作者：Aki Järvinen

游戏SNODS（游戏邦注：全称“社交网络在线防御小组”）展现出如何利用Twitter社交动态并在你周围构建出某种社交图标的精巧解决方案。游戏邦编译了Aki Järvinen对游戏的分析，并观察如何将这些解决方案运用到普通社交网络游戏中的做法。

SNODS研究：游戏设计特点

首先，让我们简要浏览SNODS有趣的特色和游戏设计的精巧之处。

游戏机制和目标

首先，在SNODS（游戏邦注：本游戏由Itch开发）中将其他Twitter用户当作俘虏，每个玩家刚开始都有6个俘虏。玩家获取的这些俘虏每小时都会带来收入。其他玩家可能会尝试劫持我的俘虏，但我也有机会立即重新捕获他们。劫持的动机在于俘虏每个小时的收入产量与他们在Twitterverse上的状态有关，也就是与他们拥有的追随者数量有关。SNOD将他们分为海中的浮游生物、小型鱼、鱼类和鲸鱼。

游戏动机

SNODS是款让玩家留在站点的游戏，但有某些新增的内容。与Facebook游戏《Parking Wars》类似，在SNODS中玩家是否登录站点会影响游戏的结果。如果玩家不在站点或Twitter之上，就有可能失去俘虏或直接失去金钱的危险，因为其他人可以尝试从玩家处盗取。玩家可以购买警卫防止此类事情发生。而且，玩家可以决定将某些有价值的俘虏单独监禁，这会减少别人劫持的可能性。但需要注意的是，单独监禁的俘虏不会产生收入。

SNODS

等级结构

《Mafia Wars》、《140 Mafia》和其他无数流行社交网络游戏中，等级结构分明而且牵涉到不同任务和升级的可能性。任务代表着不同的游戏玩法，从总体上来说，等级结构似乎是无穷无尽的。从他人处盗取金钱和俘虏让玩家与他人处于敌对状态。然而，这款游戏中没有《Parking Wars》的gotcha元素，即玩家逮住非法停车的其他玩家后可以给他开罚单。

游戏诉求持续时间

然而，SNODS至少在理论上可以让玩家不同程度地在游戏中付出时间。硬核玩家可以用独特的游戏机制指挥他人，而像我之类的休闲玩家也可以有自己的玩法，不必深入探究错综复杂的系统。然而需要指出的是，到现在为止我玩游戏已有一周的时间，感觉游戏不再新鲜。其他玩家并没有盗取我的俘虏，因为他们可能在游戏中并没有足够的吸引力。有些人从我这里盗取金钱，但我还不至于落于下风。然而，SNODS吸引我的时间还是比《Spymaster》之类的游戏要长。因为游戏中融入了战略上的观点，我觉得这些较为有趣，这与硬核游戏的机制很相像。换句话说，游戏的可玩性更强。

盈利

如果玩家花14.95美元购买三个月的订阅计划，SNODS将让玩家成为“特别代理商”。付费玩家升级的速度更快，资源获得量增加50%，购买升级可以打折，而且可以捕获更多的俘虏。

产生的问题

《Spymaster》让Twitter游戏设计的问题显现，许多非Twitter用户蜂拥而至。有趣的是，正是这款游戏引发关注Twitter缺乏过滤选项的激烈讨论。SNODS的开发者提前对泛滥问题做出预防措施，游戏没有像《Spymaster》那样获得关注。然而，游戏也显示控制层面问题。而这引发了Twitter游戏的社会接纳性问题，尤其当其涉及某些自有追随者群体便显得尤为敏感。

Spymaster

进行中的工作：Twitter游戏设计准则

根据我对SNODS和上述其他Twitter游戏的分析，我得出某些游戏设计准则的实验性成果。这些准则仍在完善中，但我认为它们对制作社交网络游戏时会有所帮助。

基于时间的风险和奖励

游戏的访问和再访问或者登录与否是个不只典型社交网络在利用的动态行为，也可将其融入游戏设计中，因为风险奖励结构可以联系此来构建。这也为好奇思维提供支持，而好奇正是游戏相关思维的基础。就我的经验来说，好奇是让玩家感到游戏有趣和吸引人的原因所在。

将追随者状态作为资源

每款游戏都不只是玩家与他人、游戏元素和规则互动的系统，通常也是个信息系统。因而，游戏系统可以利用社交网络包含的信息，并围绕这些信息构建其规则并赋予新的内涵。就Twitter而言，我不认为游戏设计解决方案将追随者、更新数和其他可计量信息发挥得淋漓尽致。游戏设计师可以关注Twit Truth之类的信息服务，思考将其加入游戏的可能性。

将来自tweet的内容输入游戏系统中

tweet是另一个用户在Twitterverse中产生的信息。尽管如此，由于其自身的性质，它在游戏中的价值需要基于玩家评估上而非系统评估。这是把双刃剑，它可能让游戏规则变得模糊，但也给予玩家表达的空间，因而可以拥有更丰富的游戏体验。

