While reading The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by Malcolm Gladwell, I saw several applications to the kind of persistent, mobile games I'm talking about designing.
The Stickiness Factor
If you paid careful attention to the structure and format of your material, you could dramatically enhance stickiness. (110)
Game designers over the years have designed a high percentage of their games as experiences players take in for hours at a time until the game is done. At that point, players leave the game looking for another. The rise of MMOs over the last several years has emphasized another play style: play for hours at a time, but never finish. However, there is a growing fear among players that these sorts of games take too much time. These players are unlikely to even begin playing an MMO. However, MMOs lead the game industry in accommodating varied play styles, so it makes sense that they attempt to provide a compelling experience for players who can't afford much time. I'm avoiding the word casual to describe these players, since it's a nebulous term that evokes many different assumptions.
Many of the game experiences available to players with limited time also have limited depth. Games like Tetris are great, but they do not capture the kinds of experiences players can get from an MMO. When I'm riding a bus, if Tetris is the only game available to me, I'll play it. Or maybe I'll just read or listen to music. Regardless, my thought process is, "I have some free time; how could I fill it?" That's not sticky thinking. I want to design games that provoke this thought process: "I'm really looking forward to the next time I have five minutes free so I can check in on my game. And, if I have half an hour, I can get even more involved."
Connected, persistent, mobile games can allow for and encourage stickiness because they're there when you're thinking about them, whenever that is. It's important that the game world be persistent, because there is an allure in wondering what happened in the game world while you've been away. It's like how I used to look forward to getting e-mail before I started getting too much e-mail. I looked forward to the social contact, the meaning contained within, and the surprise (generally not knowing who would write when about what). E-mail was highly sticky. Now I've become partially immune to the stickiness of the e-mail epidemic, as my hopeful anticipation of each message turned a bit to dread of the endless assaults on my time.
The Law of the Few - Connectors, Mavens, Salesmen
Mobile games, or games with mobile components, are much easier to market virally. Unlike PC and console games which players generally use at home, at least in The States, players frequently consume mobile games outside of the home. This puts players in the vicinity of friends, coworkers, and strangers while playing, making connections between players and non-players much more frequent and probable. Additionally, players are likely to be mavens of whatever game they're playing. And, players effectively act as salesmen to everyone nearby as they silently advertise, "Look how I'm choosing to spend my time and money." Any emotion players show while playing may spark curiosity in nearby observers: "What's he getting so worked up about? I want to see that."
It's a small step to imagine the game incenting players to recruit new people to the game: "For every player you bring in, your team's ranks and resources expand." If the observer and player are friends, the player will feel comfortable enough to ask the observer to join the game, and the observer will want to do a favor for the player as well as satisfy her own curiosity about the game. Let's say the player does convince the observer to join the game. Now, whenever the two of them see each other, they will probably discuss the game as a convenient and relevant conversation starter. This not only strengthens both of their bonds to the game, which now functions as a social lubricant, but their interaction makes the game that much more intriguing to additional observers (especially if they play together in public).
How to make a 5-minute contribution to a persistent, moving game
Great topic Dan.. An interesting question that your model raises is -- what are the ways that the game will allow meaningful, effective contributions from a 5-minute drop-in play?
How will the design allow that 5-minute player to be the core important player, rather than a marginal player who will have a limited set of options available? Do you think you can have a rewarding play experience in an MMO now with primarily 5 minute drop ins?