The principles of midcore games success. Part 3: Sociality

I started my gaming career back at the time when Facebook was the main platform for casual games. Then I thought that social mechanics are exactly the same as viral mechanics - the levers with which developers return old players to the game and attract new ones. And how wonderful it is that both the main platform and my views have changed.


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Immediately I will remind you about the first and second part of the translations of the beautiful Misha Katkov ( Michail Katkoff ).

Receptions, when the game forces people to log in via Facebook and send a ton of invitations and messages to the tape, still work. However, you wonder how these mechanics are powerless for midcore games. Therefore, instead of describing the K-factor and virality, we will discuss real social mechanics. I mean the mechanics that diversify the gameplay, enrich the experience of the player and make the game more alive.

Cooperation

Playing with each other is what makes a truly social game - at least create the illusion that it can be done. I would say that social mechanics should strengthen retention first. As I wrote in the previous post, withholding in general consists of progress. The player must feel that he is developing. However, progress is a subjective assessment of the player. For example, I played a couple of weeks in some kind of game and it already seems to me that I am quite experienced. But here comes a couple of people who play for several months, and you realize that you are still a noob.

Therefore, developers solve the problem of measuring progress with the help of social mechanics. Players can not compare their own and someone else's progress while playing together. And such a comparison leads to two different feelings. First, the players who are behind, will definitely want to catch up ahead. Secondly, developed players will feel satisfied with themselves and, at the same time, will motivate this feeling of not losing.

Most importantly, do not forget that the mechanics of cooperation should work right in the game - where players are most easily drawn. And, of course, cooperation mechanics should reward both players.

Example: Puzzle & Dragons

Every time a player enters a dungeon, he is forced to ask another player for help. And when they clean up the dungeon together, they may well become friends. Helping friends give you more buddy points that are used to get monsters out of the machine.

Puzzle & Dragons relies on a single social piece: Helper. No chat, no PvP, no personal messages and guilds. Even there is no connection with social networks. However, every time a player enters a dungeon, he needs an Assistant. Because of this, players send each other an incredible amount of invitations to friends. And all thanks to a single simple solution.


^{P & D helper mechanics follow the golden rule of social mechanics. It allows players to collaborate on a win-win model. And of course, it allows players to show off in front of other players.}

As we have already found out, the player is forced to choose his assistant - a monster of another player. Moreover, each time a player uses a helper monster, the owner of the monster gets his friend points . These points are used in the Machine to get new monsters. And the more often the user enters the game, the higher the chance that his monster will be chosen as an assistant. Thus, who comes to the game more often, he has more points.

The player can add a host monster assistant in friends, after stripping the dungeon. Moreover, an infinite number of friends can not be - it all depends on the level. In this case, the game awards the user, who calls on the help of monsters of friends, points of a friend and gives the skill of the Leader, which increases the damage of the monsters of the user. You also need to make a reservation that the use of monsters of friends is very critical. A player can use a monster once per friend session. That is, to re-call a friend’s assistant, you must wait until a friend logs out and logs back.

In short, the social mechanics of P & D motivate the player to enter the game, to progress, because the stronger his monster, the more often he is called upon to help, the more often he gets friendly points and new monsters.

And most importantly, all this mechanics should be inside the game, where the player wants to draw, to show all that is. I mean this whole process with a monster, with a demonstration of his power, this is a showdown of pure water. And, of course, the game rewards both sides. The owner of the monster - extra points. Player - help in the passage of the dungeon.

Example: Clash of Clans

Few people know how the mechanics of reinforcements in the CoC. As soon as a player joins the clan, he can request reinforcements and send him to other players. Reinforcements help both in defense and in attack. And, despite the simplicity of mechanics, this is one of the most powerful pieces I've ever seen.


^{Sending reinforcements to SOS is one of the most powerful social mechanics that I have seen.}

The game does not have a certain number of reinforcements, which the player must send, for example, a week. There are no bonuses to those who send a lot, and there is no punishment for those who do not send at all. However, nothing takes the attention of the players. The game simply allows players to collaborate and communicate, allows them to create rules themselves. If we recall that a player can be expelled from a clan, the strength of these rules becomes enormous.

In practice, this translates into the fact that as soon as a player joins the clan, he is forced to constantly send reinforcements. Active clans seek to determine the number of reinforcements that each member must send per week. If a clan member does not cope with the task and has no reasonable reason, he will be expelled from the clan. You need to understand that all this only strengthens the hold. The player is not only forced to constantly send reinforcements, but also to constantly evolve, because the clan needs more and more strong reinforcements.


