Steve Jobs vs. Ezio Auditore: On Leaving Behind What You Started

I think it is fair to say one of the biggest fears we all share is that we will be unable to finish what we started; that we will die before our dreams can ever come true. I know that fear is always at the back of my mind. When it was announced that Steve Jobs, age 56, passed away last year, I couldn’t help but wonder: in his final moments, was he satisfied with the state of Apple or at least satisfied with Apple’s current path of development as a company? Did he feel like he completed what he set out to do?

Those same thoughts rushed back in my head when I finished Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. For those not familiar with the series, one of the main protagonists, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, joins the Assassin brotherhood and leads it in the fight against the Templars and, of course, avenges the death of his father and brothers who were killed at the hands of the Templars. In Revelations, the last game in the series to feature him, Ezio Auditore, age 52, [SPOILER] moves on with his life and announces that he has done everything he could to leave his legacy:

“I have lived my life as best I could, not knowing its purpose but drawn forward like a moth to a distant moon.

“And here at last I discover a strange truth, that I am only a conduit for a message that eludes my understanding.

“Who are we? We have been so blessed to share our stories like this, to speak across centuries. Maybe you will answer all the questions I have asked. Maybe you will be the one who will make all this suffering worth something in the end.”

(Watch the speech.) [/SPOILER]

I always had immense respect for people who saw through everything they started through to the end, like people who start their own company and run it until the day they die, and friends of mine who started student groups in college and put all the sweat and blood they could into them until they graduated. But when I put Assassin’s Creed: Revelations down for the last time, I realized I have even more respect for people who can accept that seeing something through to the end is not possible, that our biggest fear—being unable to finish what one started—has indeed come true, and the only way around it is to gather all the strength within us to simply move on.

By their 50s, both Steve Jobs and Ezio Auditore da Firenze have left a legacy, one in technology and the other in the survival of freedom. Both gained some degree of a negative reputation by using questionable means towards their goal, one in his apparent treatment of colleagues and the other in the death of many. And both were only conduits for a message—a dream—that might not have been realized in their lifetime.

I believe that we can only take solace in one fact: when one has a dream so large in scope, perhaps there is no way for one individual to reach such a pinnacle, if it exists at all, in their lifetime. Perhaps the only dream or pinnacle one can hope to reach in a lifetime is the lifelong pursuit of it. If we each are already pursuing a dream then perhaps there is nothing left to be afraid of.

Attracting the Non-Gamer

Last week, while chatting around my kitchen table with a friend, she pulled out her phone and proceeded to play a round of Temple Run while we continued our conversation. Taking a cue from her, I whipped out my phone and began playing as well. And there we sat, talking as we individually played our games; eyes on our phones, concentration focused on not running into a tree or getting attacked by demon monkeys. As a non-gamer (I am reluctant to identify myself even as a casual gamer), this was an extremely unusual situation for me to be in. I have never connected with friends over Xbox LIVE or hung in on a Friday night playing Mario, but I am increasingly finding myself in situations where I am bonding and interacting with my friends over an iOS game.

I have never, ever, been a “gamer.” I may have dabbled with some Sims or Guitar Hero, but prior to installing Temple Run I had gone years without repeatedly playing any videogames. While a love of videogames was something I could conceptualize, comparing it to my love of books, it was never something that I personally experienced. I blame that on my horrible hand-eye coordination.

There are roughly 100,000 games currently available in the App Store. The mobile gaming market has grown exponentially in recent years, garnering attention from people who have never owned a console or handheld gaming device, but who own a smartphone. The smartphone has quickly captured a previously untapped market of gamers, getting Dad — who hasn’t played a video game since Centipede at the arcade — to spend spare moments slinging birds at pigs. Recently, the success of mobile gaming has even sparked discussion on the end of handheld devices.

As an iPhone owner for years, I still was never attracted to the games that entertained my friends, using my phone primarily for email and, well, phone calls. There was a gaming revolution occurring around me, but I was primarily immune to the draw of the game. What about Temple Run changed it all for me? As a self-proclaimed non-gamer, I base my addiction on its quick and consistent gameplay. I can pick it up on my two-minute subway ride or do back-to-back runs for an hour and it’s the same enjoyable game. Graphics are irrelevant to me. As someone who has never consistently experienced the almost life-like animation of certain console games, the visual gaming components are not high on my list of importance. Instead, it is the extremely simple, repetitive, yet exciting gameplay that keeps me starting up the only game I have on my iPhone. And small allusions to my childhood fictional idol — Indiana Jones — didn’t hurt at all.

