作者：Emmy Jonassen

作为一名独立开发支持者以及营销专业人士，没有什么比开发者通过卑鄙手段花钱进入App Store榜单前列更让我气愤的了。不要误会我的意思，我并不是反对付费营销策略。我反对的是那些模拟或以物质激励真正用户行为（例如下载或积极评价）的营销方法来利用App Store榜单排名算法。如果不审查这些行为，它们就可能将App Store这种让大家发现高质量游戏的地方颠覆成由财大气粗但游戏欠佳者称霸的广告平台，从而迫使独立开发者走向末路。

App-Store-Top-Chart(from maketecheasier.com)

为何榜单排名如此重要？

在我们了解这种卑鄙营销手段的危害之前，有必要先理解一下榜单排名的威力。

在2012年末，AnyList这款库存列表应用在App Store上线了。一周后AnyList创造了215次下载量。不久之后，苹果有两周时间推荐AnyList为“最新值得注意的应用”。在这个时期，AnyList下载量超过了6万次——比它获得推荐之前增长了28000%。

现在，想象一下AnyList是一款含有IAP功能的免费游戏。要知道3%的付费用户至少购买过一次平均交易额为9.99美元的IAP。AnyList至少通过那两周的苹果推荐赚得了1.7万美元。与该应用此前一周所赚的64美元相比，榜单排名的威力由此可见一斑。

榜单排名对独立开发者为何如此重要？

对于那些在整个App Store职业生涯创收都无法超过1万美元的独立开发者来说，两周赚1.7万美元真是一个遥不可及的梦想。但App Store的榜单排名算法和推广策略令这一梦想成为可能。让我们来解决一下。

在上述例子中，苹果是根据关注质量和吸引力的标准（例如，该应用是否优秀，App Store用户是否喜欢它？）推荐AnyList。实际上，所有获得苹果推广或者用户选择榜单的应用都是因为符合这一标准而上榜。而这一标准没有考虑到的因素就是营销预算。为什么？因为确保应用是根据质量而非开发者所能承担的营销预算获得推荐，正是App Store维持其发现优秀内容平台这一地位的关键。它还允许无营销预算的开发者创造出色的游戏并获得曝光度——这也是App Store成为独立开发者重要发布渠道的一个原因。无怪乎独立开发者所发布的手机游戏占比高达68%！

如果苹果排名算法被滥用，会对独立开发者产生什么影响？

鉴于App Store对于独立开发者的成功如此重要的现实，任何滥用其榜单排名算法的行为都会产生影响。这种影响究竟有多大呢？让我们看看以下例子。

Substandard Studios向App Store发布了一款含有应用内置广告的免费游戏《Crap-O-La》。Substandard之后发现了一家承诺只要交9.6万美元就能够保证《Crap-O-La》进入App Store榜单前十名的“营销代理机构”。substandard就同意了这一交易，在一周内支付了费用，《Crap-O-La》顺利进入榜单前十名并实现了200万次下载量，每天收获5万美元广告收益。与此同时，App Store用户则愤怒苹果居然推荐了这样一款糟糕的游戏，并困惑为何它能够获得如此多下载量和好评。苹果也很愤怒，因为Substandard戏弄了该系统，损害了苹果推广高质量内容的信誉，导致它失去了用户信任。而最终，遵从苹果规则的独立开发者发布了高质量的游戏，却因为苹果排名算法的失败而被忽略了。

尽管不守规矩的开发者不时在排名系统做手脚的现实看似无害，但如果不进行彻查，苹果App Store就会维持现状，这一现实也会成为常态。在一个开发者必须投入将近10万美元才能参与竞争的市场中，独立开发者只有两种选择：找到投资者并被迫创造作为独立开发者并不想创造的游戏，或者寻找另一发布渠道。这两种选择都不够理想，并最终会导致App Store上的独立游戏彻底灭绝。

我们该如何阻止这种不幸的现象？

苹果并不一定得是唯一抵制这种不道德营销手段的一方。事实上，他们也不应该是。作为独立开发者或独立开发支持者，我们应该像苹果一样，甚至比苹果更严肃地对待这种不道德的营销行为。以下是独立开发者及独立开发支持者可以控制并逐渐消除的非道德营销行为。

1.进行市场调查

如果你是一名拥有足够营销预算的独立开发者，要聘请信誉可靠的营销代理机构或顾问。怎么操作？检查相关资料，查看其评价等等。优秀的营销代理商可以毫无问题地为你提供参考资料，工作案例以及其他你所需要制定决策的信息。除此之外，优秀的营销供应商还应该保持完整的透明度，不会有所隐瞒。如果你发现或者嗅出了其中的异常情况，那就要对其避而远之，并提醒自己的独立开发好友远离这家公司。

2.监测你的应用表现

如果你所聘请的代理机构是你的首要用户获取渠道，确保监测你的游戏表现情况。要特别注意两点：1.游戏下载之后的游戏内部活动（游戏下载之后，玩家真的有在玩游戏吗？）2.用户好评之间的相关性（例如这些评价在内容、语言、风格上是否具有相似性？）如果你看到这些模式，那就说明你的营销代理商可能采用了非道德手段。

3.通过表态提高意识

不道德的App Store营销手段会在很大程度上影响独立开发社区，也应该是你所关心的情况。要围绕这一问题表态来提高大家的意识，与其他独立开发者聊天，或者在你的社交媒体或者博客上谈谈你对这种现象的看法和感受。不要认为一定要对这一话题表现得深恶痛绝，但你制造的话题所获得的关注终会让这些代理机构的业务难以为继。

4.向同行施予援手

我对独立社区如此自豪的原因之一就在于我们相互帮助。推广也并不例外。如果一名独立开发者发布了一款你觉得很棒的游戏，那就不妨替对方宣传一下。面向一群粉丝发布Tweet或Facebook消息远比付费广告更有份量。这可能看似无足轻重，但如果有足够的独立开发者参与，这些小小的举动终会累积成更大力量，成为一种强大的营销工具。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Gaming the App Store: The Start of an Indie Ice Age

by Emmy Jonassen

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community.

