"Candy Smash legend" and other mobile games can not form a community culture and game "soul"

"Candy Smash legend" and other mobile games, although popular, but can not form a community culture and game "soul"

TechCrunch, an American science and technology blogger, said in a Sunday article that mobile gaming has become the most popular game category in the world, but it is far from forming the cultural atmosphere of host and PC games, which can be described as "scale and no soul". But with the continued development of the field, this cultural trend is inevitable.

The following is the full text of the article:

Traditional games don't lose heat

Ryan Davis (Ryan Davis), who had just been married, died suddenly this week at the age of 34. His identity is a journalist, podcast (video sharing) and gaming information site giant Bomb. A lot of people know him because he's the host of Giant Bombcast, one of the hottest game podcasts in the world today.

Although his departure was regrettable, it also produced some positive effects, highlighting the support he received throughout the gaming community. For example, a blog post announcing his death attracted more than 6,800 comments. The news also ranked third on Twitter's popular topic list. Many fans send flowers and set up a mourning page to express their grief.

It also makes me rethink how powerful the game culture is. Through a series of websites such as Giant Bomb, the gaming community has launched a comprehensive dialogue. They add a richer element to the gaming experience, help players find meaningful games, and provide a channel for digging up content.

This channel is of great importance within the gaming industry. Many independent games have found their fans, and the reports are very personal. Like music magazines, game sites can connect game developers to players in a form of indirect conversation.

It also helps shape opinion leaders. Like any medium, individuality is a vital element in the game culture. The writer for the feeling of the game, so that players can establish a rare emotional contact with the game, and this is precisely the major brands struggling to pursue. While major studios often believe that teams are more important than individuals, representing people is still critical. Thanks to the heat of the media, especially the various discussions they often took part in, Criff Brzezinski (Cliff Bleszinski) and others became big-name game designers.

Even in the form of games that many people think are about to perish, there is a lot of visceral activity. For example, the retro game website moves against the tide, retains many old games. While most TechCrunch readers believe that PCs are older than disco, the most active game site, rock monitors shotgun, still focuses on PC games, and the boom remains. Game media plays a very important role in the process of building culture.

Mobile games are in the cold

However, this does not apply to all game forms.

Most sites are focused on host or PC games, and their readers are users of gaming networks such as steam, Xbox live and PSN, and will be thinking about these products. While acknowledging some developments in the field of mobile gaming, they have not embraced such content in full.

As a new form of gaming, the number of mobile and tablet gamers is much higher than traditional games, but oddly enough, the media have little to say about it. There are no influential figures, no one introduces the cultural elements, and no one attracts a large number of followers.

Instead, the main drivers of the mobile gaming industry are the Facebook algorithm and the editorial recommendation team at Apple's App store. The success or failure of a game is often tied to marketing costs (a lot of money can be made on the list, and so on), and being seen by players is crucial to success.

This way can not satisfy people's desire to explore. Blogs such as Touch Arcade and Pocket Gamer will also recommend mobile games, but they usually don't get away with the industry's overall focus. The reason for this is that the only way to attract readers, if you want to create a user-focused mobile gaming blog, seems a little too idealistic.

Their discussions focused on commercialization, statistical indicators, user retention rates, business models and case studies, and cultural discussions (evaluations, previews, interviews, criticisms, etc.) were largely non-existent. Compared to other game modes, the number of players in mobile and tablet gaming is much lower, and most valuable discussions revolve around "free games." Such a topic unfolds.

Mobile gaming has almost no personality at all. Few people know who the developer of "You Draw Me guess" (Draw something). The recent success of the "Dots" developers are also little known, their game has been downloaded at least 3 million times, I have been unknown.

Finally, there are cultural problems. The player is extremely apt to indulge in "Candy Smash Legend" (Candy Crush Saga). In the industry's view, this is a master-level work, including how to attract users, how to plan the process, and how to make money from players. The success of this star product is remarkable. However, although the game's revenue is frequently seen in major commercial media, and even attracted many mainstream media coverage, but giant bomb, Kotaku and Penny Arcade and other sites are rarely discussed in this game. Why? Because they have nothing to say. For them, it was just another game similar to the Jewel Bejeweled, which led to their story without a soul at all. Bejeweled

Cultural atmosphere has yet to be accumulated

I have asked recently: has the development of mobile games been a bottleneck? Is this process-driven business not as successful as it was? It is inevitable that the role of such channels has begun to wane, as various advertising channels are flooded with extremely similar products. Stagnation in development, users are difficult to find, the list of pressure will follow.

This is not to say that the mobile game is dead, it is far from extinction. Instead, the game will become more and more complex, and the dialogue between the game and the player will be increasingly important.

In addition, potential reporting differences will emerge, with writers likely to talk about mobile games like traditional games, pushing up the personal appeal of mobile game designers, and giving mobile games the same publicity effects as other games.

Differences may stem from a discussion of the culture of mobile games, making funny videos for mobile games, exploring their impact and meaning, interviewing developers and even writing feature articles. But there will be less discussion of business models or processes, but more focus on products and their producers. In addition, those that are a bit quirky but have a first-rate level of mobile games will gradually emerge to attract gamers who crave a certain depth. All these will uphold the principle of good faith to start.

In any direction, as today's largest game area, mobile gaming is indeed the time to form a cultural atmosphere with other games.