Aug 9, 12:57 PM

Editorial Gaming

Check out this funny and somewhat addicting game: (AddictingGames via GamePolitics ) that is based on George Bush’s recent shoulder rub episode:

What impresses me about this game is that it takes an insignificant event, that would get nothing more than a blurb in the evening news, and creates an entire game around it. This is effective because (1) it is memorable and (2) it is fun. Editorial writers and cartoonists strive to hold readers’ attention and engage them – this can be done easily with a good game.

As gaming moves further along into becoming a full-fledged medium, one of the growing segments of game type is what I’m going to call editorial gaming, or, games with a very short lifespan that are created with a fairly time-sensitive commentary behind it. This might even be the next evolution of editorial cartoons.

A challenge editorial gaming faces is that it must be timely when producing games is not timely. You can make simple flash games in that amount of time (ala Zidane headbutt) but with more detail, games could make a stronger statement.

The revenue model for these games is also extremely short lived. Whereas most games gain most of their players over the course of months or years, the life of these games, due to their focus on current events, is 2-3 weeks at the max.

Things we need for editorial gaming:

  1. Lower development costs
  2. Shorter development timelines
  3. Ways to monetize a sudden spike and dropoff in users – maybe create a community like YTMND around them?

More “serious games” at SocialImpact

EDIT: took out the game embed because it screws some computers up.

-Jon
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