[Update] GCO 2010 – Social Games

[Update 9.7.] Es gab gestern eine ganze Reihe von (ARD-)Medienanfragen zum Thema „Social Games“; ich hatte einen Kurzauftritt in der 12-Uhr-Tagesschau und es gab auch ein Interview für die Tagesthemen, doch das hat wohl nicht mehr in den Beitrag gepasst. Dafür ist auf tagesschau.de ein ausführliches Interview erschienen.

Heute nachmittag werde ich nach Leipzig aufbrechen, um die nächsten Tage bei der „Games Convention Online“ zu verbringen. Wie letztes Jahr schon ist auch 2010 das Hans-Bredow-Institut – und hier insbesondere unser Forschungs- und Transferzentrum Digitale Spiele und Onlinewelten – der wissenschaftliche Kooperationspartner.

Konkret heisst das, dass wir insgesamt vier „Business Talks“ organisieren, die unter dem Oberthema „Social Games“ stehen – darunter sind solche Onlinespiele zu verstehen, die auf Netzwerkplattformen wie Facebook, MySpace oder studiVZ integriert sind. Die Themen und Referenten unserer Slots:

• Am Do (14 – 16 Uhr) haben wir zwei Vorträge im Slot „Why social gaming is so much fun. Users, Motives and Motivationals“. Zunächst spricht Janne Paavilainen (University of Tampere) über „Gaming, communicating, sharing – Users and their experiences in social games“, gefolgt von Ben Kirman (University of Lincoln), der zu „Playful clusters – Motivations and resulting social structures in social gaming“ referiert.
• Am Fr (11-13 Uhr) gibt es die Session „Persuading the user by design. Mechanisms, Tweaks and Social Principles to Get the Player Playing“, in der Staffan Björk (Chalmers University of Technology & Interactive Institute) zu  „Principles and patterns of social games – Where’s the difference compared to other games?“ sowie Aki Järvinen (Digital Chocolate Ltd) über „Metrics, Aesthetics, Design – Game design and social network integration“ sprechen werden.
• Am Samstag (10-12 Uhr) schließlich widmen wir uns dem Thema „Casually Social? On the interdependency between Social and Casual Games“, mit Vorträgen von Valentina Rao (Utrecht University) zu „Casual social games for serious social purposes“ sowie Julian Kücklich zum Thema „The Death of the Game Designer“

Und direkt zum Auftakt (Do 11-13) habe ich die Freude, die Podiumsdiskussion zum Thema „Still the same game!? Implications of social networks and games growing together“ zu moderieren. Teilnehmen werden Antony Pearce (TeePee Games), Axel Toelke (VZnet Netzwerke, Ltd.), Mickey Maher (Sometrics), Nils-Holger Henning (Bigpoint) sowie Thomas Jarzombek (MdB CDU/CSU). Hier einige der Fragen, die ich gerne mit den Referenten und dem Publikum diskutieren möchte?

• How would you sum up the development and current state of social games, in three to five sentences?
• Although there are many social games, it still seems that the game mechanics are pretty similar, focussing on rather short episodes but trying to motivate people to return to the game often. If that is correct – is there any room for innovative game design or even digital story-telling in social games? Or is the development rather market-driven?
• The VZ Netzwerke are focussing on german / german-speaking users – is there a specific „german“ market for social games, either due to language or due to cultural differences? Or is the social games market global?
• There have been lots of political debates on digital games over the last years. Are social games part of these debates or are they still flying under the political radar? Are there questions that should be addressed politically in this context?
• We often talk about the „battle“ between game companies and network platform providers, the one providing the game content, the other the infrastructure and access to the players. What is your take on this constellation, and would you say that there is room for other „players“?
• How do you see the constellation of „classical“ off-the-shelves-games, browser games and social games? Coexistence, or will one genre outpace or encompass the others?
• Do you see models or projects where social games and user-generated content converge, for example with innovative forms of modding social games?
• In Germany there has been a debate about computer games as „Kulturgut“, as part of culture (as in high culture or pop culture). Is this true for social games as well? Might social games even be consideres „art“?
• One of the factors helping to improve the image of digital games was that the potential for learning was recognized over the years. How do you see the connection between social gaming and serious games or game-based learning?
• What are the „long trajectories“ you project for the next 5 to 10 years? Either technologically, or with respect to the market constellations, or with respect to innovative forms of gameplay?