Gone Boarding

HARO (aka Shankman's Army) means Journalists need NEVER write ALONE

2008-08-28T16:31:00Z

Networker Keith Ferrazzi constantly reinforces the mantra “Never Eat Alone”

Bill Shankly manager of Liverpool FC was used to hearing “You’ll never walk alone” chanted by a huge loyal fan base that became known as “Shanky’s Red Army”. Shankly’s Army was a formidable force that supported Bill in winning many soccer trophies during his leadership of the world famous club. Here’s the lyrics to the famous song

When you walk through the storm
Hold your head up high,
And don’t be afraid of the dark.
At the end of the storm is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.

Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Though your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on walk on, with hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone

Play it now

Peter Shankman is as much as a networker as Keith. Keith is armed with his rolodex of of 5,000+ managed contacts, but Peter has an even larger willing army of followers - a crowd I’ve named Shankman’s Army and “crowd” is the right word. With the use of this wise crowd no journalist need ever write alone again.

Today Peter Shankman, marketing extremo and creator of the free service “HARO” or http://www.helpareporter.com has got his own army of 25,000+ PR warriors, each experts in their own fields. It’s an army that’s growing very fast and spreading by word of mouth and reputation. More and more journalists are learning to trust the service too.

Each day Peter sends out three emails including a total of around 100 requests each from folks in the media (journalists and bloggers alike) seeking sources for their forthcoming articles.

Shankman’s Army works “for free” to answer these queries and is allowing Peter to compete with the “for fee” service offered by Profnet

I got to thinking about the power of an army that can fire off hundreds of targeted responses to each media query, I was reminded of two authors/books/concepts;

1/ James Surowiecki’s book The Wisdom of Crowds

James argues that a large crowd is smarter than a small team of experts when the crowd is large, diverse and acts independently. The book does a great job of justifying this. The Wisdom of Crowds explains the power of so many Web 2.0 concepts such a Wikepedia. HARO certainly meets these criteria; 25k is large, they are by definition diverse and they have no idea how others are responding to specific media queries. Just like “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” each journalist can poll from a large independent crowd, sure each member has their own bias, but that is itself the diversity.

Compare this to Profnet which has a smaller crowd who are more elite simply by the fact they choose to pay to use this service. What seems appealing to journalists is being able to reach out to a faster, fresher and more dynamic set of opinions and experts.

2/ Eric S Raymond’s book The Cathedral and the Bazzar (CATB)

CATB is based around the experiences of open source software model (release frequently and often) which is much more free form (it’s compared to a Bazaar) , which is contrasted to The Cathedral (or more the build it and they shall come model of software development where control of a project is in the hands of the few vs the many).

Download the 96K .mp3 file of Eric Raymond reading The Cathedral and the Bazaar.

In the first model many people contribute, there is duplication, but this is managed and controlled by an approval process. There is wasted effort, but the end result is impressive, it’s been proven you can build big things fast and keep the development moving. It lives and dies for approval and reputation. Contrast this to Cathedral model where a single design is followed and dictated. The reason I mention this is there is a lot of wasted effort in the Shankman/HARO Model, but participation is optional. People only contribute because they can see the value of the reward. The cost to the contributor is time. With the Cathedral model you get less contributors/waste, but you get a more rigid and predictable response. This means you also get a less well-informed media. A “for fee” model limits the contributors, but divides the media attention pie in a more controlled manor. To me the “Wisdom of Crowds-ness” of HARO and its “Bazaar” like contribution model are part if its intrigue and part of what will keep propelling it forward.

What I really like about HARO is the diversity with sources coming from small and large media sources. It’s more accessible, but the competition is also much more fierce. It’s another example of how the internet can drive cost down to zero.

Keep up the good work

When is your accident waiting to happen?

2008-08-28T07:12:01Z

It’s only been a couple of weeks since I watched The Bucket List and the thing that struck me - Bucket Lists arent just for the nearly dead.

I’m 44 years old and just yesterday I had an accident while at home alone. I fell from 6 feet landing on my back and my elbow. I was winded, my neck was hurt and today my ribs are aching. I was lucky. It could easily have been serious even fatal.

This evening I learned of the death of Dave Freeman, co-author of 100 Things to Do Before You Die aged 47. It makes you think. Get on with your list before you find its too late.

Dave died at home after hitting his head in a fall. A simple innocent accident. Plans can so easily be interrupted.