Temple Run breaks taken while writing this blog post: 5

*Imangi, the studio behind Temple Run is a TriplePoint client.

Meet the New TriplePoint Office

Well, it’s finally done. The team at TriplePoint SF needed a change of scenery, and though we knew it would be hard to adjust, we packed up our gear and left our office on 1st Street. All of us knew, of course, that it would be difficult to lose all of our old local favorites… our familiar haunts for lunch, coffee, and so forth. Still, the time had come to look to the future, and embrace the unknown, so we bid farewell to the old office, and made the long trek to our new digs… traveling an unthinkable distance of two city blocks.

Wait.

Two blocks? Seriously? We don’t have to give up on any of our old favorites, or learn new geography, or even worry about catching different trains? Easiest move ever. I am not exaggerating when I say that, were it not for one particularly tall building outside our windows, we would be able to see our last office from here.

Still, there’s plenty of fun new stuff to experience when moving to a new location. Read on, and see it with us.

Continue reading Meet the New TriplePoint Office

The Gaming Culture Shock

Last semester, I was fortunate enough to have a once in a-life-time opportunity of studying abroad in Korea, my motherland. Born in Korea but having lived most of my life in the United States, I consider myself to be more aligned with American customs and lifestyle and as a gamer, I am well-cultured in American games. So on a trip to dabble in Soju, Korean rice wine, and explore my roots, one of my main goals of studying abroad was to also educate myself in the Korean gaming culture.

When considering the possibility of culture shock, one usually imagines having to adjust to a foreign country’s language, food, and other cultural practices. For example, many of my friends had trouble adjusting to Korea’s numerous delicacies. While most of them were already introduced to the basic Korean barbecue (Galbi, Bulgogi) many of my friends had trouble eating raw seafood, like live octopus legs that stick to your throat. Luckily, in my case, I had no problem with Korean food. However, I was unprepared for the major differences I would find in Korea’s gaming culture.

First, to understand Korean gaming culture, I found that we have to consider games not only as gaming commodities but also as sports. Like a sports team, professional gamers in Korea join teams that are sponsored by companies and becoming a professional gamer in Korea is more of a career choice. With tremendous support and sponsorship from entrepreneurs, professional gamers can earn a steady income. Therefore, it is common to see professional gamers promote their companies’ products or serve as spokespeople on television ads. It is also common to see the face of a professional gamer on consumer goods such as energy drinks, cup noodles or other snacks. Prominent Korean gamers acquire a huge fan base. When I was at a shopping mall observing a competition between two Starcraft gamers, I was astonished to see a group of girls cheering as if they had just seen the pop sensation, Justin Bieber.

E-Sports, also known as electronic sports, receive a lot of media coverage in Korea. While E-Sports compile of numerous video games, the Starcraft franchise draws the most coverage and fans. The Starcraft franchise is the most recognized game and product in Korea. Kids, teenagers, and adults of all ages know about this game not necessarily just because they have played them, but because Korea has a reputation to produce the best professional Starcraft players. With multiple TV channels dedicated to gaming, broadcasts of live or recorded Starcraft games are narrated by announcers and analyzed by game enthusiasts. Similar to John Madden and the NFL, announcers in Korea share the same enthusiasm and passion for E-sports. Moreover, announcers provide play by play commentaries, professional opinions, and in-depth critiques. Other programs include interviews, reality shows, and variety shows that star and feature professional gamers.

From my study abroad trip, I was surprised by the extent gaming was socially accepted and even applauded in Korea. Seeing that one can make a living by playing video games and getting a look at how mainstream media covers video games in depth, I realized that gaming in the United States is not as widely followed and celebrated. Professional games are celebrities in Korea. They have a strong fan base, reality TV shows, and media coverage that give recognition to their profession. Moreover, because professional gamers are seen on TV or on consumer goods, an average consumer can easily recognize a professional gamer. However, in the United States, gaming is still considered a leisure activity that does not fall in media’s agenda. It’s fair to say that E-Sports has a more tight-knit following in the United States rather than the mainstream following in Korea. Because narrated Starcraft games are almost never televised in the United States, fans rely on the internet as the primary way to find coverage of E-Sports. Moreover, the only people in the United States who watch E-Sports or recognize professional gamers are fans who actively seek and follow E-Sports. Because of the limited mainstream coverage, professional gamers in the United States do not receive the same recognition and fame as professional gamers in Korea. More or less, it seems almost impossible that we would see the face of a professional gamer on a cereal box or a soda can in the U.S.

