[arg_discuss] ***POSSIBLE SPAM*** Re: Casual/Hardcore

[Brooke Thompson]

It's interesting that you're mixing activity level (Hardcore & Casual) with
interest level (story, code solving). In my experience those are two
different scales. I wrote it up a bit more in whitepaper, but essentially
you've got people that are interested in different aspects - the story, the
puzzle solving, the community, etc and each of those may have a different
level of commitment (they also intermingle - a story person may be deeply
invested in the community and enjoy some puzzles or a puzzle solver may
check in only once a week in order to see if there's any cool new puzzle to
play with, as two of many examples).

It's difficult, but fun, to balance a game for various types of players and
varying commitment levels and not all games have to be all things to all
people. You can minimize some aspects in order to focus on more specific
design goals and player types - Vanishing Point, which was very friendly to
a casual audience, updated on a fairly rigid schedule and minimized the
story in favor of puzzles and live events with great success or Eldritch
Errors, which embraces a more hardcore audience, updates very frequently and
irregularly and minimized puzzles while focusing on story and interaction.
The communities that played these games were quite different but for those
that got involved the games are equally fulfilling.





> -----Original Message-----

> From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org]

> On Behalf Of Kristian Leth Fiktion

> Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 10:59 AM

> To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG

> Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] ***POSSIBLE SPAM*** Re: Casual/Hardcore

> 

> I think it's a very interesting challenge. We're actually working with

> three different player profiles. Hardcore, Adventure and Casual. Our

> Casual players are the players who only drop by every once in a while to

> see a cool clip or get a whiff of the experience, while the Adventure

> players are in it for the story, read all the blogs but rarely crack a

> difficult code.

> 

> The funny thing is that the hardcore users are actually the ones who

> propel the puzzle solving part of the game, while the majority watches or

> throws in an idea every once in a while.

> 

> I think we have to create content for all layers. Since the Casual users

> (the ones that only drop by once or every once in a while) by far

> outnumber the Hardcore and even the Adventure players, we could tap into a

> much larger audience if we also have content that is readily accessible

> (think youtube clips and standalone web 2.0 items) and makes them come

> back for more.

> 

> 

> --

> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> ------------------

> Kristian Leth