I’ve become much more conscious of my Bucket List. Last week I went Kite Surfing for the first time, which has been on my list for a long time. Today the wind was blowing, but I was in no state to get on my board and go. How telling is that.

In Game Advertising - Not just the domain of Video/Console Games

2008-08-26T19:25:00Z

I’ve been thinking this for a while, but it’s so funny how word association plays on people’s minds.

The common meaning of the term “Game” used to refer to “Board Games” and over the last 20 years has changed. It’s funny I used to write “Computer Games” and now I publish “Board Games”. No longer is the prefix “Computer” needed. Today “Games” means computer game and “Board Games” need the prefix. That took a long time to change and talks to the power of association.

Most times people’s word associations are correct, eg Coffee = Hot (it’s funny to note here that despite this lawyers would have us write this on our coffee cup. God bless America)

Here’s a couple of association that I know to be wrong;

Canada = Cold (Wrong I live in Kelowna where we grow grapes and make great wine - it’s very hot here in the summer. The lake is warm. I wear no wet-suit!)
In Game Advertising = Video/Console Games (Wrong - don’t forget about board games

I’ve always thought of GiftTRAP as an advertising medium (we can feature real branded items in the game), this was very much something we designed into the game. I’ve been reading a little around the subject and it seems people’s common perception is set that they think this “In Game Advertising” refers to Video/Console Games. This just isn’t true.

I can also site other examples such a “Destination” games who I know charge for tourist based ad-placement in their board games.

Many games are walking adverts if you follow the trend for licensed content with games such as CSI Miami game, which is in effect an advert for the TV show. Games of all types are almost by definition social and conversational - this probably applies more to party games than console games which are less about conversation.

For me the difference is in an online game you can charge per click. People can make a small investment and walk away. You can easily place adverts across a number of titles and consume your ad spend based on the games people play.

With physical board games that’s not so easy. There’s also a cat and mouse game of wait and see how many games you sell before any board game becomes an advertising medium.

i’ve heard from a couple of sources that the tipping point is somewhere around the 75-100k mark.

If a game can demonstrate this kind of sales then you can easily charge for placing content in the game.

Conversely prior to any games being sold their is a reluctance to any kind of association - even if the game is free.

I can personally attest to that and know that now it’s actually quite easy to get people’s agreement to have their IP featured in the game as we approach the 50k unit mark.

I look forward to experiencing the upside of possibilities as we approach the 100k mark in future print runs and editions of the game.

One of the most innovative suggestions for GiftTRAP was for actually give it away simply by funding the game totally through in game advertising and produce placement. This seems like a fun option, but we’d have to be careful not to mess with the dynamics of the game. For now it’s back to work selling games for cash!

The Unofficial meta list of "The Bucket List" lists

2008-08-25T20:38:00Z

Reviews of The Bucket List

Blog Posts about the concept of “Bucket Listing"

This is the interesting stuff. They mostly relate to the idea than the movie and people’s different reactions to the idea. Many of these posts include examples of items for your Bucket List

Actual “Bucket Lists”

Bucket List Applications

http://bucketlists.wetpaint.com/
http://www.squidoo.com/whats_on_your_bucket_list
http://www.43things.com

Podcasts on BucketLists

http://archives.onpointradio.org/shows/2008/01/20080123_b_main.asp

Where to buy

http://www.amazon.com/Bucket-List-Jack-Nicholson/dp/B000YAF4MA
http://www.play.com/DVD/Blu-ray/4-/4985993/The-Bucket-List/Product.html
http://www.booksamillion.com/product/K085391139881?id=4187419819352

Related Products

GiftTRAP (more to follow)

OK, there's is a "licensed" game that is actually a good game

2008-08-16T23:29:00Z

I’ve been complaining lately about the disservice the board game industry has done to itself by publishing a constant stream of here today gone tomorrow board games based on the latest Fad of a TV show or Movie.

I’ve mentioned these games are typically play once at best and I said there’s wasn’t a single game that breaks that rule (well probably).

Pillars of the Earth based on the book by Ken Follett is a notable exception to this rule.

I thought I’d better confess this omission. Actually I’d forgotten all about it.

Now it also happens to be a “Designer Game”. It’s designed by Michael Rieneck and Stefan Stadler, who are both respected Designers.

So my new rule is "There is no high replay value ‘licensed’ games unless it happens to be a Designer game"

I'm obviously in "List Mode" : Gratitude Lists vs Bucket Lists

2008-08-16T21:09:00Z

Thought of the day.