GDC 2012: TriplePoint Client Preview

TriplePoint is bringing the heat to this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC 2012). And by heat, I mean a menagerie of clients with cool games and gear. (Obviously.) People keep asking what we’re up to, and it’s no secret, so… OK, actually, there are some secrets. If I told you everything in this preview, what would be left for next week? Let’s just call this a sneak peek and get going already.

TriplePoint’s GDC 2012 client catalog:

In alphabetical order, because we love all our clients equally…

Frima (Multiplatform)

Frima Studio is flying in all the way from Quebec City Canada to tease a variety of titles in their original IP lineup including:

Lives & Death: A dark, adventure game in development with comic book legend Marv Wolfman for XBLA and PSN. A trailer, screenshots and concept art will be available.
Nun Attack: A tower offense game in development for iOS that puts the player in control of an elite squad of attack nuns. Extensive screenshots and character bios will be available.
A Space Shooter: A retro arcade style shoot em’ up available now for PSN, iOS, Android and Kindle Fire. Playable iPad demo available.

Frima’s booth will be located at Kiosk #10 inside of GDC Play. Contact zfuller (at) triplepointpr (dot) com for appointments.

Papo & Yo (PSN)

Papo & Yo, the PSN puzzle platformer already getting nods as one of 2012’s most anticipated titles, will be on the GDC show floor in Sony’s PSN section, showing a new gameplay demo. As Quico, a young boy, players travel through the surreal world of Papo & Yo with companions Lula, a robot, and Monster, a monster. Need assistance getting in on all this awesome? Contact joleary (at) triplepointpr (dot) com.

Paradox (PC)

Paradox Interactive is doing 2 cool things at GDC that you should know about. THE FIRST COOL THING: Showing off four indie games at the oh-so comfortable Paradox loft on O’Farrell and Powell, not far from the Moscone. Three titles being shown are unannounced; one of them is the new project from the Magicka development team. And they are:

A Game of Dwarves, from acclaimed independent developer Zeal Game Studio
Project “JFK” by Arrowhead Game Studios, creators of Magicka
Project “Revenge!” by Brazilian dev team Critical Studio
Project “Silverado” from Zeal Game Studio

THE SECOND COOL THING: Paradox is hosting a multiplayer event on Tuesday March 6th at 4pm! The game being shown is War of the Roses (from Paradox and Fatshark). It’s basically going to be a kick ass LAN party with beverages and what not. Think: Battlefield meets medieval combat. Want more details? Need some help? Hit up dmartinez (at) triplepointpr (dot) com.

RocketChicken (iOS)

Developers from RocketChicken are flying in from the great white north (or just Vancouver, if you prefer) to demo their new location-based ARG iPhone app at GDC next week. An ARG iOS app? Yup. It’s called CodeRunner and, in it, you get to be a badass spy. You get to interact with OTHER badass spies. You can to leave “dead drops” all around the real world (which can be physical or picture clues left via riddles). AND the game has incredible production value, from voice acting to video.

Furthermore, I think you should check this out because our content manager has been running around San Fran all week setting up geo-locations for the demos. I need him back, and you need this game. CodeRunner details are here. Contact pklugman (at) triplepointpr (dot) com for appointments.

Shadow Government (iOS)

Play the news, rule the world. That’s right, you heard me. Shadow Government is the brain child of Playmatics, one amazing development team and a heap of government data from the Millenium Institute. It’s a little hard to explain, which is why it’s great news that the game’s creators are giving a talk next week to tell YOU all about it. Meantime, read more here.

Shadow Government is a reality-based social game for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and is set to enter closed beta next week. In addition to formal GDC talks by one of the Playmatics founders, Nick Fortungo, you can also catch the creators AND THE FIRST EVER PUBLIC DEMO at the Swiss Game Arcade on Tuesday evening. RSVP for that, stat. If you’re a reporter and you want to meet with the development team outside the Swissnex event, please contact kate (at) triplepointpr (dot) com.

