Bejeweled Blitz Addiction
I am completely and thoroughly addicted to Bejeweled Blitz right now. BB is a slick mini-version of the classic match-three game that PopCap has put onto facebook in an effort to advertise the full version, along with their other games. It's pretty simple: score as many points as you can in one minute, but the genius part comes from all the ways in which they're using facebook.
Having been both a Magic player and a Magic developer, I already understand how effective "organized play" can be at getting you sucked deeper and deeper into a hobby. It's both aspirational (in that you get the chance to try to be the best at something) and inspirational (in that going to an event and seeing how many other people are also playing this game makes you feel like you're part of something big and important (rather than just wasting your time)). I think a big part of what's going on with Bewjewled Blitz is that online games are finally starting to figure out how to take advantage of social networking in order to tap into those emotions.
The first and almost certainly the most impactful tactics they're using is that they have a leaderboard that shows you how your best score for the week stacks up against your friends list. This is a mechanic that Who Has the Biggest Brain also uses pretty effectively - "There's no way that {so-and-so} is better / smarter than me, I'll just have to play some more and take up my rightful place higher on the leaderboard." This is probably the most impactful improvement to high score board technology since coin-op Asteroids machines first gave gamers the opportunity to pretend their initials are A-S-S. The smart things they've done within the game include a) not showing you your rank with respect to the whole world, b) only tracking your single highest score (not your average or anything else that accurately measures skill as opposed to effort), and c) wiping away the scores once per week so things start over regularly. Meanwhile, they're also plugged in to everything facebook can do, like sending trash talk to your buddies, posting badges on your wall, and bragging about your high scores to your news stream audience. Ron Foster called me out by name when he hung 180k on the board last week, and I definitely plan to enjoy myself when I beat that mark.
This week they pushed a new batch of features that are definitely working their magic on me. Now they're tracking how many times you get each of the badges (25k, 50k, etc.) and they've got a system so that you level-up when you accumulate enough copies of each badge. Leveling up doesn't mean anything other than bragging rights, but it doesn't need to. Making your numbers bigger can be its own reward. (Does anyone know if Gygax invent the level-up mechanic? Or did D&D merely popularize it? It's got to be the most powerful, impactful mechanic in the history of gaming, right?)
Those of you who haven't played the Blitz variant of Bejeweled are probably wonderign what all the fuss is about, and what on earth Bejeweled is doing in this particular blog. I've thought about that some myself, too, and I think what's going on is that I really enjoy the way BB tests my ability to think quickly. The one-minute time limit makes it a very fast-paced game (and the zero-level strategy is to make matches as quickly as possible), but at the same time it's not actually a twitch game. It tests and rewards my brain's reaction time, but not my dexterity. The faster I can think and notice things, the more points I get. This is for me a stark contrast with FPS and RTS type games, where it doesn't matter how good my ability to think strategically actually is, I can't score points because I'm not nimble enough with the controls. Meanwhile, one-minute of sustained concentration can actually be a nice little adrenaline rush.
I don't seem to be the only one who likes it. 81 of my 360 friends have played this as some point with 30+ routinely earning badges every week, and I think it's only been out for a couple of months. According to facebook stats, it's got over 4 million players per month (good enough for Top 25 status amongst all facebook apps) and over a million playing it each day.
I hope PopCap is happy with it, because i want them (and others) to continue doing good quality work like this. Their monetization plan seems to be just to drive folks to their own website. They don't have any ads up except for their own stuff (well, none in addition to the ones facebook themselves always add to the page anyway). As far as their own stuff goes, I do in fact now own a copy of Plants Versus Zombies which I don't think I would even have been aware of if they hadn't tacked a preview video for it onto the front of my BBlitz experience one week.
The forums are now open if anyone else needs to admit any of their own addictions ...
Having been both a Magic player and a Magic developer, I already understand how effective "organized play" can be at getting you sucked deeper and deeper into a hobby. It's both aspirational (in that you get the chance to try to be the best at something) and inspirational (in that going to an event and seeing how many other people are also playing this game makes you feel like you're part of something big and important (rather than just wasting your time)). I think a big part of what's going on with Bewjewled Blitz is that online games are finally starting to figure out how to take advantage of social networking in order to tap into those emotions.
The first and almost certainly the most impactful tactics they're using is that they have a leaderboard that shows you how your best score for the week stacks up against your friends list. This is a mechanic that Who Has the Biggest Brain also uses pretty effectively - "There's no way that {so-and-so} is better / smarter than me, I'll just have to play some more and take up my rightful place higher on the leaderboard." This is probably the most impactful improvement to high score board technology since coin-op Asteroids machines first gave gamers the opportunity to pretend their initials are A-S-S. The smart things they've done within the game include a) not showing you your rank with respect to the whole world, b) only tracking your single highest score (not your average or anything else that accurately measures skill as opposed to effort), and c) wiping away the scores once per week so things start over regularly. Meanwhile, they're also plugged in to everything facebook can do, like sending trash talk to your buddies, posting badges on your wall, and bragging about your high scores to your news stream audience. Ron Foster called me out by name when he hung 180k on the board last week, and I definitely plan to enjoy myself when I beat that mark.
This week they pushed a new batch of features that are definitely working their magic on me. Now they're tracking how many times you get each of the badges (25k, 50k, etc.) and they've got a system so that you level-up when you accumulate enough copies of each badge. Leveling up doesn't mean anything other than bragging rights, but it doesn't need to. Making your numbers bigger can be its own reward. (Does anyone know if Gygax invent the level-up mechanic? Or did D&D merely popularize it? It's got to be the most powerful, impactful mechanic in the history of gaming, right?)
