SAN FRANCISCO - I attended the Social Gaming Summit this week, and here is a digest of the most interesting things that I learned.
Justin Smith, editor of Inside Facebook gave a state of the industry. He defines social games as “casual games designed to be played with friends on online social platforms.”
Facebook has created an environment where there is no catalog, therefore “quality drives distribution.” (With no distributor, users are responsible for distribution.)
The web is the gaming platform, therefore the cost of production can be lower.
iPhones and other smart phones will make social gaming more accessible for people who have time on the go (vs. in front of a desktop).
Because there isn’t yet a social network imbedded in the mobile experience, distribution is more important. Much of the distribution from iPhone is driven by the Top 25 list.
Sebastian de Halleux of Playfish says: “For us, Facebook is the gaming platform. iPhone is an access device to that gaming platform.”
Companies like Zynga focus on cross promotion between games in their network. But it isn’t required for success. de Halleux notes that a game like Restaurant City achieved 5 million users in 5 weeks.
Most important: quality is the key driver, along with a link to invite a friend to the game.
As Jeremy Liew, of Lightspeed Venture Partners summarized: “Manipulating users to spam their friends is less powerful and effective than building a game experience that users will willingly tell their friends about.”
Zynga is ultra focused on metrics. In contrast, Playfish is ultra focused on fun. de Halleux notes that when everyone in the company can only do one thing, play the game all the time (!) they know they have the right game. In the end, “quality is the driver of distribution,” says de Halleux.
If you design a game in which it is more fun to have your friends involved, it drives distribution.
According to Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, social games need to do 3 things: 1. Give you a feeling of playing with your real friends; 2. Give a way to express yourself (about your unique personality); and 3. Give players the opportunity to invest in the game over time and have something of value.
Demographics: While the industry has sold to the same demographic, male age 25, de Halleux says that Playfish demographics are 50/50 M/F, and age 18-34. Most don’t talk about them as “games”, but rather as social experiences with their friends (“I just spend 2 hours decorating my restaurant with friends.”)
de Halleux says that games are not a science and that fun cannot be modeled. “There is chemistry with small teams of developers with full creative freedom to do something that will impact millions of people. “
When games go live is when the real work starts. This marks a long relationship between the user base and the developer team. Weekly releases nurture the game, and it is essential to listen to what the audience wants.
Pincus talked about the phenomena in which people are spending more money on virtual Christmas tree ornaments than on real Christmas tree ornaments. His theory is that people are increasingly disconnect from their friends in real life and they are staying in touch by social networks, so relatively few people see their real Christmas trees. In contrast, many people see their virtual Christmas trees.
As a culture, we’ve used up all the time we have, we don’t have any unallocated time. Social games enable people to have fun and justify that time by staying in touch with friends. The analogy: each touch point is keeping another spinning plate spinning.
If you’re visiting today from Gretchen Rubin’s “The Happiness Project” on Slate, welcome! We share a common interest in the science and art of happiness and fulfillment - and I’m glad to meet you.
Adding to Gretchen’s great list, one thing I’ve learned about happiness and fulfillment over the past year is from peak performance coach Tony Robbins. A simple but powerful formula:
We’re unhappy when our Life Conditions (”LC”) are not equal our Blueprint (’BP”, ie, our model for how we think things should be).
When that happens, we have 3 choices: 1) we can change our LC; 2) We can change our BP; or 3) We can blame - ourselves or others for our circumstances.
That third choice doesn’t really change anything, so our only real choice is to change our LC or change our BP! (Yet how many of us spend much of our time and energy doing the least powerful choice among those options?)
What’s YOUR take? What’s the most powerful thing you’ve learned recently about the science and art of happiness and fulfillment? Please share your thoughts and comments here on the blog.
…when things go wrong at Amazon—and they occasionally do—the company’s employees get involved. That may be where Amazon stands out most markedly from other companies, and helps explain how the company earned the No. 1 spot on BusinessWeek’s customer service ranking this year.