Does it really all come down to lists?

A “Bucket List” for the long term to make sure you don’t forget about the stuff you really want to achieve.

And a “Gratitude List” for the short term to remind you where you are, who you are and all that surrounds you and all that you have already achieved.

It seems like a happy balance. Be happy in the moment - Happy to look back and happy to look forward. Happy to be.

5 reasons to change the name of your Facebook App

2008-08-16T18:45:00Z

Yes, you can change the name. I guess there is a risk people will wonder what the apps is if you change the name too much.

I must confess, I’ve changed the name of our GiftTRAP app several times just to see if I can improve visibility in the Apps Directory. Do people really search the apps directory apart from people in the Facebook apps business. Probably not!

Our current name is GiftTRAP’s “Can you guess my ‘Bucket List’ game"

There are many reasons, but mainly were late to market. People are jaded on Facebook in so many ways. Here’s a few of the issues;

Too Many invites
Too Many Apps (30k)
Apps usage has hit a plateau
Too many copy cat apps
Too many apps that do nothing of value

The name “giftTRAP” is well known in online board game community, but that’s a small sub segment of the global population of party game, so first I think we need to try and hook people into using our app and then teach them a little more about a real world cardboard board game. If you already have a crowd on Facebook (with an existing app) then it’s easy to get users for your new app, but building from zero is simply a hard slog.

Simply put we missed the whole early adoption Facebook wave. I wrote our app myself using Ruby on Rails (I had to learn it) and I’m no coding superstar, but I can get by. I had to switch from rFacebook to Facebooker (which delayed us further) and we’d began with a standalone all.

What’s interesting is that depite all the issues I still think a Facebook is proably better than having a standalone app. Whilst people are jaded on Facebook to more apps, they are even more jaded to registering for yet another service. It’s the better of all evils. With our original standalone app we found a lot of people would register with one of their email addresses and then send themselves a gift to another of their email addresses. I guess we are all so SPAM paranoid. What happened to the trust in this world? At least that doesn’t happen with a Facebook app.

Our app been through several iterations to figure how to translate an award winning game into an online game. Perhaps we’re not there yet, but to my mind our apps is unique, it actually does something and we have clusters of users who get it and play it a lot. I think we’ve got some cool stuff in the analytics especially when you play amongst a group of friends and compete to see who knows your mutual friends best.

Being a “Virtual Gifting” app is both a plus and a minus. On the positive side I’ve estimated that half a billion virtual gifts have been send across all the Social Networking platforms, ie people have heard of the concept. The downside is it’s easy to get lost in the noise. People who have a virtual gifting app of choice aren’t really looking for a replacement and perhaps were making it harder by doing something more. Our is actually a game and not just the idea of sending a virtual gift.

So i’ve always wanted to find a way to differentiate ourselves. Secret Santa is one way - it’s a quick connection. GiftTRAP is the “Santa” of board games. It’s funny but there are probably 20 or so Secret Santa app. Again were slightly different here. Our game is about giving virtual gifts and not about organizing the postage of physical items. That said it’s a bait and switch game - we’ve seen people opt to play GiftTRAP instead of Secret Santa - it’s just so much greener. Who needs some $5 gag gift to put out in the trash anyway.

So along comes The Bucket List. It’s an amazing coincidence but nearly all the things featured in the movie are in the game plus a whole lot more besides.

I’ve estimated 20 million people have seen The Bucket List. There are many people that get the idea of Secret Santa, but The Bucket List is so much more current and probably a better connection - as the focus is really about thinking about what you want in life and that’s really the focus of GiftTRAP.

It’s actually very hard to get your app out into the right social group (whoever they maybe). I must confess to not really feeling that I’m part of the FB generation, but I’m trying to learn, I guess it’s like trying to teach my old dad how to use a computer. This old dog hasn’t given up yet. I keep tweaking and fiddling and will continue to do so and it’s a lot of fun learning what works and what doesn’t

If I ever write a book on “The Story behind giftTRAP” it will be an interesting read. I’ll need a better title.

So back to the renaming, why?