Those of you who haven't played the Blitz variant of Bejeweled are probably wonderign what all the fuss is about, and what on earth Bejeweled is doing in this particular blog. I've thought about that some myself, too, and I think what's going on is that I really enjoy the way BB tests my ability to think quickly. The one-minute time limit makes it a very fast-paced game (and the zero-level strategy is to make matches as quickly as possible), but at the same time it's not actually a twitch game. It tests and rewards my brain's reaction time, but not my dexterity. The faster I can think and notice things, the more points I get. This is for me a stark contrast with FPS and RTS type games, where it doesn't matter how good my ability to think strategically actually is, I can't score points because I'm not nimble enough with the controls. Meanwhile, one-minute of sustained concentration can actually be a nice little adrenaline rush.
I don't seem to be the only one who likes it. 81 of my 360 friends have played this as some point with 30+ routinely earning badges every week, and I think it's only been out for a couple of months. According to facebook stats, it's got over 4 million players per month (good enough for Top 25 status amongst all facebook apps) and over a million playing it each day.
I hope PopCap is happy with it, because i want them (and others) to continue doing good quality work like this. Their monetization plan seems to be just to drive folks to their own website. They don't have any ads up except for their own stuff (well, none in addition to the ones facebook themselves always add to the page anyway). As far as their own stuff goes, I do in fact now own a copy of Plants Versus Zombies which I don't think I would even have been aware of if they hadn't tacked a preview video for it onto the front of my BBlitz experience one week.
The forums are now open if anyone else needs to admit any of their own addictions ...
What's your all-time record? Mine's about 175k
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178,400
And this week's high is 175,500. (Note that with this week's extra stats functionality you can see your highs from the last 5 weeks).
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So it's safe to say that if you do badly, they don't take away points/achievements from you? I swear Magic is the only game that does that.
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Magic is far from the only game to take away points from you, and it doesn't really take away achievements.
It is interesting to note the changes that were made to things like the Battle.Net Warcraft 3 ladder though. When the game was fresh, it was a true ELO system, although it represented that to you as a "level". ie
1695 - 1705 = Level 10
1700 - 1710 = Level 11
1705 - 1715 = Level 12
The overlap was designed to stop you flip/flopping between levels.
Of course, this system got replaced by a fudged and complicated ladder system that means people can level up with effort, and a 50% win record. (as players don't like numbers going down).
WoW arena is also an ELO like system, it does take points away from players, but it doesn't really take achievements away.
GPG's Supcom still users a true ELO system, but of course is a far less popular game.
(And lets not forget chess).
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I always liked the approach valve took in team fortress 2 - a variety of your stats are tracked and only the high water marks are displayed to others. Even on the more advanced stat page only the user can view, something like the kill/death ratio can only be displayed by opening up a menu and choosing it specifically.
Other user's ratings are no longer viewable on magic online. I always assumed this was to mitigate the problem forsythe points out (punishing the loser), but it seems much more logical to display only the *best* rating somebody has ever had. Nobody goes below 1600 no matter how much they lose and it gives a moving goal to keep breaking.
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Randy,
Really do enjoy the blog. Please keep it up
This post reminded me about "The Goblin Game". I assume it's nixed, but am I the only one no one told? It sounded fun
-Joe
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Glad you're enjoying this -- thanks!
Wizards has canceled everything that isn't Magic or D&D, and it's backed off a bit on our plans for those two brands as well. They just aren't interested in risky expansion plans in this economy.
The thought has crossed my mind to buy The Goblin Game from them and finish it myself as there was a lot of cool stuff in that game. Maybe some day ...
Randy
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Neat article! (I'm a bit late to the scene, I know, but I was running a
search on Bejeweled Blitz and came across your post.) I would also love to
know if Gygax came up with the leveling mechanic, or found it somewhere
else... you're right, it is an effective motivator.
Was the Ron Foster you mentioned the same one who did some of the voice
work in GTA: San Andreas and Max Payne 2? I haven't been playing Blitz
long, so apologies if there's a more obvious Ron Foster that I'm missing.
I really need to practice, too, apparently... I'm only up to around 83k.
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Having been both a Magic player and a Magic developer, I already understand how effective "organized play" can be at getting you sucked deeper and deeper into a hobby. It's both aspirational (in that you get the chance to try to be the best at something) and inspirational (in that going to an event and seeing how many other people are also playing this game makes you feel like you're part of something big and important (rather than just wasting your time)). I think a big part of what's going on with Bewjewled Blitz is that online games are finally starting to figure out how to take advantage of social networking in order to tap into those emotions.
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I download the bejewled blitz app on my ipod touch, it links your scores to the facebook app. Do you know if there is any other app that is compatible with facebook at this time?
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well you surely have opera software that you can use on your i phone and check out any social networking site as and when you want to
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Currently for the first time i am using the bejewled blitz app in iPhone let me see how it is working...
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If you can make five of the same colored jewels in Bejeweled Blitz then you get a white blob, which appears to radiate. If you touch this one to any jewel it is near by it clears the board of all jewels of that particular color.
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I love that game! I have it on my Iphone and I play it all the time because it's too much fun!
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People in the world take the loan from various creditors, just because it is comfortable.
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Very good post nice....
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Can you imagine what it would be like to be him? To dream something up in your dorm room and then have it come to fruition? It blows my mind.
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The addiction begins with just one gem. The first one you touch in order to switch it with the one to make a row of at least three or more colored stones. The addiction continues with each gem you turn, or each time you press the play again button. Where will the addiction to bejeweled blitz end? Perhaps it is after the next game, or the next stone you hit in the game.
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Nice information, many thanks to the author. It is incomprehensible to me now, but in general, the usefulness and significance is overwhelming. Thanks again and good luck!
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