将游戏机制融入井号标签中

与上述做法相关的技术是Moonfruit Twitter采取的营销措施，只要用户在信息中包含特别的井号标签，他们就正在传播相关的信息。使用类似的方法，井号标签可以用作对抗泛滥问题的模糊游戏机制，如果玩家愿意在他们的游戏外tweet中包含游戏的标签，可能就不会干扰到其他人。为支持这种方法，可以使用自动插入标签的网站或桌面客户端。处于这个原因，如果Twitter桌面客户端出于游戏目的而打开就不足为奇了。

Twitter

让Retweet富含人情味和名声

有趣的是，Facebook上的游戏在网络平台上推广象征性的友谊和人情味。Twitter上却没有，不是吗？我认为Retweet行为是最内在的象征性行为，即便与Facebook有所不同。RT还触及社交网路的另一个有趣的方面，也就是许多人嵌入社群功能的名声系统。名声系统与等级和玩家间的位置存在内在关联，因而RT这种游戏机制应该多多考虑。

泛滥控制——社交接受性

在任何情况下，Twitter的公共时间表和非交互本质既是机会也是挑战。这让你的游戏有广阔的传播渠道，很像没有成本的推广信息，但是你无法准确控制其着陆点。直接信息可避免传播无用的泛滥信息，但事实上他们更像是邮件而不是tweet。各种游戏所采用的解决方案各不相同，与游戏的主题和运营及设计目标有很大的关联。

将网站作为外部接口和形象化的援助手段

Twitter外的网站可能是大家都会采用的做法，但其存在有一定的必要性，而且这些原因会对游戏设计产生影响。因为Twitter隐藏化和快节奏的本质，这显得尤为明显。

对玩家个人来说，网站既是历史也是主基地，其中的信息是Twitter无法处理或不属于Twitter用户体验的内容。游戏网站应该是观察游戏状态和数据的外部中心，让基于Twitter的交流和社区功能正常运转。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Twitter Game Design: Observations & Principles

Aki Järvinen

Besides simple trivia or math quizzes, attempts at RPGish exploration of the Twitterverse, or word puzzle based movie-tie-in campaigns like the Terminator Salvation game, and the Spymaster flooding issues, we are starting to see game designs that are less obvious or inaccessible in their complexity. SNODS – ‘Social Networks Online Defense Squad’ – is a case in point: the game displays clever solutions in how it takes advantage of Twitter’s social dynamics and how it builds a certain kind of social graph around you. Here’s my analysis of the game, and some observations of how these solutions can be carried into social network games in general.

SNODS case study: Game design features

First, let’s briefly run through some of the features of SNODS that are interesting, game design wise.

Game mechanics and goals

First, in SNODS (developed by Itch) players take other Twitter users as captives. Every player has his won holding pen, initially for six captives. The users a player takes captive start producing hourly income, as the screen capture from my account shows. Other players might try to kidnap my captives, which would give me a chance to instantly recapture them. The motivation for this is that the tweeples’ hourly production rate is dependent on their status in the Twitterverse, i.e. number of followers they have. There are plankton, guppy, fish, and whales in the sea, as SNODs labels them.

Game dynamics

SNODS is a waiting game with some additional twists: Similar to the clever Facebook game Parking Wars, in SNODS there is a gameplay dynamic where the players login/logoff to the site becomes a risk reward structure: if one stays away from the site and/or Twitter, there is a risk of losing one’s captives, or losing money directly as one is able to try to steal it from another player. Players can purchase guards to prevent this. Also, one can make the decision of putting a valued captive into ‘solitary confinement’ which betters the chances of keeping him/her captive. There is a catch to this, as the captive does not produce income while in solitary confinement.

Leveling structure

In the fashion of Mafia Wars, 140 Mafia, and countless other social network games, the leveling structure is highly hierarchical and related to different missions and upgrading possibilities. Missions present specific instances of gameplay stringed together essentially as quests, in the overall, seemingly endless leveling structure. Stealing money and captives from others pits players against each other. Yet, what is missing is the ‘gotcha’ element of Parking Wars – i.e. when one is able to catch a fellow player parking illegally and slapping a ticket at him.

Lasting appeal?

Still, SNODS does afford, at least in theory, different levels of commitment; hardcore players can use specific, hashtag based tweets as commands, whereas casual players (like me) can still have a sense of progress without delving into such intricacies of the system. Then again, having played the game now for a week or so, it has become somewhat stale with the level of commitment I am willing to invest at it – players do not steal my captives, as they are not probably desirable enough in terms of the game; some people steal money from me, but I do not get aggravated enough to go after them, and so on. Still, SNODS has kept me interested longer than Spymaster, for instance, because there are strategic aspects to it that I find more interesting, and the same goes for the core gameplay mechanics. In other words, there is a stronger sense of gameplay.

