Disqus - Latest Comments for justingibbs

Re: Yahoo!’s problem is that it never knew what it was

justingibbs — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:26:14 -0000

AOL is an interesting case, there is a lot of excitement there however I have never been impressed with their chances of pulling it off. I've read more than a few business books that explain how everyone from your receptionist to janitor should be able to repeat your business strategy. Sounds like AOL is on the right track and just might prove me wrong about their chances of a turnaround.

Re: Scripting News: Google vs iPhone and Facebook

justingibbs — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 11:36:31 -0000

Great post but I don't see Google's move to be social as the same as Microsoft trying to crush Netscape and embrace the web. Microsoft tried to leverage their empire to crush Netscape, to build a better browser and win that market. The steps I see Google are taking is to try and get social, not per se crush Facebook. Granted they would love to do that but that isn't their stated mission. They need to embrace social more and I think they're going to use games to get there. To date Facebook hasn't really embraced games, they don't want to become just a game network. Microsoft wanted to recreate Netscape's product while Google wants to get social and nullify Facebook, or just take them down a notch.

I think you're also discounting what all that hoopla did for Internet Explorer. Not only did they buy their way in they moved it just slightly into a marketing war. It isn't just about tech, it's a battle for people's minds - as Ries and Trout would say. And Facebook is way more consumer than Netscape ever was, so this time around I would expect marketing and positioning to play even more of a role.

Re: Mouse ears for me

justingibbs — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:09:38 -0000

Well The New York Times worded it as:

"The purchase continues Disney’s effort to strengthen and diversify its digital media portfolio by betting on casual Internet games, in contrast to more complex games for platforms like Xbox and PlayStation"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010...

Is that any better?

Re: Mouse ears for me

justingibbs — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:55:41 -0000

Thanks. Now all I have to do is see if these Mouse Ears fit.

Re: Will Apple pull an end-around Facebook with social games?

justingibbs — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:56:30 -0000

I would agree, Facebook is looking at what they think is the larger opportunity over just social games. However that might bite them in the ass eventually. You know the warning, don't try to be everything to everyone.

It does seem that the evolution of how we organize is moving to the social network, but that also brings up the fact that offline social networks are always in a state of flux. Coming together and then splintering into smaller groups. It seems everyone is coming together on Facebook today but tomorrow they might gravitate toward a more focused social game network.

Re: Google Buzz will nullify Facebook

justingibbs — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:24:45 -0000

Not panning out like I thought. Buzz has been pretty much a massive dud. But we'll see if Google can push it to a minor success. It's always nice that they built it using open data standards.

Re: “Don’t Make Me Think” for social games?

justingibbs — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:44:36 -0000

Great blog. Really looking forward to your book. There is a lot to learn about social games - it's pretty much a new audience with different needs and wants.

Re: “Don’t Make Me Think” for social games?

justingibbs — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:26:25 -0000

Agreed. The list has begun but I sure hope someone smarter than me beats me to the book.

Re: Social gamers aren’t looking for games

justingibbs — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:01:09 -0000

I never got to play Majestic but ARGs have always intrigued me. The seem ripe for the social media sites like Facebook and Twitter however I hear less and less about ARGs these days. Maybe that's just me though. They do present interesting issues outside of what traditional interactive dramas have faced:

* That Darn Conundrum - http://grandtextauto.org/20...
* Flawed Methods for Interactive Storytelling - http://www.erasmatazz.com/l...

Dan Hon wrote a great article about the issues affecting ARGs specifically, "Everything you know about ARGs is WRONG" - http://www.sixtostart.com/o...

Re: Google Buzz will nullify Facebook

justingibbs — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:46:38 -0000

Second Life has kind of become the de facto standard when it comes to non-kid virtual worlds. But that isn't saying much as that market is crashing - http://justingibbs.com/2009...

Google Buzz being a communication platform is very different. I expect it to creep up on you like Google Talk. It didn't replace Yahoo! Messenger but is an addition to it.

Re: The end of Virtual Worlds 1.0, now onto 2.0

justingibbs — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:16:37 -0000

And arguably Web 1.0 wasn't the first wave of the Web. Have to take a little liberty here. Sibley Verbeck did a great run down of the evolution of the industry at the 2008 Virtual Worlds conference. From MUDs to Lucasfilm's Habitat, to Second Life. I still hold that the widespread popularity of Second Life ushered in Virtual Worlds 1.0. It brought large scale media attention and investment - the same was true for Web 1.0 with AOL and Yahoo!

Re: Social gamers aren’t looking for games

justingibbs — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:12:25 -0000

Now we'll have to see if the social game industry feels the same way and integrates and/or experiments with story more. Traditionally the game industry hasn't held writers and writing talent in high esteem. Then again Playdom has a veteran of adventure games and interactive fiction as their VP of Game Design - Steve Meretzky.

