QUESTION: Example of Move#5 In Online Games

I know for CounterStrike and StarCraft, users are able to download and edit maps for other users to play. Of course some are more popular than the other. But the benefit of this is that users will have more map choices to play with other than the ones developed the game developers.

I am perhaps old-fashioned but I used to play to Age of Empires and the first ones allowed you to create scenarii and to share it online. It was so much fun because you saw your own story unraveled. However, I don't think Microsoft games took advantage of this

I think The Sims and Second Life allow you to use open source and to use eachother's inventions. Also, in second life, you can create your own business and earn "Linden Dollars". Any member of Second Life may buy or use your service and pay you for it... so I guess, this is also evidence of Open Source, and a very successful one. Dui bu dui?

To show that the idea is quite old, I can mention that "Anno 1602", the first episode in a row of building up a township games, used this principle too. It was introduced in 1998.

@Florent: I think there is a huge advantage for the publisher. It is a lot of work to keep the fascination for a computer game alive. But when customers do it themselves and if there is a competition in creating maps and scenarios, it is the best advertisement ever. Players might look forward to the next episode to experience the new features of the latest version.

And as a second point, it is a great pool of ideas for the next episode of a game for the developers. So it is a good example for a long term profit, mentioned in the case.

I think that Second Life is a good example of that move. It is free to register and to create a character but you have to pay as soon as you enter the economic part of this fake life.
A lot of companies, Non-Governmental Organizations or political parties have used the platform, to promote ideas or sell stuffs.
It makes the Second Life world alive and elaborate but actually, I have no idea about the economic sustainability of this model.

I think that the little games on Facebook are good examples.
https://www.facebook.com/developers/

Facebook is giving an unprecedented amount of access to developers. The
API would allow developers to create Facebook games or applications on the web.

Facebook’s strategy is almost the polar opposite from MySpace. While
MySpace frets over third party widgets, alternatively shutting them
down or acquiring them, Facebook is now opening up its core functions
to all outside developers.

Spore is also great example of that. The game bases on creating your own species on your own planet, which you can upload to the web. Afterwords, if people vote that it is really cool or original or creative in some way, they decide to place you in their universe.

The same goes with directors - if they find your race interesting enough, they place it in their patch and becomes one of the basis for the world.


But this kind of"marketing" thing becomes more and more popular and its goal is to keep players as long as possible in front of the monitor. One of the most recent examples is The Witcher with its platform Djinni, which allowed the players to create their whole episodes of games with cut-scenes, dialogues and scenario. Although it is extremely difficult, it is also a lot of fun, so more creative players worked on that for long hours and later shared it with world community. Of course games producers website was the one where you can download it

A quick question, does Spore pay the creator after he takes the new race as one of the basis for the game? If not, that's a pretty good business I will say.

BartekWu wrote:Spore is also great example of that. The game bases on creating your own species on your own planet, which you can upload to the web. Afterwords, if people vote that it is really cool or original or creative in some way, they decide to place you in their universe.

The same goes with directors - if they find your race interesting enough, they place it in their patch and becomes one of the basis for the world.

The best example I can think of when it comes to open creation of characters and usability of them would be a game that I knew of back in olden days. When my older brother was in college, his roommates use to always play this game called Everquest.
In which you would create your own characters and build on them in a make belief world. I think similar to World of Warcraft? I never played, so not quite sure.

But thing that I found interesting was that his roommates were so devoted and extreme about it, they would just play for days on end. It got to the point when they basically failed college, and had to quit playing...what made this interesting was that, instead of just quitting, they posted their little characters on Ebay and was able to sell them for a pricing amount. I think somewhere in the thousands of dollars.

Pretty crazy.

Other great examples, are of course Apple and also Facebook.

I agree with others and say facebook is a great example of open innovation.

Half Life and even a great game called, Left 4 Dead have all been effected by this movement.

J

On Starshine, an online game, administrators allow players to encode the game, make graphism, write scenarios about the different people of the game. You can also post ideas about the new topic presented to share your point of view. Players also help to fix bugs when they appear in order to have a more reactive game.

Wow many example guys~

Company who adopts move #5 - allowing public developers to share their creations on an open domain but still maintaining control over the software and platform - has not only created a loyal based of customers, but also increased the playability of the games. As mentioned by one of the commentators of the Amp Up article, allowing people to share different versions of the same game extends its product life cycle. And I think it also has the added benefit of allowing the official developers to monitor what functions players desire. This type of customer involvement is the new trend applicable to many e-businesses, not just games.