Monetization

SNODS offers the players a chance to become a ‘Special Agent’ (which is strange as everyone is dubbed ‘SNODS Special Agent’ by default) by purchasing a three month subscription plan for 14.95$. As a UI design note, this option is hidden behind way too many links. The paying player is allowed to accelerate their leveling up, they get 50% more resource accumulation, discounts from buying upgrades, extra recaptures of kidnapped captives, and so on.

Tweeting

Spymaster made the flood issue in Twitter game design quite apparent: Non-playing Twitter users were flooded with the #spymaster tweets that were irrelevant to them. What was interesting was the fact that it was a game that generated a heated discussion concerning Twitter’s lack of filtering options. With SNODS, the developers have taken precautions at the flooding issue, and the game does not reward tweeting to the same degree as Spymaster. Yet, it also hints at a complete level of control, which is not the case, however, as tweets about upgrades will find their way to your tweeple anyway. This brings up the question of the social acceptability of playing Twitter games, especially in relation to the particular sensibility of one’s own follower community. Personally, I felt uncomfortable that in order to make the observations documented here, I had to channel some potentially unnerving tweets at my followers’ eyes.

Work in Progress: Twitter Game Design Principles

Based on my analysis of SNODS, and other Twitter games mentioned here, I will present some tentative findings as game design principles. These are guidelines or hypotheses very much still in the making, but I believe they help in thinking about specific design solutions when creating social network game concepts.

Time-based risks & rewards

Visiting and revisiting, or logging in / out, of the game is a dynamic that not only characterizes social network use, but lends itself to game design, because a risk-reward structure can be built in connection with it. It also supports the emotion of curiosity, which is fundamental to play-related emotions, i.e. what makes games fun and captivating, experientially speaking.

Follows/followers status (or ratio) as resource

Every game is not only a system where players interact with each other, the game elements, and the rules, but also always an information system. Thus, a game system can utilize the information the social network contains, and build its rules around that information, and give it new meanings. With Twitter, I do not think the game design solutions regarding follows/followers, number of updates, and other quantifiable information are exhausted. Game designers can look at the information services like Twit Truth provide to think about the possibilities.

Content from tweets as input to the game system

The substance of tweets is another information users produce into Twitterverse. However, due to it being qualitative in nature, its worth in terms of a game has to be based on player evaluation rather than system evaluation. This is a double-edged sword: on one hand, it might make your game’s rules less clear – but on the other hand, it gives room for player expression, and thus for more emergent play experiences.

Embedding game mechanics into #hashtags

A technique related to the above is what the Moonfruit Twitter marketing campaign implemented: As long as users include a specific #hashtag in their message, they are spreading the message. In a similar fashion, hashtags can have uses as subtle game mechanic which counters the flood issue: If your players are willing to include your game’s hashtag in their off-game tweets, it presumably does not bother those not playing to the same degree. To support this, a website or desktop client functionality which inserts the hashtag automatically is in order. Because of this, it would not be surprising if a Twitter desktop client/widget would be launched specifically for game purposes.

The Retweet as human touch and reputation system

One of the playful aspects of, e.g., Facebook games is the symbolic physicality that pokes, hi-fives, sending drinks and gifts, etc. give to game play. They add a symbolic gensture of friendship and human warmth across the mediated network space. Twitter does not really have that – or does it? Even if it lends itself to ‘insult swordfighting’, i.e. a witty exchange of ideas and compliments, I would argue that the practice of re-tweeting is the most inherent symbolically physical act, even if different from the Facebook examples. RTs also touch on another interesting aspect of social networks, namely the reputation systems many of them embed into their community functionalities (e.g. Flickr). Reputation systems are inherently related to hierarchies and roles between players, and thus RTing as a game mechanic should be given more thought.

Flood control – social acceptability

In any case, the public timeline and non-reciprocical nature of Twitter is both a possibility and a constraint. It gives your game a broadcast channel, much like a push SMS without costs, but you will not be able to control where it lands with precision. Direct messages help in avoiding spreading unnecessary flood, but they are more like e-mail than tweets in nature, and make your game go perhaps a bit too much under the radar in terms of your game’s viral propagation. This is a case by case design solution, and it is very much dependent on the theme and business/design goals of your game.

Website as external interface and visualization aid

A website external to Twitter might sound obvious, but there are particular reasons for its necessity, and these might also have consequences for game design. This is particularly due to Twitter’s non-visual and fast-paced nature.

A website is able to function both as a history and a home base for individual players, with information that Twitter can not handle or which is simply not part of the user experience of Twitter. The game’s website should function as an external hub that visualizes the game state and data, and makes Twitter-based communication and community functionalities clickable – preferably into one-click actions that get the game mechanics rolling spontaneously. (Source: My Game Studies)