Since I have been back from Casual Connect Europe in Hamburg I have had wacky dreams.  Maybe a bit of jet lag induced.

Here is a dream I had last night.  EA (Electronic Arts – ERTS) gathered a bunch of Maxis alumni to discuss reviving old Maxis IP to help the EA bottom line in 2010. For the meeting, EA re-opened the old 2121 N. California office.  The execs were a mix of old and new: JR, Probst, Braun, and even Sam Poole!  The alums were all of the gang from back in the day, working on stuff that got canned after the acquisition of Maxis by EA.  Games like Sim Mars, The Mindwarp, SimBee, Sim Castle, and the Elliot Portwood titles.

Sim Mars and Castle art

So there was lots of deliberation, digging through the vaults, and the Maxis team and EA execs found the perfect games to update and revive.  We talked about what it would take to refresh them, and how to make them hits in today’s market.  The game concepts, themes, designs, branding, gameplay and everything about the GAMES were ideal to make lots of money for ERTS shareholders.

So, it was settled.  Great games were planned.  QED.  Ship it. 

Not quite.  Then, the EA execs start arguing. 

 - “Jewelcase, cardboard, or DVD Box?”.
 - “When can we book a retail endcap?”
 - “Is this feature list text to long to fit on a game package?”
 - “What is the CoGs for CD versus DVD?”.
 - “Is our key retailer shelf allotment booked through 2011?”.
 - “Has the price of oil driven up delivery costs?”

Then the EA execs turned to me and asked: “Rick, what do you think? Given all these concerns, is it still worth producing these games?”

And I said, “Don’t ask me.  All my games have been digitally distributed for the past ten years”.

I am proud to announce our latest game is almost ready to ship.  The game is a puzzler called Fours of NatureTM.  It rounds out current PC puzzle game offerings with a different mechanic, but classic casual play.

Here at iQ212, we are taking some steps to enhance the premium nature of our new title.  Though it is ready now, we are holding it back for a 90 day “premium window” where it will not be sold anywhere so it cannot be exploited by game portals.  After which we will launch on parity across all services.  Also, when it does launch, rather than sell the full game for $19.95, we are going to break it up into 60 levels over 60 days that cost $6.99 each.   The increased exposure from having a NEW game a day for 2 months, and the 21X return we will get from players buying all chapters rather than $20 once, will reap us huge dividends.  Plus, tying up 2 months of  “new game a day” slots will lock out the competition.  

Nothing is set in stone regarding our launch and pricing plans, so if the market changes, we can adapt as needed.  If you are interested in Fours of Nature for your game portal, let us know.  BTW, we might increase the ”premium window” where the game unavailable to up to 180 days just to keep the premium profit margins intact.

Last night was another of the incredible game-biz gatherings known as the Minna Mingle.  Jessica Tams and the Casual Games Association do a terrific job putting these events together, and bringing together people who love games.  It is nice to hang out and chat casually, without the overhead of powerpoint presentations, invoices, or term sheets.  I do have a criticism of the lecture content from the panel of experts.

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE!
This Mingle started with an hour lecture on Social and Community Games billed as The world as I see it: five minutes from ten social gaming virtuosos. It featured comments from such proven, venerable game authorities as Zynga, SGN, Gaia, “Bret”, MySpace, and Ooga.  Added together, those companies have almost 10 years in the games business.  Each company rep got to speak extemporaneously for 5 minutes on social games.  Most talked about the waves of VC cash, how the sector was set to explode, tricking users into playing, how this is just like -but Bigger than- the Dot-Com days, and how important it is to make horrible games that cater to the lowest common denominator.  In 60 minutes, the panel of game experts NEVER USED THE F WORD!!!

WHAT THE F#&%?!?
Once again, in 60 minutes, a panel of ten experts on how to make great social and community games never used the word FUN.  The lone outlier was Sean Clark of EA/Pogo, who did stress the importance of quality gameplay for building social networks.  One big diff is that Pogo actually owns their community, rather than piggybacking on others.  His heresy was countered by several others who said the best way to make a social game is to rip off Mob/Mafia/Gang Wars and reskin it with a different theme.

So the takeaway is that the game companies that have sprung up to capitalize on the popularity of Facebook and MySpace are not really game companies.  They are marketing companies that are building/buying/borrowing an audience to flip before the buzz fades.  They (notable exceptions are Kongregate and Pogo) use off the shelf web tools to borrow a segment of another company’s userbase.  Where is the long term value in IP, infastructure, and subscriber community?  Where is the FUN?

Original, fun, creative, addicting, innovative, well produced, beautifully designed, rewarding, compelling.  It is all that.  Congrats to the team at 2DBoy on this terrific game.  You gotta play World of Goo. 

