作者：Stephanie Carmichael

对于大多数人来说，社交游戏世界中的“鲸鱼”还是很神秘。作为为游戏投入最多金钱的人，他们也是为这些游戏发行商们带来大部分利益的群组（大约2%的用户）。但是“鲸鱼”却不是一个讨人喜欢的术语，并且也不是与之相关联的数字。这是关于所有人，而不只是用户。

我们不知道鲸鱼玩家是谁，也不懂他们的想法——因为他们身边总是围绕着一些特征。我们知道他们会玩社交游戏，但这是否就意味着他们具有社交性？他们是习惯于休闲体验还是被强迫的？他们是怎样的人？

鲸鱼玩家拥有多种含义

在鲸鱼玩家出现于西方市场之前它便已经存在于在线和手机电子游戏中了。游戏分析师Michael Pachter便说道，早在15年前亚洲便出现了带有免费模式的微交易，但是我们却有种这还是新模式的感觉，并且我们也非常好奇在未来这一模式是否还能占得一席之地。

如今，“鲸鱼”理念对于每一家公司的重要性也不同。5th Planet Games（游戏邦注：面向休闲玩家和硬核玩家开发社交游戏）便将那些一个月花费100美元以上于游戏中的玩家归为鲸鱼玩家。而在Facebook上的社交游戏玩家每个月只要花费25美元便能够享受到同样的资格。

Clash of the Dragons(from urgametips)

5th Planet的首席执行官Robert Winkler在2012年的Game Developers Conference Online上揭示到，旗下《Clash of the Dragons》有40%的收益是来自2%愿意为游戏花费1000美元，甚至更多钱的玩家。90%收益是来自那些花费100美元以上的玩家，而最高鲸鱼玩家甚至投入了6700美元。

还有其它公司，如社交博彩游戏开发商Blitzoo便基于一些组合元素去定义各种类型的鲸鱼玩家，这些元素包括：总共花费的钱，游戏时间，玩家在游戏中挣得的经验值等等。甚至鲸鱼玩家的游戏时间总是比一般玩家长3，4倍。

当然，这些仍是关于各种数字而非特征或个性。Winkler说道，为了鼓励鲸鱼玩家沉浸于游戏中并为游戏花钱，开发者就必须具有强烈的社区意识。

他说道：“我们发现，大多数玩家都愿意掏钱去帮助同伴玩家而不是击败他们。举个例子来说吧，那些加入我们的‘公会’或致力于共同任务的玩家的盈利率是不属于公会的玩家的8.5倍，并且公会中的玩家的ARPU（每用户平均收益）比其他玩家高出了53倍。”

因此对于5th Planet来说，创建社区便是他们优先考虑的内容。这是吸引更多鲸鱼玩家并成功盈利的一种方法。

Winkler说道：“我们可以鼓励玩家加入论坛，举办比赛并给予赠品，组织特别的公会，或者直接与玩家进行交谈并让他们知道你有在听取各种反馈而做到这一点。当玩家认为自己是社区中的一部分时，他么便会更关心游戏的结果。而当他们投入更多情感于游戏中时，他们便更乐意为游戏掏腰包了。”

鲸鱼玩家与“普通”玩家不同？

与鲸鱼玩家进行交流并不轻松；他们的兴趣以及与社交游戏发行商之间的关系是个敏感的话题。但是在与一名玩家交流时我发现只要卸下他们身上的防御便可。除了每个月会投入大量的钱于游戏中外（一般来说是100美元，但是有时候会达到400美元），他也具有许多与一般玩家相同的兴趣的关注内容。

与许多鲸鱼玩家一样，Genega也总是会坚持于一两款游戏中，就像他所坚持的游戏便是5th Planet的《Clash of the Dragons》（免费多人社交在线角色扮演卡片游戏）以及《Legacy of Heroes》（免费卡片收集类游戏）。他并不会轻易转向其它平台。

Genega说道：“对于我来说，游戏与其伴随着的社区是一样的。如果一款游戏不能让我花时间去等待竞争事件或者缺少热闹的论坛，它便不可能吸引到我的注意。”

Genega也表示他并不是完全离不开电脑屏幕。他说道，自己会在早上玩20多分钟的游戏然后在晚上再玩1至3个小时的游戏。虽然在游戏中投入了许多钱，但这并不代表游戏会与其日常生活相抵触。

他说道：“工作时，我几乎没有时间去想游戏。但是在与好友相处的社交时间，我却会全身心投入于游戏中。不管是玩桌面游戏，卡片游戏还是博彩类游戏，如《万智牌》等等。所以在我们的社交生活中游戏扮演着非常重要的角色。”

这是游戏外部的社交生活，而不一定是游戏中。Genega的工作是在一家大公司监管网络操作中心的运营，所以总是会有人邀请他去吃饭或徒步旅行。这也是为何他不喜欢单人玩家体验的部分原因。