Sketch Nation Studio (iOS)

This iPhone app is more than a game – it’s a toolkit that allows you to build your own games, then sell them for REAL MONEY on the ACTUAL APP STORE! Draw your game’s characters and scan them in, or create them using the in-app painting tools. Then create your game, whether it’s a shooter, free-runner, platformer, racing game, the sky is the limit! It’s totally free, and players can earn in-game currency by selling their hand-drawn assets in Sketch Nation Studio. For more info, please contact rjones (at) triplepointpr (dot) com.

SweetLabs (Pokki)

I said SweetLabs, not sweetbreads. This company is sweet nonetheless, and they’ll be showing off their new Pokki platform next week in the Intel booth (#1024 ) during show hours. Oh but THAT’S NOT ALL, friends. SweetLabs will also be hosting a panel on Tuesday as part of the Social & Online Games Summit (with Dan Hsu as moderator and execs from EA, Digital Chocolate and Kabam). During GDC, SweetLabs will also be announcing the winners of their $50K developer challenge, honoring top original game submissions. You can schedule a chat with SweetLabs co-founders by contacting dblackwell (at) triplepointpr (dot) com.

What does Pokki do? It brings awesome apps to your desktop. That’s what.

More, you want more detail? Oh alright. Pokki’s app platform is transforming the “desktop” experience with games from the likes of Kabam, EA and Digital Chocolate, in addition to other multimedia and communications apps. That means better discovery and increased engagement for game publishers through one-click access to content via desktop apps. Pokki enables developers to create full-featured desktop apps for Windows 7 using HTML5, which currently includes apps such as EA’s Madden NFL Superstars, Kabam’s The Godfather: Five Families, Rdio, Gmail, Facebook and Twitter.

Was your favorite TriplePoint client not on the list? It doesn’t mean they won’t be at GDC in some capacity next week. Maybe their stuff was simply TOO secret to talk about yet ;]

TriplePoint Newsroom: Press Releases for the People

Wait just a darn minute. Did I just use “press” and “people” in the same headline? Yes, yes I did.

That’s because TriplePoint is made up of people. Actual people! Sure, we do PR, but that doesn’t make us any less human. Just like reporting on news doesn’t make reporters any less human.

So one day, we all got together and thought, “hey! What if TriplePoint had a client press release service that actually catered to press?” And then we laughed, because that was an impossible dream.

OR WAS IT?

http://pressreleases.triplepointpr.com/subscribe/

Look, I don’t know that we’re changing the world with this new Newsroom, but I know that it will make things easier for people who have been using VerticalWire.com. They say email is dying, but not for PR and press people. And no, I won’t quit calling flacks and hacks people, because that’s what we are.

We’re (all) people who like things made simple and that’s what the TriplePoint Newsroom aims to do.

If you’re one of those people, I respectfully urge you to sign up for relevant tags now, so you’re ready for the big switch next week.

Meanwhile, we’ll be here holding hands and singing campfire tunes. Or relating to the public in some such capacity.

Couples Who Game Together Stay Together

There’s something you’re forgetting… What is it? It’s right there – on the tip of your tongue…are you getting that sinking feeling yet? Yep! It’s Valentine’s Day! We know some of you out there probably waited until the very last second to get your cards and gifts. You might be scrambling around like a crazed lunatic trying to think of the most romantic present possible for your loved ones. Chocolate? Jewelry? Flowers? Dinner at a fancy shmancy restaurant? What about something a bit more original? Perhaps sharing the satisfaction and experience of destroying some zombies or shooting down enemy forces with shotguns and sniper rifles could top the list this year!

We’ve all seen the viral videos of girlfriends taking a hammer to their boyfriends’ beloved PS3s or Xboxes. There’s a stereotype out there that video games are for little kids and people in serious relationships should have outgrown them. While it’s true that a handful of gamers may over-indulge in screen time, it is also true that a healthy and balanced level of gaming between couples can actually strengthen relationships!

In an issue of Women’s Health Magazine, LA-based social psychologist Susan K. Perry, PhD, stated, “Playing video games allows you to bond and learn how to problem-solve as a team.” Whether you’re teaming up against others or battling each other, video games are a great way for couples to spend time together and to develop mutual respect in a new dimension of their relationship.

Plus, it opens up a new world of gift-giving. Maybe your significant other will get really excited about an upcoming RPG, first-person shooter, or social game – all great gift opportunities! So, this Valentine’s Day, why not start a new tradition?

