Should everything be a game?

I'd like to disagree on this comment. Just because Foursquare and Facebook are integrating and building game mechanics does not mean every online community and brand/company site need to jump on the band wagon.

Here's my analogy: Social media, oh it's so great. It worked for Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, blogger sites, etc. Many companies, such as Google, saw this as a major opportunity to better engage and interact with their audience. Look what happened there with Google Buzz. Google I love you, but sorry that was an epic fail.

Gabe Zichermann, who is the CEO of startup beamME, argues that "fun is good and that game mechanics will find their way into all sorts of products and businesses." He suggests the following:

Facebook should incorporate a popularity game so users can more easily gauge their social graph. The game is to encourage to add more friends - ("add two more friends to beat Sam's score"). Users would be awarded when they connect and add more friends.. Are you serious?! This is exactly why MySpace has become loser-land, because people add non-friends, strangers..all of which are potentially creeps. Facebook is about connecting with people you actually know, not random people so that you seem more popular.

Amazon - Zichermann's concept to integrate a virtual library within Amazon, so that you can share books that you have read w/ your friends. This is interesting. Often times, I will either ask my friends to send me a book list, which they never get to OR I mentally take note of a book name and later forget. A virtual library seems perfectly appropriate in this instance, as many people do visit Amazon to seek out reviews for best sellers for purchase.

Fedex - the idea "to connect your social graph to your shipments, letting you see your en route packages on a game board relate to your friends. You could "talk smack" to friends whose packages were sent via ground (or USPS)" This is a stretch for me. I have enough games on my iPhone as is, in addition to all the endless game requests on Facebook. Moreover, I don't need to find Fedex entertaining. I visit Fedex simply to track my delivery estimate, status, get my information and go. I don't need to waste more time there.. need I say more?

Following the trend seems like a smart move and definitely tempting , however you really need to analyze, take a step back and look at your business critically. Before you jump to conclusion and make a rash decision -- What is your main purpose, goal, and who are you servicing? Think twice. Not all consumers would appreciate you force feeding, moreover adding distraction to the service they expect to receive.

Cheers!

Reference: How to make Facebook, Fedex, and Amazon More Fun

Learn to speak English in 8D World

Currently in China, English training schools is a vast growing market. Aside from English classes required in the public education, parents are also sending their children to training schools around the country, which costs about $700. English is the hottest subject, and everyone wants to play part in it. 


In order to meet demands, a startup called 8D World, based in Massachusetts came up with the idea of a virtual world, Wiz World Online for Chinese-speaking kids who want to learn English. This platform will be used by CCTV's English competition for training and the competition and be promoted to millions of Chinese viewers.




so where's the catch? 8D World integrates education with the gaming industry. This is basically an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game), except that 8D's model allows you to learn English in this virtual world. Each player or student has an avatar and may interact w/ each other in English. In order to level up and earn more points, players will need to be able to pronounce words properly through a microphone. The software is subscription based at about $20/month and $160/year, which is alot less compared to the tuition at training schools. 8D has also created partnerships with about 1,500 of the training schools who will help resell Wiz World subscriptions and get a rev-share. What a great revenue model! 


Since the game players in this virtual world is exclusive to the Chinese only -- now the Chinese government has one less thing to worry about their people getting corrupted by foreign ideas/thoughts. I wonder if conversations and content within this game will be censored as well, either by the government or the creators.. haha.. 


SIMS - couldn't you have thought of this idea earlier??!?!??!