek. Tampere, Finland. Expert Review Method in Game Evaluations: Comparison of Two Playability Heuristic Sets (2009) Korhonen, H., Paavilainen, J. & Saarenpää, H. MindTrek. Tampere, Finland. Social Interaction in Games (2010). Stenros, J., Paavilainen, J. & Mäyrä, F. In Sotamaa, Lugmayr, Franssila, Näränen, Vanhala (Eds.) ACM Academic MindTrek 2009: Everyday Life in the Ubiquitous Era. International Journal of Arts and Technology (in process). Comparing Two Playability Heuristic Sets with Expert Review Method - A Case Study of Mobile Game Evaluation (2010) Paavilainen, J., Korhonen, H. & Saarenpää, H. In Lugmayr, Franssila, Näränen, Sotamaa & Vanhala (Eds.) Media in the Ubiquitous Era: Ambient, Social and Gaming Media, IGI Global (in process).
10. Publications and Presentations II Playful Money and Games in the Internet (2010) Kinnunen, J. ACS Crossroads Conference. Hong Kong. Verkkorahapelaamisen muodonmuutos (2010) Kinnunen, J. Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos (THL), Raportti 12/2010. Helsinki. (trans. Transformation of Online Gambling ) Verkkopelit sosiaalisena toimintaympäristönä (2010) Kinnunen, J. In Meriranta, M. (Ed.). 2010. Mediakasvatuksen käsikirja. Unipress, Kuopio. (trans. Networked Games as Social Environment ) Interconnectedness of Gambling and On-Line Communities (2009) Kinnunen, J. NAGS 19th Annual Conference. Canberra, Australia. Player Experiences in and Around Social On-Line Gambling (2009) Kinnunen, J. 14th International Conference of Gambling and Risk Taking. Lake Tahoe, USA. Towards Social Internet Gambling? (2009) Kinnunen, J. The Big Picture, Gambling in Perspective. 7th Conference of SNSUS. Helsinki, Finland.
11. What Are “Social Games”? ( ) Fun social interaction toys? Games and play on social media/web 2.0? Games on social networking services? Game products on services
12. Players of Social Games Social games have probably the widest possible audience, Facebook featuring over 400 million users. Every month, more than 70% of Facebook users engage with platform applications. New demographics, newcomers, people who have their first video gaming experiences with FarmVille. Nothing new though, ”widest possible” audience was already seen in mobile games as 350 million people carried snake in their mobile phone according to Nokia, however, it was not very social nor viral.
13. SoPlay Interviews We had a five web page survey with 134 respondents. Questions on usage and attitudes on social media. Games, play, sociability, money, using web... The web survey was used to screen interesting individuals for in-depth interviews. We interviewed 18 survey participants and we are planning to interview few more. Tentative interview results are presented, focusing on the experiences from Facebook games.
14. Interviewees 14 males, 4 females. Age varied between 22 – 47 years old (AVG ~ 31,1). Both early adapters and newcomers. Varied gaming histories and experiences. Casual, core, hardcore and non-gamers. Different attitudes towards gaming. All are active Facebook users and all have encountered social games in some shape or form.
15. Nine Different Gamer Mentalities Kallio, K-P., Mäyrä, F. & Kaipainen, K. Forthcoming . At least nine ways to play: approaching gamer mentalities . Games and Culture. Committed Entertainment Committed Immersion Committed Fun Casual Relaxation Casual Filling gaps Casual Killing time Social For company Social With mates Social With children
16. Play Experiences in Social Games Casual - Small games, casual games i.e Bejeweled Blitz, Tetris and like, short play sessions. Core - Basic random FarmVille player, not much commitment to the game but plays it from time to time, the role of the game is more important than with the casuals, probably not going to pay, unless the game would be really, really cool. Hardcore - Fanatic on one game or maybe two, these might become whales, they might consider paying for the game but there are still obstacles.
53. Interviewee Quote ”… There is this social side, that the kids go and see what has been coming up and then they come and tell me...” Interviewee #16 Happy Habitat (ZipZapPlay 2009)
58. Interviewee Quote ”… So yea I get home drunk at 4 A.M. and found out that my plants are dead, I almost started to cry… I woke up my boyfriend and forced him to plow the fields for me… He was like WTF!?” Interviewee #17 How do I plow fields?!
65. Interviewee Quote ”… I buy a lot of music impulsively, sometimes I might not even listen to the songs that I’ve bought” Interviewee #10
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67. Some Notes Due the heterogenous population of Facebook gamers, there are vast array of different experiences. Simplicity helps to start the game, but repetition leads to boredom and quitting the game, as the mechanics tend to stay the same. Two main motivators for play, friend or game itself. Friends play a big role in acquiring new games, some friends are valued more than others, their recommendations (and play) values more.
68. Some Notes When friends start quitting the game, it starts to feel boring to oneself also. Especially if the focus was in social interaction and not in the game. Newcomers don’t see themselves as gamers, although they might put a lot of effort into Facebook games. The way one perceives requests and other spam is probably related to their attitude of using Facebook in general: serious or playful.
69. Some Notes Meanwhile as the newcomers get eventually tired of their first game experiences, traditional core gamers are waiting for more complex Facebook games Facebook games are getting more complex, see the evlolution from biting vampires, mafia wars, farmers and the new frontier of Facebook gaming. Traditional core gamers would like to see Facebook as a platform for ”real games” like World of Warcraft and Quake Live or perhaps classic retro games like UFO and Master of Orion.
70. Some Notes The market reach for social network games is large, so there is probably various niche markets for more ambitious games. Social aspects will become more important in traditional video games also, Facebook/Twitter connections, integration will flourish. How to sort and share relevant information as currently it is not very intelligent at the moment.