他继续说道：“从本质看来我就是一个社会人。如果没有人能够与我分享游戏体验，不管是友好的交谈还是在完成任务时进行虚拟的击掌，游戏对我来说便失去了乐趣。”

他并不会抛弃在游戏中所发展的友谊。他说道：“我拥有长达10年的好友，并且我会不时与游戏中所认识的好友相约出来见面。可以说游戏是推动我的在线和现实社交生活的主要力量。”

与大多数忠实玩家一样，Genega也会积极关注与自己玩的游戏相关的新闻，而真正吸引他反复回到游戏中的还是频繁的内容添加。就像在玩《Clash of the Dragons》时，他总是会回到游戏中去检查新更新的内容，但是在玩《魔兽世界》时，他可能会隔个一年，也就是直到暴雪在推出新的扩展内容时再登录游戏。

当我们深入交谈时，Genega对于当今产业中的问题的思考也更加深入，但是这里还遗留着一个问题：对于被叫做“鲸鱼”玩家他有何感想？

对于这一称法，Genega是喜忧参半。

他说道：“有很多输不起的人不愿在自己喜欢的游戏中投入大量的钱，并且在面对那些有钱人时他们甚至还会生气。关于自己在这些游戏中所投资的钱我还是感到有点窘迫，所以我会努力避开各种负面关注。自从出现了《FarmVille》，公众对于社交游戏就产生了消极的看法，并且人们总是很厌烦Facebook上所有的游戏请求。”

鲸鱼玩家并不都是相同的

我们也采访了其他三位经常访问社交网站Tagged的鲸鱼用户。前两位是成功人士：“Guiseppe”，来自Bronx的41岁用户，以及“Andy N.”，选择匿名。这两家公司都非常积极，就像Genega那样。

Guiseppe已经是两个女孩的爸爸，拥有一个所得税业务，并是当地一所高校的主厨。他每周会与别人打几次桌球——这便说明了社区和社交活动（不管是在线还是离线）对于鲸鱼玩家来说非常重要。同时，Andy每周投入60小时于工作中，并会频繁地出去旅游。他的兴趣包括投资和学习语言。

除此之外。我们的采访对象还包括来自奥克兰（新西兰港市）的49岁Ngarangi Chapman，他主修创作，并在业余时间代理出口自然和有机土产品。同时他也会进口服装，写博客，培养自己的在线市场营销能力和商业野心。

这三个人都在玩《Pets》这款游戏——游戏带有虚拟经济，玩家可以将其他玩家当成“宠物”进行购买和销售，从而在此认识其他人。

Chapman承认每个月会投入100至500美元于游戏中，但是她也会适当管理自己的钱。

她说道：“我不抽烟，很少喝酒和外出，也不喜欢逛街。有时候我会为游戏花钱，有时候不会，而我也不去强调这些，因为我知道即使不购买金币游戏也是很有趣的。但是当我产生虚荣心时，我便会购买金币，让所有宠物玩家能够嫉妒我，并帮助我始终维持在新西兰排行榜单的前10位名的位置上。”

每个鲸鱼玩家都承认会关注与《Pets》相关的公告，或掌握Tagged何时更新，甚至无需阅读这些内容就知道做出改变，就像Chapman那样。所有的这些玩家都会在休息后再次回到游戏中，有的甚至从未停止游戏。

Guiseppe和Chapman都强调《Pets》的社交元素是吸引他们反复游戏的部分原因；但是他们却不一定会利用游戏中的社交功能。Guiseppe表示喜欢“与世界各地的人交朋友，并了解来自不同文化的人的生活方式。”Andy并不会使用社交工具，除了电子邮件和即时通讯。Chapman也是如此。

她说道：“我只是单纯地喜欢玩游戏。一开始我会利用游戏中的各种功能去加入群组。但是现在我只是喜欢游戏并与过去四年里所认识的，来自世界各地的玩家进行交谈。”

她补充道：“我之所以喜欢社交游戏是因为可以再次看到不同人的不同表现，即他们在游戏中的行动也就代表着他们在各自领域的生活方式。有时候，吸引我再次回到游戏中的主要元素是过去几年里所接触到的所有真诚朋友。我喜欢人与人之间的互动和分享（兴趣）。”

他们未必具有明显的“社交性”

有趣的是，这些鲸鱼玩家虽然喜欢社交游戏所呈现出的社区感，但却不会过度投资于“社交”机制中，如群组或即时通讯。

作为《Clash of the Dragons》和《Legacy of Heroes》的玩家，Genega表示他不喜欢那种要求玩家必须召集大量好友以提供帮助的游戏，尽管他也会与许多玩家建立友好关系，并在电脑之外维持忙碌的社交生活。相比之下他更喜欢“带有挑战，竞争和认知”的游戏。

