随着社交网站和网络社区的盛行，社交游戏也呈现蓬勃发展之势，各种年龄层人士纷纷涌向网络游戏领域。据今年初的调查显示，社交游戏的主要玩家是平均年龄43岁的中年妇女，这与人们关于游戏玩家的传统观念恰恰相反。

近几年由于人们花费越来越多的时间进行社交游戏，这一新兴的游戏行业受到了多方关注。最近在英国伦敦切尔西足球俱乐部更是召开了首届欧洲社交游戏峰会，以探讨社交游戏领域的未来发展趋势。

在本次峰会上，我与BigPoint Games公司董事会主席Simon Guild谈论了网络和网页社交游戏领域未来发展方向的相关问题。

Simon Guild

您可以介绍一下BigPoint的公司概况吗？该公司创办多久，主要提供哪些类型的游戏体验呢？

BigPoint是全球最大的游戏门户网站之一，创办于2002年。我们公司主要负责开发和运营网页游戏。此外也会扮演经销商，内容供应商和开发商等角色。公司注重开发无需下载的免费网页游戏。

作为经销商，我们网站（BigPoint.com）允许外界独立游戏开发商上传网页或休闲游戏帮助这些游戏接触到更多的游戏玩家。

作为内容供应商，我们与包括MTV, MySpace和AOL在内的全球多家媒体公司合作，向这些网站社区供应多种具有吸引力的内容

而作为开发商，我们公司会开发自己的游戏产品。我们致力于提升网页游戏的制作水准。比如我们采用Unity 3D开发了Ruined Online等3D网页游戏。未来，我们还将发布另一款3D游戏Battlestar Galactica Online。

贵公司主要采用哪种商业模式进行盈利呢？

Bigpoint旗下的所有游戏都是免费的，这更方便我们接触各个年龄层和不同收入水平的玩家。我们公司主要通过销售虚拟商品，进行游戏微交易获得盈利。

譬如，玩家在游戏Farmerama中购买加快庄稼成长的超级肥料。这种商业模式十分成功，不仅为我们公司带来了大量的利润，而且玩家也还很高兴可以免费进行游戏。

贵公司的主要玩家人群是？不同游戏产品的用户群有差别吗？

我们的主要客户是那些愿意在网上找点乐子的人。我们提供诸如Farmerama等休闲游戏，或者较复杂的Flash游戏Dark Orbit，还有3D游戏Battlestar Galactica等。不同类型的游戏面向不同的玩家人群，但不论何种类型的玩家都可以在Bigpoint.com上找到自己喜欢的游戏。

那么游戏本身的体验，可以和朋友一起互动，两种元素中玩家更注重哪一种呢？

两者都很重要，这些都是游戏的基本功能。其中，游戏体验的重要性显而易见。然而，我们的用户同样注重集体元素——不论是与现实朋友还是与其他游戏玩家进行互动。集体概念为玩家提供了机遇（团结）和挑战（竞争）——这些都是重要的游戏体验。

不同年龄层或不同游戏类型的玩家是否在购买虚拟商品方面也会有所不同呢？

在我们看来，所有游戏的玩家都十分愿意花钱购买虚拟商品。但一般来说，90%的用户都选择免费玩游戏，而另外的10%则愿意花钱购买虚拟商品。

BigPoint是如何制定和调整虚拟商品的零售价的？

我们游戏的虚拟商品价格从几美分到几美元不等，这主要取决于该道具在游戏中的使用价值。譬如，游戏Farmerama中的卷心菜种子一般只需1美分，而猪圈则要大约6美元。

对贵公司而言，数据分析对进行网络社交游戏营销重要吗？

当然十分重要。通过一定的数据分析，我们能知道哪款游戏更受欢迎，玩家更喜欢游戏中的哪些元素，这对我们未来更新游戏或发布新游戏都十分重要。

游戏行业是否有常用的数据和公式，这些对贵公司开发服务和产品有何指导意义？

游戏行业内有好几种盛行的公示。譬如，休闲游戏开发商十分注重日活跃用户和月活跃用户（MAU和DAU），两者之间的比率往往象征着游戏的黏着能力。

我们公司还注重各种转换公式，譬如访问数，注册用户数，活跃用户数和客户人数之间的关系等，这些都是大部分网站常用的数据。另外，我们还会分析玩家的游戏时间长度和好友人群等。

BigPoint

BigPoint旗下大部分都是网页游戏。在您看来，在Facebook平台发布游戏有何利弊？为什么Bigpoint不打算进军这一领域呢？

我们公司有在Facebook平台上发布游戏。但除此之外，我们同时也在其他渠道发布游戏。实行这一策略有几大原因，但主要是因为我们认为网页游戏的潜在用户比Facebook网站所提供的更加庞大。

