作者：Miikka Kukkosuo

Ubisoft工作室《Settlers Online》首席设计师Teut Weidemann曾在一个欧洲游戏开发者大会议程中，就如何通过游戏设计来使游戏盈利最大化提供指导发表讲话。据Gamasutra报道，他指出要在免费增值运营模式中获得成功，开发者应当“探索人性中的弱点”。比如，设计能激起人心中最深层次感想的游戏。

首先，Weidemann指出游戏必须足够有趣方能吸引用户。但一旦他们进入游戏，就需要尽力让这些免费玩家产生盈利，使得这些持续不断的服务产生商业成就。Weidemann宣称，盈利已成为游戏设计中最关键且不可分割的一部分，社交游戏开发者应该从游戏开发之初便考虑到这个层面。

the-settlers-online(from gameindustry)

Weidemann坦言他们在《Settlers Online》中通过所有人性的弱点来盈利，比如利用《圣经》中所述的七宗罪来驱动业务，包括傲慢、妒忌、暴食、贪婪、暴怒、色欲和懒惰。

可以预见，这种做法激起了异常激烈的讨论。有些人认为这种做法无可厚非，商人的目标就是赚钱，否则就会在竞争中失去优势。因而，这种做法与出售汽车的额外配件（游戏邦注：如卫星收音机或皮座位等，驾驶汽车并不一定需要这些）没有差别。有些人认为这是种非常不道德的行为，与贩卖毒品者的做法类似，即制作有趣且充满吸引力的产品来利用人性的弱点。

无论外界是何看法，发布免费产品、吸引大量免费用户并努力从这些用户中获得盈利显然不是件容易的事情。而且，如果没有特定制定盈利计划，这样的游戏几乎无法自行带来营收。仅仅致力于开发优秀产品（游戏邦注：包括游戏和其他服务）无法为你带来营收，你还需要运营计划。

如果免费增值产品的设计确实不甚道德，那么只有游戏中存在这种情况，还是所有的免费增值产品均是如此呢？超市和消费品牌利用形同的战略来向人们出售新式的日常用品，如果对这些做法做消费者心理调查研究，是否与免费增值游戏的做法类似，也潜藏着某些不为人知的规则呢？（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Ethics And The Freemium Business Model – Case Social Games

Miikka Kukkosuo

Earlier this week we covered the Games Developer Conference Europe 2010 (GDCE) session on Monetizing Social Games. Continuing on the same topic from a different angle, in another GDCE session, Teut Weidemann, lead designer of Settlers Online at a Ubisoft studio, provided further guidance on how to actually maximize the games’ monetization by game design. He presented, as reported by Gamasutra, that in order to succeed with the freemium business model, one should “exploit human weaknesses”, i.e. design the game so that it psychologically resonates with the deepest human feelings – so look into the seven deadly sins…

First and foremost, Weidemann instructed that naturally a game must be fun to attract (free-to-play) users, that is a no-brainer. But once in the game, these free-to-play users need to be monetized as efficiently as possible to generate revenue, to make it a sustainable service business-wise. Weidemann declared that monetization has now become the “most crucial and integral part of game design” – something the social game developers have to think about from the beginning.

Rather candidly, Weidemann acknowledged that in Settlers Online they are “monetizing all the weakness of people,” i.e. using the seven biblical sins to drive business: Vanity (showing off), Envy (introduce rarity), Gluttony (consumable items), Lust (instant gratifications/upgrades), Anger (use hate to sell e.g. better weapons), Greed (production increases, trading), Sloth (sell comfort).

Quite understandably, this statement has generated rather heated discussion for and against, as one can read from the Gamasutra article’s comments. Some understand that this is just business as it should be – everybody is in business to make money, or will go out – so it is no different than for instance selling extra equipment and features for cars (like satellite radio or leather seats, that are not really required for driving). Others cry out that this kind of mentality is very much unethical, and could be in fact matched to the business of drug dealers – making a fun and appealing product is another thing than taking advantage of people.

Whichever view one shares, it is obvious that launching a product for free, getting a decent pool of free users, and then trying to generate revenue from that base is no easy task. Most likely lots of iterations and tweaks on the go are needed. Furthermore, if one makes no conscious and planned effort to monetize the userbase, more often than not it probably just won’t happen itself, as for instance these case studies on using the freemium model with various web products like Pandora and Dropbox demonstrate. Building a good product (be it a game or something else) alone won’t generate you revenue. You need also business planning.

If there is such a thing as psychological abuse by unethical freemium product design, is it just games, or can that apply to freemium products also in general? Since supermarkets and consumer brands use the same strategies for selling people “new” versions of their everyday products, researched in lots of consumer psychology studies, is there really any difference, or unwritten rules not to break? (Source: Arctic Startup)