他说道：“我认为社交游戏不应该太过依赖于玩家所带来的好友，而应该更强调让玩家自己在游戏中寻找好友。”

这也是适用于他的生活中的一种特性，如果你在回首之前的过度消费，你会认为“鲸鱼”只是用于形容那些充满激情的“玩家”的华丽辞藻。他们并非隐士，他们拒绝被进行单独的分类。并非每位鲸鱼玩家都是相同的。有些鲸鱼玩家喜欢竞争而获得的荣耀，即成为最厉害的玩家或获得最多内容，并且也重视在游戏中所收获的友谊。

（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）

What it means to be a ‘whale’ — and why social gamers are just gamers

By Stephanie Carmichael

The “whales” of the social-gaming world are a mystery to most of us. As the biggest spenders, they make up a tiny group (think about 2 percent of audiences) that drives most of the revenue for publishers of these games. But the word “whale” isn’t a flattering term, and neither are the numbers associated with it. These are people, not just customers.

It’s easy to think of whales anonymously because we’re not quite sure who they are or how they think — they’re often elusive due to the stigma that surrounds them. We know they play social games, but are they social? Are their habits casual or obsessive? What kind of people are they?

Whale’ has many meanings

Whales existed in online and mobile video games long before they started appearing in the West. Longtime game analyst Michael Pachter told GamesBeat that Asia has used free-to-play with microtransactions for 15 years, but it still feels like a relatively new phenomenon here as we wonder whether the business model holds a place in our future.

Today, the idea of a “whale” carries a different weight for each company. 5th Planet Games, a developer of social games for both casual and hardcore audiences, starts classifying its players as whales when they spend $100 or more a month. That’s a big jump from whales on Facebook, for instance, where social gamers could drop $25 per month to meet the same qualification.

5th Planet chief executive Robert Winkler revealed at the Game Developers Conference Online in 2012 that with its game Clash of the Dragons, 40 percent of revenue came from 2 percent of players who spent $1,000 or more. Ninety percent came from those who spent $100 or more, and the top whale had spent $6,700.

Other companies, like social casino developer Blitzoo, defines various categories of whales based on a combination of factors: total money spent, playtime, experience points earned in-game, and so on. Play sessions tend to be three or four times longer than what an average player’s would be.

But these are all still numbers, not faces or personalities. Winkler told us that a strong sense of community is important for encouraging whales to not only engage but also monetize, and that’s a clue to who they are as people.

“We’ve found that most players are more willing to spend money to help out their fellow gamers than to try to defeat them,” he said. “As an example, players who take part in our ‘guilds,’ or groups of players who come together to accomplish communal missions, are 8.5 times more likely to monetize than players who do not belong to a guild, and the ARPU [average revenue per user] of players in our guilds is 53 times higher than other players.”

For that reason, building community is a huge priority for 5th Planet. It’s a way to attract more whales and monetize more successfully.

“This could be by participating in your forums, by running contests and giveaways, by forming special guilds or councils, or simply by talking directly with your players and showing that you’re listening,” said Winkler. “When players feel like they’re part of community, they become more invested in the outcome of game. And when they’re more emotionally invested in the game, they’ll invest with their wallets as well.”

5th Planet declined to inform us whether their whales receive any special benefits, and as for whether these players subsidize the game for others, it only said, “As with any free-to-play game, there are a group of paying players, including whales, whose in-game [spending] allows game houses to bring new, fresh, and updated content to all players.” We were unable to acquire responses from the other companies we spoke with for this article.

Are whales different from ‘normal’ gamers?

Talking to whales isn’t easy; their habits and relationships with social-game publishers are touchy subjects. But as I found with one player, Greg Genega — who allowed us to identify him by name and also goes by the handle “Bludex” — all you have to do is disarm their defenses a little. Aside from the amount he spends every month ($100 on average and sometimes as much as $400), he shares many of the same interests and concerns of regular gamers.

Like many whales, Genega prefers to stick with one or two games — in his case, 5th Planet’s Clash of the Dragons (a free social massively multiplayer online role-playing card game) and Legacy of Heroes (a free collectible card game). He doesn’t stray much into other platforms.

“To me, a game is only as good as its following and associated community,” he said. “Without quick queue times for competitive events and a bustling forum, games tend to lose interest with me.”

He’s not exactly glued to his computer screen, though. Genega says he plays for roughly 20 minutes in the morning and one to three hours in the evening. Just because he spends a lot of money doesn’t mean this routine conflicts with everyday living.

“When I’m at work, I barely have any time to think about games,” he said. “However, most of my social time with friends involves lots of gaming. Board games, card games, going to a casino, playing Magic [the Gathering], etc. So gaming is very important to my social life.”