Too many “Gift Apps” - it’s impossible to standout when there are 500+ apps themed around gifts. Amazingly there’s even an app to make Gift Apps which kind of explains point 1
GiftTRAP and “Bucket Lists” are a good fit. It kind of overcomes some of the materialism thoughts that GiftTRAP can communicate to those who haven’t played the board game
OK, so the Bucket List is a hot topic (although I’m late again)
It’s all about the Application Search Engine. Both the name and the 250 character description matter here. The sequence of words matter and it gives different weighting to the title vs the description. I’m shooting blind here as to my knowledge there’s no public data on what people search for on Facebook. So I don’t know what is key. There’s no public data on daily visits to specific groups. So I’ve tried to make my app name and my 250 character description work as hard as possible

Will it be the right thing? Time will tell. Perhaps there’s a few more tweaks along the way.

It’s all about timing and aiming to peak in time for The Holidays. There are many things that need to align to make this happen, but this seemed like a smart timely move to make.

I’ve also written some new copy for use on online sites to describe GiftTRAP in the context of Secret Santa and The Bucket List.

I’ll also be working on a few more posts around the Bucket List theme. I’m amazed just how many posting there are on the web about The Bucket List.

The good news is there’s 8000+ monthly active users on other “Bucket List” app ( I guess I could call it the official one). And there’s a similar number for the Movie page of the same name.

GiftTRAP is now on the first page for “Secret Santa” “Gift Exchange” and “Bucket List”

With 500 Gift Apps on Facebook I really struggle to get how this can be the case. Who are these people? Who does they perpetuate to use these apps? I’d love to know, to learn the bit I’m missing.

There are over 70 gift apps with 10,000 Monthly Active Users or more. What are these apps. There’s such specialization it’s amazing. There’s even a “Rotherham” gifts app which is small soccer team in northern England (no offense - I’m from Southport originally who’s club even smaller). I must confess to not having examined every single gift-app but I guess the economics must stack up.

What’s frustrating, but I can’t see a route through it is non of these apps have any reason to be in the “Gift Exchange” business for any other reason that ad revenue. We may have a legitimate product, but that’s kind of irrelevant. If you can’t beat it join them.

GiftTRAP is the "Can you Guess my 'Bucket List' Game'

2008-08-14T23:17:00Z

There I said it. That feels better.

GiftTRAP is The Bucket List as a board game.

I’m so excited to have finally watched this movie, but it’s funny its taken a few days for it to really sink in.

As I watched it and the plot unfolded I got drawn into the characters the movie flew by. I really enjoyed it. It was only afterwards that I tried to check of the list of items on their list and cross check them to GiftTRAP. Well they are pretty much all there. We’ve got The Great Wall of China (but not on a bike - not any easy photo to find), but we do have Cross the USA on your Dream Bike. It’s not that this is significant it’s just that thinking about things to do before you die is a new way to look at the game and it’s purpose.

We’d gone down the “Gift” path simply as the game was inspired by the question “How does Santa Pick gifts for Children”. Quickly the gifts expanded to include charitable acts, gifts of time and aspirational items, even fantasy skills and experiences.

Many people’s instant reaction to GiftTRAP had been “Oh how materialistic”, which is just so sad and completely wrong. Those who have looked closer confirm this is not true. We even have a quote about this on the box. In this world you always struggle to go against people’s first impressions. So I’m delighted to have a hit movie like the bucket list bring this type of “What shall I do with my Life” into the public discussion.

As I read some of the blog posts about the movie. It was a surprise box office hit and a bunch of the reviews where mediocre. I’d have to say I don’t agree.

I’d estimated something like 20 million people have seen the movie already and in the few test conversations I’ve had this association can only be a positive thing for GiftTRAP,

I thought Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman were amazing together. The main criticism seemed to be that the movie glorified Cancer. There were multiple sarcastic comments about being lucky enough to find yourself sharing a room with a billionaire. Did it glorify Cancer?

To me that just want not the point of the movie it became clear to me - “Bucket Lists aren’t for the nearly dead”

Life is prescious. Time ticks by. We all die one day. It’s good for the soul to set yourself goals. Put a timeline to it. Check things off early and don’t leave it to a last minue rush where you need to meet a billionaire in the next bed.

Go build your bucket list today. Then share it and compare it with your friends an their lists.

I’m having a bunch of thoughts and ideas about this. What to do? How, when who?

