Some Forming Social Game Theories

Feel free to add to this list, disagree or discuss. Thanks.

The player should:

• Return to the game to good news (game progress, new content, visits from friends, mail, gifts).
• Return to the game with a problem to solve (wilted crops, empty supplies, shifts to start).
• Have short-term problems to solve (in a session) and long-term problems to solve (multiple sessions). Longer term problems/desires may be aspirational goals, collections or quests to complete.
• Always be able to make progress on longer-term goals and complete short-term goals.
• Always know precisely what they need to do to solve all problems in the game. These things should never be nested or “discoverable” if you’re clever. That’s not to say that there shouldn’t be discoverable things and surprises. There should be (Pocket God comes to mind). However, the player shouldn’t be confronted with a problem that has no obvious solution – that equals a block and goodbye.
• Always have an aspirational goal on every screen, if possible (something they want – item/action gated by $, lvl, quest progress), and a clear understanding of what they need to do to reach it.
• Have genuine motivation tied into the core of the game which makes them want those aspirational goals (if I get X, it will help me do Y faster or will earn me more $)
• Be rewarded for every single click either visually, through XP, coins or some other measure of progress.
• Clearly understand how and why every change state in the game occurs. If an NPC suddenly becomes happy, why did that happen? Is it visually obvious? Is the transition from normal state to happy state clear? Is it rewarding? Does the player know what they did (or something in the game did) to make that happen?
• Feel like they have agency in the game. Through their direct action, something happens. Without them, it doesn’t happen. If you never plant crops, you never get results.
• Understand your UI instantly. If you need to explain it, you need to redo it.
• Have a pre-existing mental model of the game before they even play it. I know how a farm, a nightclub, a bakery and a restaurant run, at least at an abstract level. The less you need to teach people about the game, the better. This information should be pre-grokked before they even enter the game.
• Feel good about posting something in their feed. They believe what they’re posting will help them and help their friends playing the game, too.
• Have a “feel good” endgame state for a session. This is appointment gaming, and people want to feel like they’ve tidied up this session before moving on to the next. That means that they can finish or, in some cases, optimize until it’s not really optimum to continue anymore. If they leave feeling like the game didn’t really let them leave (because there was always something new to do), they leave in a sub-optimal and unsatisfied state and thus are less likely to return.
• Have clear dailies including friend grind, playspace grind and bonus progression, if applicable. What do I do everyday when I come back to the game? Do I know that I have finished what I needed to do? How do I know that I need to do it (and no, your last play session isn’t enough).
• Be reminded of what they need to do. They’re playing for 2, 5 or 10 mins at a time, and are possibly playing dozens of social games simultaneously. They need visual reminders of what they need to do to progress play in your game. Give them explicit and constantly visible goals, badges, or visual reminders of some kind.

• If you nerf their playstate or playfield, the player better understand why and feel like they could have prevented it (keeping their appointment, getting an item by x time or it expires, etc).
• Players want direction. Give it to them everywhere: tool tips, quests, pop ups, etc.

Hierarchy of Social Game Design

I want to highlight this view of the hierarchy of social game design as seen through the eyes a new user funnel, in this case mobile social and a major app store like Apple's:

1. ACCESSIBILITY
   First, a player browses or searches for your game on the app store, and finds it.  The SEO is tuned and they find it easily.  The marketing text is in a language they can read, they understand what is written (it's not riddled with "in-jokes" or "only for fans" humor), they're on a device that can download it, they have the space and bandwidth to download it, and it's at a price-point that is accessible to them.  The player can decipher and access the basic "code" of information presented.  If not, the player already churns at this point in the funnel.
    
2. THEME
   The player reads about the theme through the app store marketing; first, by way of the name of the game itself (not Alpaca Farm, please), next, by the name of the company, then by the marketing paragraph texts.  The theme and premise are interesting, have gravity, have a "hook," and begin to pull the player in.  If not, the player already churns at this point in the funnel.
    
3. AUDIO VISUAL
   The player views the screenshots, the art quality is high, the art style is appealing, they like what they see and want to see more.  A rich lively world is presented.  If there is a video and the player watches it, the music and sound effects further activate regions of their brain that pull them in to want to experience more.  If not, the player already churns at this point in the funnel.
    
4. GAMEPLAY
   Now the player has downloaded the game, and is actually playing it. Interactions are rewarding and seamless.  Pacing is perfect.  Story and characters draw them in.  Gameplay is familiar yet novel.  The player takes baby steps, but soon is walking on their own.  After 20 minutes, the player already starts to feel a mini-sense of mastery, and could see how continued play would grant them further self-satisfaction and reward.  Gameplay is clear, and objectives and rewards are unambiguous.  If not, the player churns at this point in the funnel.
    
5. SOCIAL
   Now the player has been playing the game, for hours or days, and they are invited to socially connect.  The social game design is brilliant.  The promises made are the equivalent of being told they will experience the very essence of firework explosions themselves.  The social play promises transformative play and true social interaction, using multiple methods of social play (parallel, cooperative).  If not, the player fails to attempt to play socially, and with social being the real long term retention provider, where the game is mere platform for the social, the player churns at this point in the funnel.
    
6. VIRAL
   Now the player has socially connected, and is socially playing - but the virals are mere spam, not gameplay-adding depth.  Or conversely, there are no virals, and the player must "push" to tell their friends, instead of the game pulling friends to them.  The player may socially connect, then find they have no friends already connected, and without effective virals they never invite those to whom they would otherwise stick with.  The player churns at this point in the funnel.
    
7. MONETIZATION
   The player is playing, socially connected, with invited friends, and is really rocking it.  Then they hit a pay wall.  The game points a gun to their head - pay to keep playing to progress, or wait here in a permanent plane stall.  The player churns at this point in the funnel.

You can see how the progression of each social game design hierarchy element not only comes right after the other in serial time progression from app awareness to in-app purchase, but how each social game design hierarchy element transcends but includes all prior foundational elements before it.