Chapter 7 Social Entertainment

As stated previously in my introduction blog entry that I like to play game, I am a causal gamer. According to my career, I don’t think I will become a hardcore game since it requires time and effort. I own PlayStation 3, Nintendo’s Wii, and Nintendo DS. While I own all these game platforms, I prefer to play game in my iPad. The primary use of my PSP is movies and shows through Netflix and Amazon Prime. I use Nintendo DS for my brain game and my Wii for exercise.

Personally, I prefer to play board game. I like strategy games the most. I don’t mind playing role-playing games. After you read Chapter 7, I hope you realize that game is quite addicted. With the advent of technology and Internet, social games have become a powerful marketing and merchandising tool.

I wonder whether you have played any game. If you have played a lot of social games, have you ever notice any marketing elements that have incorporated into the game design such as display ads, static ads, and product placement.  Therefore, for this chapter, you can choose one of the three following choices.

I.  Social Game:

1.     Choose a game to play either online, game platform, social media, or through mobile device. You can find your own game or pick one of the following games:

a.     Simulation games:

                                               i.     Farmville - http://zynga.com/game/farmville-two

                                              ii.     Castleville- https://company.zynga.com/games/castleville

b.     Action game: 

                                               i.     Tanki Online- http://www.miniclip.com/games/tanki-online/en/#t-c-a-C

c.      Role-playing game:

                                               i.     Sinjid - http://armorgames.com/play/13549/sinjid

d.     Strategy game:

                                               i.     Kingdom Rush - http://kingdomrush.com/play/

                                              ii.     Kingdom Rush Frontiers- http://armorgames.com/play/15717/kingdom-rush-frontiers

2.     Play for couple levels. As you interact with the game, keep a journal of your experience. In particular, note the advertising and branded components and your reactions to them. How does your experience affect your attitude toward the brands?

II. Choose three people you know who play social games. Interview them about the time they spend online play social games. Have they responded to branded offers? Then, write a blog entry on their brand experience in social games and their resulting perceptions of the brand.

III. Visit unification.com or argn.com to see what ARGs are playing now. Explore one of the current games.  Write a blog entry about the analysis of the game similar to Byte to Bucks in pages 159-161, and whether or not the game is associated with a brand (or it is a dark play ARG, with the brand yet to be identified. Also, make a list of non-entertainment brands that could use an ARG to tell their story and immerse their brand fans.