毕竟，所有互联网用户都拥有浏览器，而接触Facebook的用户却相对小得多。另外我们认为过于依赖Facebook单个平台具有一定的危险性。平台施行的各种变化都会对公司的用户和收入造成影响。

为什么BigPoint.com网站中不再出现广告了呢？未来Bigpoint是否还会采用广告？

这是因为我们发现跨游戏宣传比广告更有价值。但我们并不否定未来还会采用广告宣传的方式。

您对游戏内置广告有何看法？未来是否会深入发展这一领域？

我们认为游戏内置广告有助于各种品牌接触目标客户。同时，我们还可以促进用户与品牌进行有利互动。当然，我们主要是要向玩家提供最好的游戏体验，因此融入其中的游戏内置广告必须服从这一前提。

您认为网页游戏是否仍有广阔的发展空间？

是的。我认为未来游戏行业将向网络化发展，而网页游戏无需下载，相对更加便捷。

您认为现今休闲游戏领域主要面临的挑战是？

我认为随着世界网络技术越来越发达，休闲游戏产业此刻正处于蓬勃发展时期。但随着而来的首先就是是激烈的竞争。在这点上，我很自信BigPoint的游戏比其他竞争者的更加能吸引玩家，同时也更加有趣。

此外第二个挑战在于如何更好的经销游戏，这一方面涉及硬件问题（如电脑，触屏设备或手机）和平台问题（网页游戏或者Facebook游戏）。但关键是要注重客户活动及平台变化对其的影响。而第三则是对游戏创新的永恒挑战。

您认为社交游戏在手机、智能手机、iPhone和iPad等设备上的发展前景如何？

社交游戏有很大的发展空间，现在人们能随时随地进行社交游戏。我们认为未来玩家将可以在各种平台上享受同样的游戏体验。因此我们也开始开发可以在iPhone，iPad和PC等平台运作的跨平台游戏。

当然，游戏设备在一定程度上会影响玩家的游戏体验。其中触屏游戏的互动形式将为我们的游戏提供更广阔的空间。

最后一个问题，您认为社交游戏产业的未来发展形势如何？

我们相信社交游戏会的前景十分光明。不论我们的客户是否承认自己是游戏玩家，游戏都是我们日常生活的一个重要组成部分。我们公司将继续开发满足不同用户的多种游戏体验。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Thanks to the popularity of social networks and online communities, the social gaming industry is booming. It’s no longer a niche sector, and online games are now popular with people of all ages and demographics.

In fact, contrary to long-standing stereotypes, a survey published earlier this year revealed that the average social gamer is a 43-year-old woman.

Social gaming is a fast-moving landscape, and becoming increasingly significant as consumers are spending a greater proportion of their time playing online games. As evidence of this, London hosted the first European Social Gaming Summit at Chelsea Football Club recently, which explored the evolution of this rapidly emerging sector.

At the Summit. I caught up with Simon Guild, Chairman of the Board at Bigpoint Games, to discuss the latest trends in online and browser-based social games and the future direction of the industry.

Could you give us an overview of Bigpoint? How long has the company been in business and what types of gaming products you offer?

Bigpoint is one of the largest gaming portals in the world and we were founded in 2002. We develop and operate browser games and act as a publisher, content provider and developer. Our focus is on games that are playable in the browser with no download and that are free-to-play for all users.

As a publisher, we also allow independent developers to upload their browser and casual games directly to Bigpoint.com so they can introduce their games to our huge audience.

As a content provider, we’ve partnered with media companies around the world including MTV, MySpace and AOL to offer our content to their communities. The media companies love it as it helps them engage with their users and provide compelling content, and they get to monetise those users as they take a proportion of the revenue.

As a developer, we are responsible for creating our own games in-house and we’re constantly challenging ourselves to take browser games to the next level – such as our development with Unity 3D to create 3D browser games like Ruined Online and the soon-to-be-launched Battlestar Galactica Online.

What is your business model? How does the company make money?

Bigpoint games are free-to-play which allows us to reach a huge audience as no matter what their age or disposable income, people can still play and enjoy the games. We monetise our games through in-game micro-transactions where players can choose to buy items that give them a boost in the game, or just be something that they have to have now.

For example, you can buy “super grow” fertiliser in Farmerama which will halve crop growing time. This model has proved hugely successful and we are generating significant revenues, and just as importantly, our users are very happy with it as well as they still get free access.

Who is your core audience, and how do demographics vary between different types of gaming products?

Our core audience is anyone who wants to take a bit of time out and have some fun online. We offer everything from engaging casual games like Farmerama to complex long-term flash games like Dark Orbit, right through to 3D games like Battlestar Galactica (which will be launched soon). The demographics are obviously different for each game, but there’s something for everyone at Bigpoint.com.