I know I normally hate licensed games, but Warner Brothers - perhaps GiftTRAP is your Bucket List game. It’ more likely some suckey game will come out and that would be fun and make it easy to make the connection.
Which movie reviewers would review GiftTRAP and discuss the connection?
Can I get cross selling both in-store and online. The Bucket List is a top selling DVD right now.
Join in the discussion about the movie
Create a Bucket List Poll
Are we missing any bucket list style items from the game? (there’s an expansion pack theme)
How about a Bucket List Party? - What would that look like
In a world with too many press releases what kind of release can we make that will get noticed

I’m sure this won’t the the last post in this subject.

I do wonder about the negative connotations of “death”. Is the movie good for kids? It may be a PG 13 movie, but it’s almost not the watching that’s important. It’s good to go through the exercise thinking.

For me these are all positive. For me it’s not about death and it’s about teaching your kids to learn to dream and to live every day as your last (it’s about doing it yourself, but then it’s not what I think that matters here - it’s what’s the mass “popular” reaction to the association.

PBwiki "Back to School" Challenge - USA ONLY

2008-08-10T20:30:00Z

GiftTRAP is a great teaching aid

GiftTRAP has won awards from Dr Toy and The National Parenting Center. It’s been voted "Best Party Game" by Creative Child Magazine and Games Magazine. It’s on sale worldwide in 8 different languages.

It’s been purchased by teachers in Canada as a bilingual game to teach elements of non-violent communication and to develop the skills of self-awareness, empathy and intuition. It’s great game for developing sparse decision making skills with little or no data. It’s also good for developing listening skills and curious questioning. It’s a great conversation/ice-breaker game that’s now it’s available in a limited edition English/Spanish game (GiftTRAP California) with totally child friendly content. It’s also been used in ESL schools to help develop vocabulary in conversational exercises.

GiftTRAP also includes a selection of green and charitable gift ideas which are a great way to explore how people prioritize these choices. It’s great for promoting debate.

It’s simply a great game for kids 5 and up. It’s equally fun to play with adults and therefore a great game for families to really connect and to develop their bilingual skills. It’s great for getting kids past their single word response mechanism. Themed around exchanging gifts, its the Secret Santa of board games that helps kids and adults develop their skills for self expression and the appreciation of others. It quickly teaches players that they need to both express their passions and equally be active listeners.

We’d love you to contribute

Get the game, talk to us, give use your feedback. We’ve learned “Exchanging Gifts” is an emotional and culturally diverse topic. Everyone has opinions that’s a fun subject to write about. Send us your gift stories or ideas. We have some great lesson plan ideas and we want to collaborate with you to develop new ideas. We also have other “card” games you can play with the kids, extending the versatility of the game.

So Buy Now. That’s less than $12.50 per game. Feel free to exploit this offer for fund raising efforts in your schools, we simply ask that you share your successes. We’d love to hear and publish your stories. We’d recommend playing with 4-5 players per copy in class. GiftTRAP is on sale in Barnes & Noble for $29.95+tax.

So that’s an amazing saving of around $170 by the time you account for shipping costs.

We’re very excited to be part of this PBwiki “Back to School” challenge. It’s a great opportunity for us to target out brand at 250,000 teachers and librarias who then influence millions of children.

Board Games are a form of "Arts & Culture" - Discuss

2008-08-08T00:23:00Z

I’ve picked up on this theme a couple of times when surfing the net. It’s begun to niggle in my mind. In fact i posted a suggestion on a website that in my humble opinion should have had a “Games” section to match their “Books” and “Movies” sections.

It was at MindfulMom.com where I posted a comment and a minor rant. Funny but a day later as I went back to find my comment to link to it I notice I was listened to! Way to go. The power of free speech. Susan Kaiser-Greenland responded to my comment and has agreed to add a “Games“ section. I hope this is the beginning of a movement

A few things have made me think that whilst it’s perhaps not perceived to be the case that there is a strong argument that board games (in fact I’m talking about “games” regardless of medium) should fight for an equal standing in the world along with other commonly understood pillars of the “Arts & Culture Club”

Authors/Books
Music/Bands
Plays/Theatre
Actors/Producers/Movies/Videos

What causes me to comment on this is that as I cruise sites on the web like Entertainment Weekly or LA Times I notice they have review sections for all of the above categories but nothing for Games.

I pick on these sites randomly. There’s no doubt an exhaustive list of sites which consistently fail to recognise the social significance of gaming.

According to Wikipedia Art is defined as;

“Art refers to a diverse range of human activities, creations, and expressions that are appealing or attractive to the senses or have some significance to the mind of an individual.”

and Culture is defined as;

“Culture can be defined as all the ways of life including arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation. Culture has been called ‘the way of life for an entire society.’ As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, norms of behavior such as law and morality, and systems of belief as well as the art.”