If you need some ideas for starters, here are a few games I’ve enjoyed playing in a team of two. They don’t exactly scream “hard-core gamer” but they are definitely ways to ease a newbie into gaming! Guitar Hero, Lego Star Wars or Harry Potter, Mario Kart, and Little Big Planet.

The Practice of Persuasion: Lessons from Mom [INFOGRAPHIC]

It takes a special breed of influence (and persuasion) to inspire others to WANT something (on their own, for themselves) from within.

Public Relations Prequel

One of the first metaphors – and one of the first PR lessons – I remember was at age 12 when my mom explained how and why I needed to “plant the seed” with my dad about getting a puppy. I did…

Mere weeks later, we got a puppy.

“Planting the seed” is more than just a handy, widely-applicable analogy. It is the heart and soul of persuasion and the foundation of great public relations.

When done correctly, it makes everyone a winner.

The thing is – when you feel passionately about something, it’s hard to fathom any approach (to management or persuasion in general) that doesn’t involve stating your case. Why does it matter so much? When you care, it seems like other people should feel naturally compelled to act. It would be crazy not to be as passionate as you.

If your case is truly worthwhile, this is a valid thought process.

“PLANTING THE SEED” IS THE HEART OF PERSUASION AND THE FOUNDATION OF GREAT PR.

Sidenote: If you question whether or not my puppy quest was worthwhile, I urge you to Google “child with puppy” and tell me that’s not the happiest collection of photographs you’ve seen all year.

Be Contagious

Whether it’s convincing your dad to get a puppy or convincing a reporter to write about your tech start-up, effective persuasion involves patience – lots of it. (On top of a compelling argument and the strategy, diplomacy and determination needed to communicate it.)

Chances are, the first time you suggest something, people WON’T be compelled to act. Don’t be discouraged. It doesn’t mean they aren’t listening.

Flattering Imitation

The best kind of influence happens weeks or months later, when your message sinks in and people start “stealing” your ideas as their own. If the end result is what you aimed to accomplish, this is (humbling, but) effective.

And if accomplishing your goal isn’t satisfying enough, take comfort in this – as long as you’ve voiced yourself loudly and clearly enough, it doesn’t go unnoticed that you were the seed planter. It doesn’t take long before people take you very seriously.

Wait, what?

It’s usually not until you’ve successfully influenced someone that you realize a seed was ever planted. In fact, the only main difference between my puppy story and day-to-day PR is that in this case, I was consciously aware of planting the seed.

It’s easy to take process for granted when you’re going through the motions. It’s also easy to get discouraged and feel helpless when you’re at the mercy of someone else. But when you practice persuasion objectively, you start to recognize the many times you can’t strong-arm your way through. Perhaps the world’s longest flowchart would be helpful in illustrating real-world application?

You simply can’t expect others to accept your idea as fact right away every time. And that’s not a bad thing. If you’re thinking three steps ahead of everyone else, then it only makes sense they’ll need some time to catch up. And if you’re not forward thinking, you’re going to have trouble influencing people, approach notwithstanding.

Further Reading

How does a 12-year-old seeking puppy compare to a tech startup CEO trying to get coverage for his company? Check out this step-by-step breakdown of persuasion gone right:

IndieCade: Video Games’ Sundance

Last week, in our lead-up to GDC, we advised visitors to makes some time to stop by the Independent Games Festival (IGF) Pavilion for a look at what’s happening in the world of experimental and original games. Maybe you’ll be too busy with other GDC duties, though, or maybe you just can’t make it out to San Francisco this year. Maybe you just need more indie gaming – a distinct possibility! That’s where IndieCade comes in.

IndieCade doesn’t make indie gaming part of a larger gathering – it is the gathering, happening October 4^th – 7^th in Los Angeles. The LA Times calls it “the video game industry’s Sundance.” You’ve got networking, workshops, awards, bastions of the scene (and maybe scenes from Bastion?), and a great big street fair full of games, all open to the public.

The door has just been opened for submissions, and IndieCade is looking to bring in the indies by the (humble) bundle: Any team that submits a game automatically receives a pass to the main festival, and an invitation to participate in “IndieXchange,” which is “a day long program offering practical workshops, networking opportunities and one-on-one meetings with art leaders, publishers and potential funders.” Games can be ready to ship, or can be works-in-progress.

Got a game you want others to play? Want to play some games made by others? Want to get in on a city-wide game of zombie tag? Check out the festival’s website and keep your October calendar clear.

