Social Game Design: Monetization Methods and Mechanics

by Tim Fields

"Social Game Design" reveals what you need to know in order to create and monetize online social games. Using examples from successful game designs, you'll learn what makes these games compelling, and why people will pay to play them. This book will inspire you to apply these principles in order to meet the challenges of this new space, creating original games that both delight players and generate profit. We'll talk about different business models, how to acquire and keep players, how to sell virtual goods, and how to keep players coming back day after day.
With Social Game Design, you'll:

Discover how and why a social game design makes money, using real-world examples, including Farmville, Empires & Allies, Ravenwood Fair, League of Legends, Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, Pocket Legends, Words With Friends, World of Warcraft, and more.

Gain insight in a collection of interviews with industry professionals from Zynga, Microsoft, Spacetime, OMGPop, and other top companies.

Get inspired to create your own unique game

Learn how to launch profitable games and harvest user analytics to make them even better.

Genres: Game Design, Business, Games

ebook

First published September 1, 2011

Reviews

[Ahmed Elsherbiny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book almost discussed all aspects of social games and how they are different from traditional games. Authors talk about how social networks changed the way games are designed. Don't forget to mention that social games getting new games into the industry, they are played by much broader base of users compared to traditional games that is played by male young geeks. They discuss monetization techniques and how social games are going to get money from players and increasing popularity of free-to-play games. However to monetize your game you need first to acquire players and try to keep them playing, some strategies and discussion can also be found in the book. Also they show important games metrics which are important to measure social games; due to the fact that social games are. Played online let games designers and developers possibility to check and measure player's interaction with the game and give them opportunity to change the game instantly according to players' reactions instead of waiting for next version of the game.

One of the things I liked most is interviewing social gaming figures, it clarifies concepts. They are enjoying and inspiring.

It was interesting to read this book, it's written in easy language and authors tried to not assume much background by reader that let the book easy to read and follow even for people outside gaming industry or even out of computer industry. Flow of the book is good and logical. Some ideas and concepts can be applied on other social products. I enjoyed the book and I can recommend it to anyone interested in games, social networks or marketing.

[Joseph Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

More interesting than I anticipated. Touches on a wide swath of social game design. Currently seems to be limited to the most popular end of the spectrum, not really touching on smaller developers. Interviews are interesting and varied.

[Jascha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book is like having a long conversation with a veteran of the game industry: enjoyable and plenty of insights. So if you are looking for a 360 degrees overview of the social game industry, go on and get this book, you’ll get through those 200 pages with pleasure. If, on the contrary, you are interested in something more technical, then as you get to the back cover of this title, you will feel some bad taste in your mouth.

I’ve been suggested this book. Working in the game industry, I have already been exposed since day one to its rules and acronyms and I was merely interested in a title that focused on KPIs. This title marginally touch the subject, even if it’s about monetization.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a pleasant book to read that, in my case, didn’t really get me any real value. I simply had the wrong expectations from it, maybe driven by the title, which could have been different, indeed.

The authors describe the many concepts that anyone into social games must know, starting with a history lesson about how the industry evolved from text based adventures to MMORPGs and games asynchronously played on the major social networks and/or on mobile devices.

This approach is used throughout the eleven chapters: all the topics are introduced first as they were in the past, when solo playing was the rule; then as they are now, in a world where everyone is connected and playing together.

Among them, I have particularly enjoyed those about the power of competition and cooperation, as well as the desire to show off success and vanity goods. The importance to quickly adapt, through A/B testing, to a fast moving cruel industry where hundreds of competitors are ready to get a piece of your cake is constantly highlighted.

There are a couple of things that I’ve particularly liked about this book: the first is that the authors often accompany the concepts with real world examples of companies and games and how they were able to exploit this or that social feature. The second detail that I have really loved is the interview with some legend of the game industry that you find at the end of each chapter. These interviews usually take up some good 4 to 5 pages and are a great mix of wisdom learned from the past and vision of the present/future of the industry.

So, this title is a good up to date read, as long as you are not expecting to get some formula or technical details about monetization. A pleasure to read.

As usual, you can find more reviews on my personal blog: http://books.lostinmalloc.com. Feel free to pass by and share your thoughts!

[Zack Hiwiller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full of good throwaway stats, but utterly depressing in that it treats gameplay as irrelevant and users as only important insofar as how much money can be extracted from them or how many people they can invite in order to extract money from. Great for mercenaries.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are planning to develop a social game then this is the book to read

[Mattd1980 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting however, waste too much time on what should be obvious concepts to anyone bothering to read a book on this subject.