In my mind games fit into both definitions, perhaps not all games, but them I’m sure not all books/movies/plays qualify too. Every sector has it’s own diverse offerings.

I’ve got some theories why this is the case, but it’s an issue that’s been bugging me and I thought I’d air it and work on beginning to develop a strategy to try to take “Gaming” back having a level footing with all these other forms of Arts & Culture

My first observation is that the games industry has done little to promote itself and position itself to have a rightful place in the minds of the consumer alongside books, movies, music etc. Now the unnatural dominance of the sector by giants Hasbro and Mattel does not help this cause. Monopoly, Scrabble, Candyland are all deeply embedded in our culture, but I’m not sure they are “art”. They vary in great degrees to which they might be considered “Art” - Scrabble I’d vote as art for sure

Many mass-produced games are designed to meet the demands of a throwaway audience, a trend that does little for developing the category. Buyers at the likes of Walmart and Toys ‘R Us are looking for highly advertised of highly branded games. Their focus is on sales and the exploitation of fads for the latest TV show or movie and not for the development of the category and the popularization of board games.

There is an emerging sector of games called “Designer” games (so named because the name of the designer is on the box). This trend began in Germany where games are a much deeper part of the social fabric than there are in North America. There are also design differences in the way the game plays and how it’s made and how it’s usually closely and meaningfully themed. These games are all about fun choices, about keeping all players involved to the end of the game and they are all about high re-playability.

Today there are a number of “Designer” games that are crossing into mainstream culture (and even stores like Walmart and Toys ‘R Us) They are typically games that have sold in excess of a million copies. Great examples of such games are Carcasonne by Klaus J켼rgen Wrede published by Rio Grande and Settlers of Catan by Klaus Teuber published by Mayfair Games.

Notice the parallel to books where a title has both an author and a publisher. Both these games won the highly coveted “Spiel Des Yahre” Award and many other awards besides.

Interestingly Barnes and Noble is probably the leader in taking these “Designer” games to the market place. They have a game section featuring many “Designer” games alongside some of the familiar classics and sales growth is strong. They have been rewarded for supporting this category. There’s also a whole series of independent board game stores out there who need your support, these stores, usually run by enthusiasts know the games they sell, they know how to play them and how to help match you to the right game. Many have demo copies and can show you what’s in a specific game.

For me a great game store, just like a great book store places staff reviews on their favorite games.

There’s something like 1,000 new games launched each year - not quite as many as books, but its still significant. There are something like 30,000 games logged on boardgamegeek.com.

I’m certainly not trying to answer all the issues right here and now. i’m simply seeking to put a stake in the ground and to think a little more about these issues and then try to catalog a more complete response over time.

I’m also curious if I can seek to drum up support to make sure I’m not the only person in the industry who’s banging this drum.

Scrabulous finally dropped from Facebook Apps directory

2008-08-01T17:23:00Z

Scrabulous finally dropped from Facebook Apps directory

Within 48 hours of the launch of Wordscaper the Scabulous app has finally been removed from the Application Directory

It now says the following if you try to go directly to the Scrabulous page.

“Application “Scrabulous” has been restricted

We’re sorry but you’re unable to access this application due to restrictions put in place by either the developer of the application or by Facebook. Please visit the Application Directory for other applications.”

I’m assuming this is global.

So the current Hasbro vs Wordscaper score is 67k vs 85k

That’s not bad in 48 hours, but Hasbro is still climbing too.

I’d expected that Wordscraper might do better. And now they are on their own if searching for “Scrabble” doesnt get you to find “Wordscaper”

My sense is when the dust settles we’ll see that the Agarwalla brothers do a better job of continuing to innovate and to listen to their users.

Will Wordscraper pass Hasbro by tomorrow?

Conspiracy Theory - Scrabulous: PR scam funded by street savvy Hasbro

2008-08-01T06:08:00Z

I must confess to feeling sorry for Hasbro on occasions for their stupidity. Now if someone told me Scrabulous (Wordscraper) was a “plant” funded for Hasbro I’d be impressed - all generated by an idea from some off the wall “social media” agency - then I’d laugh out loud..

Not only have they benefited from increased sales of Scrabble - it’s practically been relaunched, they also sell a million plus copies per year so their brand isn’t doing too bad and instead of applauding the innovation they stamp all over it.

