How to dominate the Attention Ecomomy | Skill Tree #40

Oct 27, 2023

Catching the Attention of Your Audience

The Catch

marketing only amplifies the promises of a game → have to present what you have well
Goal: Interrupt the common patterns to catch someone’s attention
Elements of a good catch
- evoke emotion & surprise in a split-second (text, image, gif)
  - e.g. Mortal Kombat’s gore, Untitled Goose Game’s humor, Cult of the Lamb’s weird mix of animals and cults
- familiar but with an original twist
  - “familarity breeds liking” & serves the audience as orientation, otherwise the cognitive load might be too big

Premise of the Game

Core Fantasy: most naive (easy-to-understand) description of a game in one sentence
Good starting points for a premise are childhood games to foster the audience’s imagination e.g. Pokemon = bug collecting, The Sims = doll house
Allowing players to roleplay their childhood experiences is a good hook e.g. Red Dead = western hero, Crusader Kings = medieval king

Promise

premise + art + genre + messaging = promise (set of expectations and desires)
Art
- different artstyles for different games
- should evoke emotions and tell a story that fit the game. Also serves as a cue for players what kind of gameplay they can expect
- starting point
  - What is the immediate impact of the visuals?
  - What are the implications for the audience?
Genre
- helps players to categorize a game but can be restrictive for game devs
- it’s more about finding common patterns between popular genres to get to the underlying player motivation (e.g. depth via content and a sandbox for player creativity)

Primary motivations: Relaxing (42%), Entertainment (34%)
Half of gamers behave differently in games than IRL , mostly stronger (more competitive, ambitious, and curious)
In-game purchases are common on consoles (80%+). PC 66%, mobile 58%
45% of young generations watch streams at least weekly, 25% watch specifically esports at least weekly

New regulations likely coming to UK & EU

Fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover for violating consumer protection laws. Actors that bring complaints forward can be awareded compensation
New rules around subscription terms (reminders, notices, and cancellation in 1 step)
A ban of fake online reviews may be introduced later
Potentially: Regulation of dark pattterns (e.g. fake time-limited offer pop-up banner)

Fines up to 4% of the annual turnover in the Member State(s) where the breach occurred
Rules around product rankings and online reviews
Limitation of personalized pricing
Subscription rules may be added later
Likely: Regulation of dark pattterns