One recent February day in Manhattan, Jeff Bezos… talked about the distinctions Amazon makes between customer experience and customer service. The latter is only when customers deal with Amazon employees—and Bezos wants that to be the exception rather than the rule. “Internally, customer service is a component of customer experience,” he says. “Customer experience includes having the lowest price, having the fastest delivery, having it reliable enough so that you don’t need to contact [anyone]. Then you save customer service for those truly unusual situations. You know, I got my book and it’s missing pages 47 through 58,” he says, breaking into a booming laugh. Fixing customers’ problems builds loyalty with people, says Bezos.
In contrast, here’s a case study in how a negative customer experience combined with perceived poor customer service can turn a customer from a promoter to a vocal detractor.
Yesterday I purchased a loaf of “Ezekiel 4:9 Cinnamon Raison” bread, made by Food For Life Baking Co., Inc., of Corona, California.
This morning, I took a few bites out of a slice of bread and discovered a foreign object that had been embedded in the bread. This object was easily hard enough that it could have broken a tooth.
The object is a 1/2 inch in length; and appears to be either a piece of a branch or bone.
I called Food For Life Baking Co’s toll free number, and spoke with [first name removed at request of said person] who manages customer service. [She] told me that the object might be a dried grape stem, which could have come in with the raisins from a supplier. She said that Food For Life Baking Co. dumps in the raisins, and wouldn’t notice an object like that. [She] invited me to return the bread and the foreign object to the company, for inspection by their quality control department. And she offered a coupon for a loaf of bread.
That’s not a bad start, but I wasn’t satisfied with the call. The customer service fell short. How so? During the call, I never felt like a valued customer, the company rep didn’t acknowledge that a foreign object in the bread is not right, and didn’t apologize for the situation.
When I asked [the customer service manager] if she’d like some feedback, and explained my perspective, her reply is the money quote: “We get tons of calls with people saying there are odd things in the bread. I’m only doing what I’m told to do.”
For my money, that’s an example of customer service that turns me from a fan into a detractor.
What’s YOUR take? What are examples of superior customer service that have turned you into a loyal customer and maybe even a promoter? What are examples of customer service that have turned you into a detractor?
I quickly saw that Twitter had potential to be special. The value I saw: Twitter enabled people to bond with each other, to develop even stronger and more powerful connections.
A Show About Nothing
People ask me all the time: what’s the point of Twitter? Why should I care about what people are saying? My reply:
“Remember the TV show Seinfeld? It was a show about what? A show about nothing. Those characters talked. A lot. About nothing. And those characters bonded with each other! It’s in the process of talking about the small things, the ordinary, and not the big things, that people bond.”
And that’s what’s happening on Twitter. It is the most powerful tool I’ve seen for creating bonds between people.
My own similar moment of recognition came when I was at the Charles River Ventures CEO Summit April 2007, and Twitter founder @Ev was sitting nearby. I found myself twittering about the founder of Twitter.
Pretty cool. But even cooler is the way Twitter has enabled me to form powerful and lasting connections with so many exceptional people.
And hey, I’d like to follow YOU on Twitter. Let’s connect, I’m @davideckoff.
What’s your take? What makes Twitter special for you?
It was curiosity at first sight. And love at first workout.
That’s the response I had after first seeing - and then trying out - the Cybex Arc Trainer at a client’s fitness center last year.
I was so impressed with the Cybex Arc Trainer that I decided to purchase one for my home gym.
After a false start with the home version of the machine (the 350A Home model, which I didn’t like - more about that after the jump), I upgraded to the top of the line Cybex Arc Trainer 630A (now the 750AT) - the same commercial grade equipment at the gym.
The Cybex Arc Trainer 630A is far and away my favorite cardio fitness equipment. Here’s my assessment of the Cybex Arc Trainer - and why I think it is the best elliptical trainer / cross trainer on the market.
What I Like:
A great workout but not hard on the joints:The unique ”reverse arc” motion moves your legs in a biomechanically correct pathway - reducing stress at your knee. The arc never places your toe behind your knee (when your toe moves behind your knee there is significantly more stress applied to your knee joint).