I’m commenting as an indie board game publisher of the award winning party game GiftTRAP, which is built on the back of Creative Commons licenses, so I’m a huge supporter of this “mix it up” school. The CC guys have have really supportive of our game and we couldn’t have made our game a success without it. Yet success is all about attention and you’d think Hasbro would get that.

To me it’s a crime to “kill” the attention Scrabulous has given them. Was Hasbro really thinking people wanted to switch to a legal version of their game. I laughed when I read a defensive quote from Hasbro saying they “will continue to innovate on Scrabble” - (oh I forgot about the Onyx version)

I’ve published a Facebook app of my game and so I know how hard it is. Launching a virtual gift-exchange game a year after Free Gifts and Facebook Gifts have delivered 150 million virtual gifts is huge. Social media sites like Flickr, LinkedIn, Boardgamegeek and Facebook have been our saviour in getting our game to market. To get attention it’s all about timing and story.

People don’t just use the apps because they are there. The edgyness and illegality of the Scrabulous game was half the attraction. Facebook has dampened the impact of apps and users have lost their curiosity. I’m not surprised with 30k apps on offer.

I’d trade in our “Best Party Game” award for a share of their attention but it doesnt happen that way.

What I dislike most about the big game companies is they don’t really have to try. It’s not about the games anymore (we don’t need more new copies of the same old stuff), it’s about the control of the channels to market. Consumers just keep buying monopoly spinoffs, Onyx scrabble sets and the list goes on. How many times can people buy the same games. http://boardgamegeek.com is a great place to look for truly great games and read what real people think.

Just please don’t buy any licensed/branded games - “Some sad Shrek Game” or “Desperate Housewives Trivia.”. Just like buying a good book make sure if you buy a game that is has awards and great reviews form trusted sources. These “cookie cutter” games have no innovation and you’ll pretty much play them once and forget them if you are lucky.

The problem or the miracle of something like Scrabble/Monopoly etc is that it’s become a self repeating part of culture. It’s almost genetic.

So go on break the mold and go buy an indie game. Even better buy one in the summer and really buck the trend!

Scrabulous to Wordscraper transformation not quite a 48 hour miracle!

2008-07-31T07:03:00Z

Firstly I’ve got to say I like the name Wordscraper”

Speaking as an indie board game inventor/publisher I like it. I know from experience that naming your game is far from easy.

And obviously they needed to avoid any resemblance to “Scrabble”

And the speed of development was fast

Well actually not quite so fast.

According to an update that’s visible on Facebook it seems it was fully functional by April 6, 2008

So now I give even more Kudos to the whole affair and to the Agarwalla brothers for having the skill to time their moves.

It’s becoming a well-managed media show and some great strategic execution. I’m wondering what else do they have up their sleeve!

First the wave of coverage all about the lawsuit

Next the wave all about the shutdown

And now a third wave all about the rebirth of Scrabulous as Wordscraper

So all along we thought that perhaps Hasbro has timed their lawsuit to coincide with release of EA’s buggy hacker friendly version of Scrabble

So now we have two not so nimble not so popular not so scalable Scrabble apps from Hasbro and Mattel

And we get a cool new app from Scrabulous that has probably been ready all this time.

Full kudos to them for playing the game. Hasbro and Mattel must be wondering what next.

Maximizing and controlling the release of information and planning their responses is a very smart thing to do.

And in starting with a new app from scratch they achieve two things;

1/ They prove the Hasbro et all that it’s not about being called something like Scrabble
2/ They show they the working effectively with social media is all about speed and timing

Im second guessing lots of stuff here, but the update is there for all to see.

So the big question is how fast will people jump to use Wordscaper?

Well get a good clue tomorrow, but the information broke a bit late to have much impact on tomorrow user numbers.

How much will it grow from around 200 daily active users.

How fast can they get past Hasbro’s Scrabble game that I think had reached 50k users.

Well have to wait and see.

Will Scrabulous users now be encouraged to migrate?

The Big Word Scrap Continues : Scrabulous rises from ashes as Wordscraper

2008-07-31T05:47:00Z

It’s funny as I thought two things the other day about what Scrabulous should do.

a/ Change the name
b/ Make the board random and saveable

Bingo!

I got both features with 48 hours of closedown.

It’s a bit like Scrabble goes opensource.

Lets see what turns out to be the most popular board/scoring layout now?