^{The ability to track who and how many reinforcements sent, turned this mechanic into a competition.}

Reinforcements with might and main support the basic cycle of the game and require constant development from the player, and therefore this is such a powerful force for monetization. Every month there are updates with new troops and levels of development of these troops. And, as you remember, clans demand the best units for reinforcements. Therefore, the player seeks to buy the missing resources and accelerators to complete the upgrade units. Plus, everyone sees who first sent a new unit to reinforcements, which puts such a player on a social pedestal and hastens everyone else.

Clash of Clans - like P & D - follows the golden rule of social mechanics. Sending reinforcement to another player is, in a sense, window dressing, because the player can boast the level of his troops and, of course, his generosity. Plus, both participants receive buns, one in the form of enhanced defense and attack, the other in the form of increased status.

Competition

There is another great way to give players a chance to compare their development - to arrange a competition for them. But the main problem of developers is that they want to draw players into the competition too soon. In my opinion, the best way is to let the novice enjoy the game, then let him make friends and learn to cooperate, and only then allow him to compete.

Generally speaking, there are two types of competition: one-on-one competition, or one-on-one competition, and group competition, respectively, team-to-team. The most important thing in creating a competition is that player communication should be a fundamental part.

Leaderboard

If you want to highlight the top players, then there is a great tool for this - the leaderboard. Simply place the players in the order of their progress or how they look compared to other players. This will affect a very small proportion of players, but those who are affected will be strongly motivated to climb to the top and will be grateful for the opportunity to show off.


^{A group leaderboard — for example, as in CoC — is a great example of a very simple way to extend the effect of a regular leaderboard.}

The next logical step is to create a group leaderboard. Not only does such a move affect a large proportion of players, it also motivates them to form groups. With all this, the group table simply forces each team member to give one hundred percent, otherwise there will be no result. Plus, add to all this different ways of direct communication: group chat and personal messages and you will receive a powerful pressure tool. A strong player will be publicly praised, and a lagging player will be kicked. All this encourages the development, retention, basic cycle and, ultimately, monetization.

Guild war

Guild warfare is pretty simple. This is a kind of temporary event between the two groups, which occurs at the behest of the players. The result of this event is reflected in the leaderboard, and it gives a very powerful social effect. After all, the pressure of clan members has not gone anywhere - they will still praise active and curse passive players.


^{Holivary in the Rage of Bahamut is a big battle in which the Order can take part. Battle, where in a short period of time one order fights with another. Holivar begins when the head of the Order declares war. The enemy is chosen randomly and the reminders of the battle will be sent to all members of the Order.}

In addition to its temporary nature, guild war is different from the leaderboard by the nominations system, which is over-motivating several players. The guild may nominate some players as leaders, target leaders, attacking and defensive leaders, and so on. Under these conditions, the guild will perform more efficiently, thanks to these several players who will lead their team to over-score.

Raids

In essence, raids are very similar to guild wars, as they unite a group of people against a common enemy for a certain time. But raids also differ from war in two things. First, raids are PvE missions. Secondly, because of the game against AI, some kind of story is often played out in raids, which is very lacking in the war of guilds. Plus, the raid usually rewards particularly active players.



It seems Kixeye brought the mechanics of the raids to perfection. In all online games of this company, raids occur periodically in which players are awarded for their activity. For participation in the raid also issued unique units and parts. And yes, raids are advertised very powerfully, take a look at the video above. It shows how the raid will affect the game, and what story it will tell.

Just don't push them

Yes, yes, many believe that I am wrong. Like, social mechanics is, in fact, measurable virality, where all the chips are aimed at achieving the desired return volume and new installations. For these people, X invitations in the ribbon are turned into Y installations.

And yet, my experience suggests that these meaningless mechanics do not work in the long run. Nobody argues, of course, they will reach a couple of peaks in the metric, only then it will be necessary to generate more and more invitations for one new installation. All this leads to endless requesting and inviting chips, which impair the player's experience and interfere with retention.

All that I ask, follow a very simple rule. In the beginning, let the player play alone, Let him enjoy, feel the taste of the game. And then proceed to socialization. After all, he already knows and loves the game, wants to play with friends. It is then that you go out with your social mechanics, but so far only with those who promote cooperation. And as soon as the player has learned to cooperate, immediately offer him and compete.

After all, social mechanics are simply an amazing long-term retention tool.