Surviving GDC 2012

The 2012 Game Developers Conference (GDC) is still well over a month away, but the program is steadily coming together in anticipation of the big event. Speakers are being confirmed and added to the schedule, and a few sessions are now on the list.

Sorry, did I say “a few?” I meant “over four hundred.” With more speakers and sessions being added every day, there are now 400+ sessions for GDC attendees to consider during the five-day conference. Do you have room in your busy schedule to see Dave Theurer, creator of Missile Command, receiving the GDCA Pioneer Award? Or do you want to check out Sid Meier’s advice on game design? How will you choose between Tim Schafer and Cliff Bleszinski? The mind reels.

TriplePoint will be there, of course, growing intimately familiar with the three-block stretch between our San Francisco office and the Moscone Center. We always enjoy having so many of our clients, industry friends, and TPPR staff in town at the same time. If you’ll be there, we’d love to hear from you – feel free to drop us a line, even if you just want to drop by to say hello, or see which parties we’ll be attending.

Also, if you will be attending, whether this is your first GDC or your fifth, TriplePoint is happy to supply you with a few helpful GDC tips:

If you haven’t completed your registration, create a new tab and do it now. Early Bird pricing ends in less than a week.
Wear comfortable shoes. Yes, you’re going to be meeting titans of industry and valuable new business contacts, but you’re going to be doing so while on your feet for several hours at a time, walking the length of the convention center and waiting in lines. Find a good balance between style and sensibility.
Master the Elevator Pitch. You’ll be meeting a ton of people, and those people will have tons more people to meet. When you get the obligatory “What do you do?” opening, you need to have an answer in 30 seconds or less that gets someone interested in your game or business. The better an impression you’re able to make, right off the bat, the more memorable you’ll be. If you work on a mobile game, don’t be afraid to say “Let me show you” and pull out your phone.
Pace yourself at the parties. Five solid nights of open bars can be extremely tempting, but with sessions starting at 10:00 a.m., and keynotes as early as 9:00, don’t be that guy who paid $1,000 plus travel to sleep through the morning sessions. If you have a booth to run at the expo, don’t forget you’ll need to arrive even earlier to set up.
Not sure how to manage all of the sessions, as mentioned earlier? The GDC website has a great Schedule Builder that will help you organize all of your desired events into one jam-packed day planner. Good luck, by the way.
There are some great new games you can check out on the expo floor, especially in the IGF Pavilion. Just watch out for cameras when you’re playing, or you might be recorded while making a really stupid face.

See you at the show!

Gesturing Forward with SoftKinetic

Every year, the Consumer Electronics Show comes to Las Vegas and shines a spotlight on what we can all expect from new technology and the world’s innovators. For attendees, it’s a great chance to hear valuable insight from industry leaders, and go hands-on with all manner of new gadgetry — or, in the case of our clients at SoftKinetic, hands-off. SoftKinetic was on hand to showcase their latest advances in the growing field of gesture recognition technology — a field we’ve seen grow in gaming, through devices like the Wii, Kinect, and Move. It’s not hard to envision a future, as we continue to migrate from keyboards to touchscreens, where ease of interface continues to rise through smaller cameras and finer tracking software.

Our sister site, Frisky Mongoose, caught up with SoftKinetic for a brief Q&A about the technology that debuted at CES. Follow this link for insight from SoftKinetic’s Virgile Delporte.

Not So Micro-Transactions

When did micro-transactions get so expensive?

Snail Games, a TriplePoint client just announced the impending US launch of Age of Wushu today. Sound familiar? Maybe that’s because Age of Wulin, the game’s UK counterpart was recently in the news for the sale of a $16,000 virtual sword. That’s $16k in REAL WORLD dollars, yes.

“During a recent auction for the soon-to-be-released martial arts MMO, Age of Wulin, one excited gamer purchased an exclusive in-game sword for just $16,000 before even playing the game. At the same event, someone else bought a Hook of Departure sheath for a paltry $1,600, and another walked away with a Lordly Spear sheath for a mere $2,500 (apparently fashionable scabbards are a big deal in ancient China).”

In November 2010, Entropia Universe topped it’s own Guinness World Record for the most expensive virtual world object ever sold. The price? $635,000 for a virtual resort on Planet Calypso. It doesn’t matter if you know what Entropia is, what Planet Calypso is, or who MindArk is. What matters is that someone paid over a half million dollars for one virtual thing.