What can Hasbro & Mattel do?

Watch, listen, learn.

Here’s the link to Wordscraper

I’m so glad the “Davids” had a counter move for the “Golliaths”.

This is such fun to watch as a board game pubhlisher and a Facebook app developer.

And will Wordscraper be on sale in board game stores.

Who knows.

Why not

The would turn a web revolt into a consumer boom

There’s currently only 197 daily active users.

Will it explode?

A great way to make any inventor happy -The Hours of Pleasure Principle!

2008-07-30T16:40:00Z

Creativity can be a curse! Being an inventor isn’t just fun. There are many ups and downs on the road to success. Many ideas don’t make it off the runway. Some fail when they reach the market. Just getting your idea to market is an amazing achievement but that “happiness” derived from this activity can soon dwindle. So here’s an idea I picked up along…

A Makeover

I was transformed as a joke from n executive into a homeless bum by my father-in-law.

a variety pack of beer

My dad was notorious for not knowing us well enough to give us a gift that we could truly enjoy and not asking us what we wanted. To me, the best types of gifts are ones that are thought of and not expected but enjoyed. I was almost dreading my dad’s gift because this year he had, yet again, not asked what I wanted. I expected some type gadget or book that would come close to an interest of mine, but not quite be on the mark. My dad got me a variety pack of beers. At the time, I was just starting to enjoy the diversity of beer and loved to try new types. You can imagine my surprise when I opened the gift and it was something that I not only liked, but would most definately use. He had hit a homerun and it was a gift that he had come up with on his own. That was years ago and I still remember it.

200 toothbrushes

My husband and I invited his friend who was a dentist to our wedding. When we went to open his gift it was wrapped lovely and we were excited to open this gift. Upon opening it we saw 200 toothbrushes! All of these 200 toothbrushes were stamped with his name because he was a dentist. It was an interesting gift and to say the least. Whenever we are asked what was the most interesting or memorable gift, we always answer “toothbrushes”.

Peace and Love

Two things that we all value and desire.

Worlds Largest Pecan

This was once the world’s largest Pecan...You should have seen the tree…

Weiner Mobile

Its the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile.

Garden Gnome

This is Carl. He was an actually gift that my father gave to me. I am not really sure why, it was a little odd. I gave him the name Carl because that is my fathers middle name.

DVD's

Ten of your favourite movies

The Clothes my father in law gave me (on the right!)

A Pickup Truck to Replace my Porsche

My blue-collar father-in-law gave me a pick-up truck, which he knew I didn’t want or need, and which cost him plenty. He wanted me to drive one, so he sent it to me!

Overalls and Work Boots to Replace My Pinstriped Suits and Italian Wingtips

My father-in-law is a powerful presence in our lives. He is a bricklayer; I am an investment banker. He has wanted me to turn into a blue collar worker like himself since I met my wife. He never had a son and wants someone to take over his one-man business.

We have been married twelve years now, and not a visit goes by without a comment about how I should say goodbye to my white collar life and become the man I was made to be! All of his gifts are related to that.

Two years ago there was a surprise birthday party for me at my office; there my father-in-law presented me with a pair of overalls, work boots and white socks - and insisted as a “joke” that I swap my business attire for his gifts.

Well, this was followed up by the whole crowd demanding the same thing, and I finally gave in and changed.

My father-in-law kept up the “joke” by stealing
my “banker clothes” as he calls them, announcing that I wouldn’t need them anymore! So by the time I left, my Armani pinstriped suit, silk tie, white shirt, cufflinks, English wingtips and black dress socks were piled in a heap in his truck and I was dressed as the blue collar man he wants me to be.

A lousy gift.

Live Lobster Gift Certificate

Gift Certificate for Live Lobster. The recipent can redeem the certificate for the lobster or other seafood at their convenience.

Romantic Lobster Dinner For Two

Valentine Gift - Romantic Lobster Dinner for Two.

Live Lobster

Live Lobster delivered direct from Nova Scotia to your door within 24hrs. Available throughout North America.

Mouse Box

My worst gift ever received would probably be a mouse.

However, this mouse was not a functional mouse. It was a hollow case in which you can (evidently) store things (maybe a smaller, functioning, mouse).

Just looking at it filled me with frustration, as it reminded me of a real mouse, yet was useless.

My brother replaced the family’s computer mouse with this monstrosity, causing confusion for minutes. It was the only purpose this gift ever served.