The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Indie Ice Age

As an indie supporter and marketing professional, nothing outrages me more than developers who pay their way into the App Store’s charts with shady acquisition practices. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against paid acquisition. (I don’t think you’ll find a respectable marketer who does.) What I am against are acquisition methods that simulate or incentivize real user activity–like downloads or positive reviews–to trick the App Store’s charting algorithm. If left unchecked, these practices will turn the App Store from a place to discover quality games into a banner farm for subpar apps backed by deep pockets, forcing indie games into extinction.

Why is charting such a big deal?

Before one can grasp how damaging shady acquisition practices are, it’s important to understand the power of charting. By applying what we know about app monetization to the real-life example below, we can do just this.

In late 2012, AnyList, a grocery list app, was released on the App Store. After one week, AnyList had generated 215 downloads. Soon after, Apple featured AnyList as “New and Noteworthy” for two weeks. During this time, AnyList generated over 60,000 downloads–a 28,000 percent increase from before it was featured.1

Now, imagine AnyList was a free-to-play game with in-app purchases. Knowing that three percent of freemium users make at least one in-app purchase that averages $9.99, AnyList could have earned at least $17,000 from being featured for just two weeks.2 Compare this to the $64 the app could have earned the week prior and all of a sudden the allure of charting becomes understandable.

Why is charting such a big deal for indies?

For an indie who statistically won’t make over $10,000 in his/her entire career on the App Store, $17,000 in two weeks is a dream, however, the App Store makes it possible with its charting algorithms and promotion philosophy.3 Let me explain.

In the above example, Apple chose to feature AnyList based on criteria that focuses on quality and appeal (i.e., is the app good and will App Store customers like it?).4 In fact, all apps that get promoted in Apple- or customer-selected charts are there because they match these criteria. What isn’t factored into this criteria is marketing budget. Why? Because ensuring apps get promoted based on quality, not how much marketing developers can afford, maintains the App Store as a place to discover great content. It also allows developers with no marketing budgets, who create amazing games, to get discovered–making the App Store a critical distribution channel for indies. No wonder indies are responsible for publishing 68 percent of mobile games!5

What would happen to indies if Apple’s charting algorithms were compromised?

With the App Store being so critical to indie success, any compromise to its charting algorithms would clearly have an impact. How big would this impact be? Let’s consider the below example.

Substandard Studios publishes Crap-O-La to the App Store as a free-to-play game with in-app advertising. Substandard then finds a “marketing agency” that guarantees Crap-O-La a spot in the App Store’s Top 10 in exchange for $96,000.6 Substandard agrees, pays the agency and within one week, Crap-O-La is on the Top 10 generating two million downloads and $50,000 in ad revenue per day. Meanwhile, App Store consumers are furious with Apple for recommending such a terrible game and confused how it could have so many downloads and excellent reviews. Apple is furious because Substandard has gamed the system, tarnishing Apple’s reputation for promoting quality content and causing it to lose consumer trust. And finally, indies who followed the rules, publishing quality games, are passed over because Apple’s charting algorithms failed.

While it may seem innocuous for a naughty developer to game the system every now and then, if left unchecked, this could become status quo. And in a world where developers must spend almost $100,000 to compete, indies have two options: find investors and risk being forced to build games they became indies to avoid or find another distribution channel. Both options are not ideal and will eventually lead to the disappearance of indie games on the App Store altogether.

How can we stop this unfortunate scenario?

Apple doesn’t have to be the only one taking a stand against unethical marketing practices. In fact, they shouldn’t be. As indies or indie supporters, we should take unethical marketing practices just as, if not more seriously than Apple. Below are four ways indies and indie supporters can curb and slowly eliminate unethical marketing behavior.

Do Your Research

If you’re an indie fortunate enough to have a marketing budget, make sure you hire reputable marketing agencies and/or consultants. How? Check references, read reviews and so on. A good marketing vendor will have no problem providing you with references, examples of work and any other information you need to make an informed decision (barring disclosure of confidential information of course). In addition, a good marketing vendor should do this with complete transparency and no guff. If you discover or get the faintest whiff of a fishiness, move on and warn your indie friends to do the same.

Monitor Your App’s Activity

If the agency you hired is managing your lead acquisition, be sure to monitor your game’s activity closely. Pay special attention to (1) little to no in-game activity after download (i.e., are the downloads you’re getting actually playing the game?) and (2) similarity between positive reviews (i.e., are your positive reviews similar in content, language, style, etc.?). If you are seeing any of these patterns, your marketing vendor could be engaging in unethical behavior.

Raise Awareness by Taking a Stand

Unethical App Store marketing practices impact the indie community in a major way and should be something you care about. Help generate awareness around the issue by taking a stand. Talk about your feelings on the subject with other indies, on your social media properties, on your blog, etc. Don’t feel the need to go crazy on the subject, but any attention you draw to the issue will make it harder and harder for agencies to get away with continued shadiness.

Help Your Indie Comrades Out

One of the reasons I am so fond of the indie community is because we help each other out. Promotion is no exception. If an indie releases a game you feel is excellent, tell people about it. A simple Tweet or Facebook post to a group of followers carries a lot more weight than a paid ad. It may seem insignificant, but if enough indies participate, these small gestures can add up, becoming a powerful marketing vehicle.（source：gamasutra）