That’s social life outside of games, not necessarily in them. Genega supervises a network operations center for a large company and enjoys active pursuits like hiking and eating out at restaurants. That’s part of why he doesn’t prefer single-player experiences.

“I’m a social being at heart,” he said. “When there’s nobody to share my experience with — whether it be some friendly trash-talking or a virtual high-five of an accomplishment — the games just become less interesting.”

He doesn’t leave those friendships solely online, either. “I have friendships going on 10 years or more with people I game with online that I’ve almost all met in real life at some point or another,” he said. “I would definitely say gaming has been the main driver in my social life both online and offline.”

Like most dedicated gamers, Genega actively follows news announcements related to the titles he plays, but frequent content additions are what keeps him coming back. With each break he took from Clash of the Dragons, for instance, he returned to check out a new update. And when he played World of Warcraft, he would quit for as long as a year — until Blizzard released a new expansion.

The more we talked, the more Genega opened up about his passions and thoughts on current issues in the industry, but one question remained: How does it feel to be called a “whale”?

Genega sees the term both positively and negatively.

“There are many sore losers out there who can’t afford to put a lot of money into a game they enjoy, and they tend to get angry when they face somebody who does have that money,” he said. “I do feel a little embarrassed about how much I spend on these games, so I tend to downplay it to avoid negative attention. I feel the public generally has a negative opinion on social games since the main one people know about is FarmVille, and generally people get very annoyed with all the game requests on Facebook.”

All whales are not the same

We also interviewed three other whales who frequent the social network Tagged. The first two are highly successful: “Guiseppe,” a 41-year-old from the Bronx, and “Andy N.,” who chose to remain anonymous. Both own companies and are fairly active, just like Genega.

Guiseppe is a father to two daughters, owns an income-tax business, and works as a chef at a local college. He also plays pool a few times a week — on a team, which again shows how important community and social engagement, both offline and online, are to whales. Meanwhile, Andy puts in about 60 hours a week at his job and travels regularly. His hobbies include investing and learning new languages.

In addition, Ngarangi Chapman, a 49-year-old from Auckland, New Zealand, is majoring in creative writing and works part-time as an agent exporting natural and organic native products. She also imports clothing, blogs, and fosters some online marketing and business ambitions.

All three of them play one game, Pets — a virtual economy where you can buy and sell actual users as “pets,” which helps you to meet new people — so they don’t do more than dabble occasionally on other platforms.

While Chapman admitted to spending $100-$500 a month, she does have to budget her money.

“I don’t smoke, rarely drink, don’t go out, don’t like shopping,” she said. “Sometimes I don’t have the money, sometimes I do, but I don’t stress about it because I know how the game works so much without the use of purchasing gold. However, when I’m feeling vain, I purchase gold so all my pet players can stare at me green with envy as I continually maintain top 10 status in New Zealand.”

Each of the whales confessed to either following announcements related to Pets or knowing when Tagged is updating, maintaining, or making changes without needing to read about them, as in Chapman’s case. And all either have taken breaks and returned or never stopped playing.

Guiseppe and Chapman both emphasized the social aspects of Pets as part of the reason why they enjoy it; however, they don’t necessarily take advantage of the in-game social features. Guiseppe mainly just plays the game but loves “meeting people from around the world and understanding the way of living in different cultures.” Andy doesn’t use the social tools, either, except for e-mail and instant messenger. And Chapman gave a similar response.

“I simply like to play the game,” she said. “In the beginning, I used to take advantage of the features — [such as the capability to] join a group. But now I just like to play and chat to other players I have acquainted with from around the world over the last four years.”
She added, “What I love about social games is how people act. The thing is how they play and act is usually how they are in other areas of their life. Sometimes how they behave is a [reflection] of their true selves. However, what keeps me coming back are the genuine people I have made close friendships over the years. … I love to have that human interaction and shared interest.”

It’s not always about what’s ‘social’

It’s interesting that these whales can appreciate the sense of community that social games offer but not overly invest in their “social” constructs, such as groups or instant messenger.

Genega, the Clash of the Dragons and Legacy of Heroes player, said he actually disliked the types of games that require you to have a large number of friends to help even though he’s developed relationships with many players and leads a busy social life away from his computer. Rather, “the challenge, the competition, and the recognition” are what he loves most.

“I believe social games need to rely less on the amount of friends you bring to the game and more on finding friends within the game,” he said.

That’s a quality that applies to his life as well, and it shows that if you look past the excessive spending, “whales” is just a fancy word for “gamers” who are as passionate as we are. They’re not hermits, and they defy one neat attempt at categorization. Not every whale is the same. Some of them relish the glory of competition — being the top player or owning the most — just as much as they value the fellowship that comes out of it.(source:venturebeat)