Re: What’s Up With Virtual Worlds? [ANALYSIS]

justingibbs — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:09:45 -0000

Virtual worlds are for entertainment, Metaplace and the last wave of virtual worlds tried to be everything but that. They tried to be social networking platforms, a kind of 3D Facebook. However 3D isn't good for communication no matter how cool the technology is. They tried to be platform for creators or artists to express themselves - but few if any had the time to play with 3D tools, most can't even keep up a blog.

What these virtual worlds didn't do was create content that would attract users, that would allow them to enter a new world. They tried to create platforms for UGC, but no one cared. Outside of IMVU (which is more of 3D chat than a virtual world) and Second Life none have really succeeded outside of games and kids worlds. Games like WoW however create content, they create the entertainment. Maybe when the kids grow up they will usher in a new round of virtual worlds, but we'll have to wait a long time for that.

My guess is that we can expect the next wave of virtual world development to come from the social game developers.

The end of Virtual Worlds 1.0, now onto 2.0

Re: Why are movie based games failing?

justingibbs — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:18:20 -0000

I agree with you about the reasoning behind Avatar's success, but you have to give Cameron some credit for not just relying on special effects but cliche story lines. I don't know if it's his editing or maybe just the special effects but people fell for it with Titanic and now Avatar. I love your comparison to Jurassic Park. I expect in a year Avatar will hit the DVD shelves and get as good of a response as Titanic did - it sold well but was no where near the top 10 of DVDs ever sold. These are event movies, once it's over people look at them with critical eyes again. The Godfather has staying power.

As for using Disney theme park rides and Legos as source material for games, I would submit that they're more story worlds than specific stories. Story worlds give you a little more leeway. That said, Avatar creates quite an interesting world itself but one I think I would rather visit in person than play a game in. I would think LittleBigPlanet is a much more enjoyable world to visit in a video game.

Re: Addicted to Twitter? Brace Yourself for the Real-time Web

justingibbs — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:29:10 -0000

What about virtual characters - fake profiles powered by real people, by bots, or both? The real time web and social media make the web ripe for this type of exploitation. At it's best it can be Ms. Pac-Man on Twitter, at it's worst it's spam. In the future a small percent of the real time web we see will be generated by these virtual characters. The real time web happens too fast for good credibility checking, making it all the more tempting to attack with bulk - think of spamming good reviews for a movie opening.

Re: Google’s O3D and WebGL the next wave for virtual worlds?

justingibbs — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:57:43 -0000

I've had limited exposure to Torque3 and Unity. I really liked what I saw with Unity but it's my belief that they will be eclipsed by 3D in the browser - not because it's better but because of market dynamics. True you can't do the high end stuff with O3D but I think the developer community will more than make up for that with creativity, especially seeing how easy it will be to create mashups with other Internet services.

Add to that:
* Difficulty of getting people to download and install plug-ins
* The mass of Google getting behind O3D and WebGL
* Growth of netbooks and mobile devices
* O3D and WebGL are open source and accessible to novice programmers

Re: The future of virtual worlds is as an entertainment platform

justingibbs — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:33:48 -0000

I can't actually take credit for the term "mass amateurization", I got it from Clay Shirky's book "Here Comes Everybody - The Power of Organizing Without Organizations". The book actually goes into the very things you mention - increased noise, quality of content, etc. AsShirky writes, these are just things we'll have to cope with - like learning to live with spam.

On the flip side is the "power law", where the popular get more popular simply because they're popular.

In a way you're justifying exactly why someone would pay for the services Rezzable offers - building quality stuff and making sure it's seen. As you can attest to, none of this is easy and takes real skill. I don't know if I can say the same for amateur porn, however it's porn and it will probably sell. The same isn't true for amateur film or paintings.Qualilty takes skill and quality is what people are searching out for - that won't be changed by mass amateurization.

The stuff from Rezzable is usually far and beyond what amateurs are doing. The amateurs might add to the noise but users will eventually find the quality.

It's also great to see a company innovating in the name of entertainment.

Re: A billion to take on WoW, time for mass amateurization

justingibbs — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:57:53 -0000

I completely agree that Blizzard is doing everything right, that's the problem if you find yourself trying to compete with them. But as any businessman will tell you, you should think twice before taking an entrenched leader head on. My suggestion isn't to simply find where WoW isn't competing but to actually change up the business model while you're at it.

Re: Matt Griswold [dot] com

justingibbs — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:26:17 -0000

I agree, the goal isn't necessarily to make movies for specific audiences, it's finding efficiencies so that can be done. All too often people exaggerate the profit potential of a small audience or the chance of something crossing over to a larger audience. Really that’s just the hit strategy under a new name. Today it isn’t efficient to target smaller audiences with movies made specifically for them – that’s the problem. Find some efficiency though.

Re: How far is it from robotar to virtual character?

justingibbs — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:30:45 -0000

I would love to meet others who see the potential for intelligent virtual characters and narrative. Please tell me more.

And glad you liked the post.