Harnessing the Internet

The internet can be a dark, dark place. Behind a laptop screen users can pose as whoever they please, and act however they choose. Underneath the appearance of organization the websites and networks we build, the internet is in a state on anarchy. That doesn't have to be a bad thing. Sure, a mistake can spread like wildfire, but so can the praises of your company. Though they may not be an independent studio, Valve is an exemplary example of how a video game developer can hardness the internet to bolster their reputation.



Valve does two things better than the others, and that is listen and interact. Through out the development of Left 4 Dead 2, Valve faced a boycott from a handful of consumers who thought that the sequel should be released as free downloadable content. When photos of the founders of the boycott visiting Valve headquarters hit the internet, it was followed quickly by another story.

Traitors

A screen shot appeared of an email conversation between Gabe Newell of Valve and the head of a mod being developed for Left 4 Dead Joe W-A of Brisbane Australia. Joe is apparently a friend of Newell’s, but he asked why he wasn’t invited to visit Valve headquarters as well. Newell responded with “We are boycotting your campaign”. This caused the gaming press to explode with headlines like “Gabe Newell Boycotting L4D Modder’s Campaign”.

When Joe W-A asked if that meant he could fly Newell to Australia, in a reversal to what Newell did for the L4D2 boycotters, Newell responded “Me and Erik.” Stories spread about how Joe W-A was taking donations to fly Newell and Erik to Australia. He called Newell’s bluff, and soon had $3,000AUS in his support; enough to fly Newell and Erik to Australia.



What made for such great news on the behalf of Valve was the constant chatter on forums and in comments about the boycott by Valve, the donations, and if Newell would really visit. It appears he really will, and another round on news is spreading, keeping Valve in the spotlight. No one expected the co-founder of a developer as big as Valve to go through with it, but with the internet watching him, Newell knew it was an opportunity for some fantastic press.

Recently, a fan developed a fake “class update” for Valve’s Team Fortress 2. Conversation quickly whipped up about the update, and if it was really going to be included in the game.

Real or Fake? Valve wants to keep wondering.

Valve found it so entertaining that they included it on the game’s blog as a fake update to the game. They fed into the controversy, and more debates popped up throughout the TF2 fan base.

Valve is really harnessing the daily conversations that their consumers are having on a daily basis, and using them to their advantage. Not only are they using them, but they are doing so very publically, showing their fans that they really are listening to them.

6 Facebook Tips for Indie Video Game Developers

If social media seems like a shakey place to business, and you're ringing the alarm on the metrics bell, perhaps this will sway you. Today, The Neilsen Company and Facebook announced they are teaming up to create new tools to measure the effects of social media. Do I have you? Good. Now that you can be sure that social media is getting a few measurements in the same vein as television, and other more "trusted" forms of media, what are you going to do with it? You'll have all the stats and numbers you want, but what will you do? How will you use Facebook? More than 10 million users become fans of Pages each day, and some of them will want your product. That's more than twice the population of Norway

This, multiplied by two.

Perhaps more than numbers, these tips will get you off the ground:

1. Make a Facebook Fan Page, NOT a Facebook Group
A Facebook Fan Page allows you present yourself in a way that a Facebook Group cannot. You can post onto the wall of your Fan Page as the entity of your company itself. Updates made this way will make it into the News Feed of your fans, whereas they would not in a Facebook Group. Fan Pages also give tools to analyze how your fans are interacting with you. This can be helpful when considering what type of content to update with. What are your fans interacting with? Go from there.

2. Have conversations
This sounds simple, but gamers aren't going to be having genuine conversations with larger development studios. You're much closer to them, so use that to your advantage. Your Facebook wall isn't a place where you can just go when you're having a bad day and read up on all the praise your adoring fans are giving you. Meaningfully interact with them and listen to what they're saying. Help them when they need it, but also, just respond. Dejobaan Games responded to a string of comments from a blog via Youtube and garnered an incredible amount of coverage.




3. Supply content

As mentioned in the previous post, Nintendo has almost gone a year without an update to their Facebook fan page. Your fans will want value. They want a reason to become a fan of your game or studio. If they just wanted to let their friends know that they like your game, they would just put it in their interests. Facebook Fan Pages allow rich media and links to be posted to the walls, and then show up in fan's News Feed, keeping you at the front of their minds. Give them the inside scoop before anyone else.

Not a good example.

4. Make your team administrators
If you trust them to behave, make members of your development team administrators of your Facebook Fan Page. This will allow them to update the Fan Page as well, increasing content, and variety. You may not be able check your wall as often as you like, but with more people attending to it, your fans will recieve more content and be engaged in more conversation.

5. Remember to plug it!
If you already have a blog, website, Twitter, ModDB account (great indie community, by the way), remember to plug your Facebook page! Put it at the end of your blog entries, on your homepage, in your press releases, and point people who have questions to it. There's no rule saying you cannot mention Facebook on Twitter, and vice-versa. Expose yourselves (in a good way) as much as possible. Only users who are actively searching you out, or are suggested your Fan Page, will find you on Facebook. Spread out, and gather everyone who are reading your Tweets, blog, and news articles in one place, your Fan Page.


6. Look to others
Always keep your eyes open. You may see great ideas from other companies that you could employ yourself, or see ideas you could improve. Keep your eyes and ears open for those opportunities.

Mario and Madmen

After 21 years of waiting, the moons aligned, and this summer I was able to merge my passions:

No, not flying children with laser guns and a slightly overrated Bravo show (I said it). Finally I was allowed to merge video and computer games with marketing. An independent developer took me on as an intern and suddenly I was an insider. One non-disclosure agreement later the Tweets were flying and the Facebook page was rocking. I loved it, and that's where this all started.

The video game industry is notorious, in my opinion, of throwing a game out into the open, relying on reviews of their game, swag, and their ability to YELL AT YOU to carry them through. They don't listen! One not-to-be-named developer claimed their only source of press was through reviews of their game. Well, you can imagine where their product went.

I was shocked as kept the Twitter account Tweeting and the Facebook page updated that I saw and heard of so few video game developer utilizing social media. Gamers are and enormous community! Like almost everyone community, they are using social media!

One company that tapped into that community was Ubisoft with Assassin's Creed 2. Instead of just YELLING AT their Twitter followers, they created a game on Twitter. They game them something to do. Twitter followers would be given a "target", another follower, and be charged with assassinating them with a #hashtag. By doing this, followers were given items to be redeemed when the game is released. They added value to their brand through social media.

Many social media efforts just happen, and then stop. Over 56% of marketers say they will include social media in their plans for 2010, but how many of those efforts will be properly utilized? The Nintendo Wii, the most financially successful current generation home console, has a fan page on Facebook that was last updated November of 2008. The Nintendo Corporation fan page has not been updated since April of 2008! Why would I bother with either of these social media efforts? Nothing of value is gained from the consumer's point of view.

Instead of just jawing in the ear of their consumers, Ubisoft gave them a reason to follow them, made social media fun, and gave their Tweets value. That's what we all want, right? Something in return.