What’s more important for different types of users: the gaming experience and the game itself, or the ability to play with friends and family?

Both and all of the above. We think that this is a function of the game. Clearly the gaming experience is critical. But we know that our players also love the community aspect – whether that’s playing against (or with) real-life friends, or in a multiplayer format with and against like-minded gamers across the world. The community creates both opportunities (to team up) and challenges (to beat the opposition) – and these are themselves core parts of the gaming experience.

How does the willingness to pay for virtual goods vary across different demographic segments, or between different types of games?

We’ve seen a good willingness to pay across all our different demographics and games. In general, around 90% of our users will play the games without spending any money, and the remaining 10% will pay for goods.

With regards to virtual goods, what price points are we typically talking about here? How does it vary?

The individual items are priced from just a few cents up to a few dollars depending on the in-game value of the item. For example in Farmerama, you can buy some lettuce seed for less than a cent or splash out on a pigsty for around $6.

How important are analytics to your business, and more broadly, to marketing social games online?

Analytics are obviously very useful as they allow us to see which games are the most popular, and what aspects within these games are proving the most successful. This then informs how we update the games, and what features we include in new games.

What metrics does the gaming industry typically use, and how do these inform your products and services?

Within the industry, a number of different metrics are used to measure the level of engagement of games. Casual game developers look at daily and monthly active users (DAUs and MAUs) – and the ratio between them which determines a level of stickiness.

We look at a range of conversion metrics – visitors to registered users to active players to paying customers – which many online businesses look at. We also look at session length and do extensive cohort analysis to determine behaviour amongst different user groups.

Most of your games are in-browser or web-based as opposed to on Facebook. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of hosting games on the Facebook platform, and why did Bigpoint decide not to go down this route?

We do offer games through Facebook, but instead of having a Facebook-only strategy we prefer to offer our games more widely. This is for a number of reasons, chiefly that we believe the potential audience of in-browser or web-based games are so much greater than just through Facebook.

Ultimately, every internet user has a browser, whereas only a percentage of these users will access and regularly use Facebook, and this is particularly relevant when you look at emerging markets that have proprietary social networks like Hyves etc. In the end, Facebook is only one source of traffic, and not one that will allow you to reach all audiences.

We also believe that there are risks of having a Facebook-only strategy as you are relying on another party to reach your audience, and they can choose to change the parameters without consulting you, which could have a detrimental effect on your user numbers and revenues.

Why do you no longer have display advertising on the site, and why didn’t it work for you? Will you go back to display advertising in the future?

We discovered that cross-promoting our own games was a more valuable use of advertising inventory than selling it to third parties. However, we won’t rule out returning to it in the future.

Have you experimented with in-game advertising? Is this an area you expect to develop further in the future?

We are looking at in-game advertising as we believe that it can help brands get even closer to their target audience as they are placing themselves into their online life. We can also get our customers to interact with the brand which can help create positive associations. Of course our main focus is on delivering the best possible gaming experience for our users so any in-game advertising or branding would have to add to that.

How much growth potential is there in the browser-based games space?

We think that there is huge growth potential in browser-based games. Ultimately, we believe that the gaming industry will move online as bandwidth restrictions begin to ease, and it is much easier for users to access and play games through the browser than having to download it to their own system.

What do you see as the major challenges now facing the casual gaming industry?

The casual gaming industry is seeing a massive boom at the moment as more and more people across the world go online. So, in terms of challenges, there’s obviously increased competition for a consumer’s mind-share but we’re confident that our games are engaging and interesting enough that consumers will choose to play Bigpoint games rather than competitors.

The second challenge is understanding how best to distribute games: there are hardware questions (PC, touch-screen tablet, mobile phone) and there are platform questions (open browser, Facebook dedicated games aggregators etc.). The key is to focus on consumer behaviour and how that is affected by the platform on which they are playing. And thirdly, there is the continued challenge of innovating in the games themselves.

How big is the mobile / smart phone / iPhone or iPad / tablet device opportunity for social gaming?

This is a huge opportunity for social gaming, as users can now play their games wherever and whenever they want. We believe that ultimately they will want to play games no matter which platform they are on, so we’re beginning to develop cross-platform games that users can play on their iPhone, iPad and PC.

Clearly the form factor of the device will determine much of the experience. Touch screen interaction (as on a tablet) will be a big opportunity to widen the scope of the games we are offer, the consumers we target and the moments in their days when they will play.

And finally, what does the future hold for the social gaming industry?

We believe that it’s a bright future. Gaming is a part of everyday life whether or not consumers describe themselves as gamers. There are still all kinds of consumer and game segments to be mined – we are only at the start of this. （Source：econsultancy）