Adjustable stride height: This is where the Cybex Arc Trainer really shines. With other elliptical trainers, your stride height remains fixed in the same position. With the Cybex Arc Trainer, the stride height - how high your knees come up as you stride - is adjustable. As Cybex describes: “At the lower incline levels, the ‘glide’ is a cross country skier. In the mid-range levels, the motion is a ’stride’ (like an elliptical except with proper positioning). At the high levels, the ‘climb’ of a stepper or climber.” I like the variety this provides in my workouts, both physical and mental. Especially during the “Hill Profile” programmed workout.
Natural movement of legs and arms:With the Arc Trainer, as your right leg moves forward, your right arm moves forward at the same time. This allows you to always maintain optimal posture during exercise, which virtually eliminates stress on your back. And it tracks similarly to the way your legs and arms move same side when running (which I prefer). With other cross trainers, your arms and legs move in opposite directions.
Display: The digital display is easy to use and easy to read. The upper display shows distance, calories, calories/hour, METs, watts, strides per minute and heart rate; lower display shows time, incline and resistance level.
Solid feel: everything about the fit and finish of the Cybex Arc Trainer is solid and well put together.
Smooth ride: The Cybex Arc Trainer is the BMW of elliptical trainers.
Self powered: does not require a power cord (one less tangle of power cord = simplicity).
Wide cup holder: Accommodates even my relatively wide CamelBak bottle.
Cybex employees: The employees I spoke with on the phone were helpful, friendly and professional. Particularly Bill Domineau, Vice President of Customer Service, who enabled me to do a paid upgrade from the 350A Home which I hated, to the 630A which I love. Dear Cybex, you have a winner with Bill!
What Could Be Better:
Tray: the “magazine rack” lacks a good place to put your iPod, the shelf is too narrow. In an otherwise well designed high-end machine, this is an oversight, given that most of users have MP3 players.
No cool down function: The Cybex Arc Trainer doesn’t have a cool down function. You can get around this by starting another 10 minute workout in Manual program, with low level and low incline. But on a high-end machine, I’d expect the work out programs would have the option for a cool down.
Safety of children and pets: the way the hinged parts move, you MUST be 100% sure that children and pets are kept out of the room while you workout. This is not optional, this is otherwise potentially extremely dangerous. A child or pet investigating the machine while you exercise could be seriously injured or worse by the force of the moving parts near the base of the machine. While there is a warning sticker on the machine, I’d like to see Cybex engineers design a machine that has more safety space between the base and the moving parts.
After the jump:
My mini-review of the Cybex Arc Trainer 350A Home
So what do YOU think? What’s your favorite exercise equipment? What do you like best about it?
This competition, designed to help a Georgia-based start up technology company launch its business, has one of the largest prizes in the country: $100,000 cash plus $200,000 in kind services. The competition also offers entrants the opportunity to be mentored by a successful high tech entrepreneur.
I heard some outstanding presentations at last year’s competition. Will YOUR company win the competition this year? Could be!
If you’re a Georgia-based tech start up, interested in competing, be aware of the due dates (coming up soon). And you’ll want to see the TAG website for terms and conditions, how to apply, FAQ, etc.
What’s your take? What else can be done to make Atlanta - and Georgia - even better for technology start ups?
Bonus: Kick-off event presentation by ATDC venture catalyst Lance Weatherby:
I’m almost finished exporting my blog from Movable Type to WordPress. More new posts shortly. In meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on the new blog. What do you like? What could I do different?
David Eckoff is a technology entrepreneur, advisor to media & technology companies and business/media educator.
Co-founder of Spitter; President of Revolutionary Ventures. Previously Vice President New Product Development Turner Broadcasting, RealNetworks, Rivals.com, IBM. Ustream.tv; Zazzle; Kaneva.
If you’re visiting today from Gretchen Rubin’s “
I’m super enthusiastic about being asked to be a semi-finals judge again for the 