I read the mobile content news site moconews.net every day and finally had a chance to contribute.  The T-mobile Google Android phone launch party was in SF on Tues, and I was around to take pics and write a report for Moconews.  Check it out: http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-hundreds-form-line-in-san-francisco-for-t-mobile-g1-event/ 

Emoticons^TM won a NAPPA award for being a family friendly game with appeal for parents and kids.  Our mobile publisher Konami submitted Emoticons to NAPPA and we were selected for an award.  It is pretty cool that folks dig the game.  We must have done something right, as our sales are growing month over month.  We knew going in that good puzzle games will have evergreen shelf-life and a long tail.

Here is a quote about the award: “The National Parenting Publications Awards is the most comprehensive awards program for children’s products and parenting resources. NAPPA’s independent panel of judges evaluate hundreds of submissions to select the most appealing, fun, safe, educational, age-appropriate and enduring products.”

iQ212 is excited about the award, the great work Konami has done to publish the mobile game, and the future of our Emoticons franchise.

Friend of iQ212, and Mayor of Mobile John Szeder provided a sound bite for an ABC7 TV story on Google’s Android from CTIA yesterday.  The mobile space is fortunate to have such a knowledgable and eloquent ambassador as Mayor Szeder, and one that commands the attention of the media.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/business&id=6383640 

Though, I like Leon Atkinson’s take on Android as pure posturing by Google to disrupt the mobile market.

In 1990, sociologist Ray Oldenburg put forth the notion of the “Third Place”.  Places are the anchors of a person’s life and socialization.  The first place is Home, the second is Work, and the Third Place is a neutral, social setting for friends, community, and interaction.  Examples of third places are Pubs, Malls, and Starbucks.

It is now commonly accepted that online communities can be someone’s Third Place.  Facebook, chatrooms, Second Life, and Pogo.com all offer real-time, social, friendship, connections of Cheers or Central Perk.

For balance, people need all three Places.  But what about people who don’t have a second place?  There are people have Home, and a social Third Place (real or online), but lack the escape and reward of the Second Place.  Many of these people turn to Casual Games as their Second Place.

Housewives, telecommuters, retirees and the unemployed all miss out on the Second Place.  It is no coincidence that these groups also account for the majority of Casual Game players.   Casual Games are the ultimate Second Place.  If the activities in the games were real, they would be the best jobs on earth:  Bright, cheery, repetitive, rewarding, encouraging, and strong advancement potential.  Globe trotting in Jewel Quest; running a restaurant in Diner Dash; setting trends in Jojo’s Fashion Show; finding clues and solving mysteries in Hidden Object games.  All these games offer an escape from the isolations and frustrations of being at home all day. 

There is no badge for doing laundry, or level up for paying bills.  No trophy for watching Oprah.  The Second Place usually has timecards, measurable objectives, and rewards for a job well done.  Casual games offer their players the clock, meter, focus, reward, and advancement that are missing from their daily lives. 

As casual game creators, we can tap into the notion of our games as a Second Place to make them even more appealing, sticky, and fun.  Whether the game is about delivering pizza or sorting flowers, it should play and feel like the greatest job on earth.  Playfirst has tapped into this.  From the thousand foot level, Flo has a crappy job, dealing with grumpy customers and bussing dirty dishes.  But, the game plays out like a Dream job, with objectives, success, recognition, reward and advancement on every turn.  As you sit in your cubicle reading this (much like the pre-Diner frustrated Flo), wouldn’t you want YOUR second place to be Flo’s in DinerDash?

As casual game business people, we can really learn from this, and Pogo (and Facebook, and Yahoo).  The Holy Grail is to merge the Second and Third Places.  Merging fun, rewarding and repetitive yet engaging games with friends and communication is what Pogo started 10 years ago.  Pogo even kicks it up a notch by offering real rewards like cash and prizes, on top of the virtual and psychological rewards.  Facebook is a terrific online Third Place, but keep an eye on the casual games there, and the folks who play them.  Those lacking a traditional second place will come to check notifications, but stay for hours to play.  As facebook skews older, more people will rely on it for their Second and Third Places.

This logic applies to bricks and mortar as well.  By extending the scope and services of an establishment from Third Place into Second, by blurring those lines, a business can become more vital, and more profitable.  Customers come for a sip and a chat, and then stay (and spend) for hours.  In these cases, playing games makes customers feel productive and less idle, as they relax and lounge.  For ages, bars and pubs have had pinball, arcade and casino machines. Starbucks offers wifi connections, ostensibly for professionals to work while they sip.  But with the increase in portable networked devices, my money is on Starbuck’s casual gamers overtaking the telecommuters.  Nolan Bushnell (of Atari fame) has mastered the concept of extending the Third Place.  First for families with Chuck E. Cheese’s, (working really hard to earn prize tickets that are not worth much; welcome to Second Place, kids!) and now updates it with his uWink Bistros, which are pub/restaurants with networked game terminals at every seat.

While mass-market games are for everybody, Casual games have come to be defined by a single demographic (Women 35-54).   They play up to 40 hours a week.  They put in overtime to reach a goal or badge.   They appreciate the reward and accomplishments bestowed on them in-game.  They take their games seriously.   For most of our casual game players, it is their career, and we need to recognize and reward that to keep them from finding a new Second Place.