We see this sort of news coming out of all the big hitters – WoW, Second Life, EVE Online, etc. – on a pretty regular basis these days. Oh, and by the way, antonyms for “virtual” are as follows: actual, authentic, real (#justsaying)

Another TriplePoint client has seen its fair share of success from the virtual games space – Sometrics was aquired by American Express in 2011. That is to say (partially because the pun is too good to pass up), AmEx has their head in the game too. Yet ANOTHER TriplePoint client, Social Gold was acquired by Google in 2010, to the tune of $55 million.

Maybe it’s just me, but this is a whole lotta dough for goods that aren’t real. Then again, if gamers have the money, want what you’re selling and are willing to pay for it, that’s really all that matters for the company’s ~~endgame~~ bottom line.

Clouding My Mind: The Cleverness of Steam

Why are the Steam Sales are so darn effective?

As someone who’s worked in PR, sales, and marketing for a few years now, sometimes I like to think that I’m “above” the reach of typical advertising and market tactics. Just like someone who works in film can’t sit through a movie without picking apart the shots, or a game developer can’t help but analyze how well the character camera works with the level design, so it goes for us flacks. We see an animated web banner or a Black Friday flier, and we start thinking about whether the branding is effective, the virality of the content, the effectiveness of the messaging, and a lot of other buzzwords we are ashamed to know.

As such, it takes a very effective piece of marketing to make me take notice – and, rarely, to actually put me into a frenzy of drooling, ravenous, I’ve-gotta-buy-that consumerism. One company is able to do this to me, consistently, year after year: Valve, with their recurring holiday sales on Steam, their digital game distribution platform. The Steam Sales may well represent some of the smartest marketing in gaming and e-commerce today. Continue reading Clouding My Mind: The Cleverness of Steam

Can’t Buy Me Klout

A lot of chatter about content creation lately…

Do you consider content management a key factor for your company’s PR efforts? Or perhaps you’re one of those “the future is all about content” marketing soothsayers?

Hey – wake up! Content creation is present-day PR and it always has been. What’s changed/changing is not that public relations people are writing the news; it’s the rate at which news cycles flow, and what media people use to get their news. It’s rapidly changing, expanding, more immediate and more high-tech than ever.

Content creation isn’t just about the news * in words * anymore; it’s about delivering the * content * people want, which includes photos, videos, audio, graphics, tips, tools and further interactive resources. News is on a beeline for multimedia diversity and PR has to make content that leverages that, to be successful in today’s media landscape.

Companies aren’t reliant solely on traditional press/journalism to make their voice heard anymore… PR can travel through any number of social and direct-to-consumer channels – Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and corporate blogs being just the tip of the iceberg. Now we’ve got Instagram, social games (iOS a la Foursquare and Words with Friends, XBLA, etc.), YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr, Spotify, Turntable.fm, newsletters and proprietary forums… You get the idea.

But if you want to influence consumers, you have to earn some social R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Why Klout will inevitably matter once it goes mainstream >>> “Anyone can ‘do’ social media, so which ones can I trust?”

I won’t attempt to distill social media strategy into a blog post, but here are a few takeaways –

Know your audience and speak to them – Ask questions and join in the conversation when your network responds.
Stay on topic – Don’t abandon your area of expertise because you think your fans are getting bored. That’s probably why they followed you in the first place.
Be consistent, not boring (voice/tone) – Be sure to insert some added value of your own too.
Be timely – Old news sucks. News travels faster than ever. Take heed.
Keep it simple stupid – I refuse to explain this point.
SEO – Still a go in social media. #andhashtags

Klout makes R-E-S-P-E-C-T quantifiable, visual, comparable and standard for everyone. You may not understand how it works, or believe in the way Klout approaches metrics (or believe they are accurate, for that matter), but Klout metrics are consistent for everyone and thus a valid corporate and consumer measurement tool.

Tips for Klout are applicable to any good web content creation, or PR in general, once you get right down to it. Using social media as a direct marketing channel ups the ante on what you present. Likewise, Klout’s metrics system magnifies the results (along with other analytics like tracking web traffic, incoming requests, etc.) if you use social media to connect and promote your brand – like any good business does.

It is no longer acceptable not to be interested in Klout, or to say its superfluous. It’s also not sufficient to simply sign up and check your score every few months. The feedback from data is too valuable not to use it.