元数据驱动应用设计_设计驱动的应用内购买:创造可持续的获利能力

元数据驱动应用设计_设计驱动的应用内购买:创造可持续的获利能力

元数据驱动应用设计

我们正处于移动免费Freemium获胜的时代。 但是有很多人质疑这对玩家是好是坏。 确实,当前的Free2Play设计方法是否可持续,并且其中有些甚至合乎道德? (We are in an era on mobile where Freemium has won; but there are many out there who question whether this is a good or bad thing for the player. Indeed, are the current approaches to Free2Play design sustainable and are some of them even ethical?)

Over the last 4 years, the reported ‘typical’ paying player appears to have dropped from 3-5% of total downloads* to a mere 1-2%. This isn’t a smoking gun and there is a lot of conflicting evidence, but when you consider the improvements in data analysis to aid retention and the huge increased marketing spend from games at the top, I believe it’s worth taking another look at how we can develop a more sustainable approach to game monetization.

在过去的四年中,据报道的“典型”付费玩家似乎已从总下载量的3-5%*降至仅1-2%。 这不是抽烟的方法,有许多相互矛盾的证据,但是当您考虑改进数据分析以帮助保留并从顶部游戏中大量增加营销支出时,我认为值得再次看一下我们如何可以开发一种更可持续的游戏货币化方法

Let’s agree on three principles before we start.

在开始之前,让我们就三个原则达成一致。

  1. 游戏业务是一个漏水的桶 (The games business is a leaky bucket)

We will always lose players! Games are consumable entertainment and players will inevitably churn. This means we have two options – add more people faster than we lose them or plug as many leaks as we can.

我们将永远失去玩家! 游戏是消费性娱乐,玩家不可避免地会流失。 这意味着我们有两种选择–增加人员的速度超过失去他们的速度,或者尽可能多地堵塞泄漏。

  1. 保留具有巨大影响 (Retention has a huge impact)

    Look at the results of our Unity Ads Survey with EEDAR:

    查看我们使用EEDAR进行的Unity Ads调查的结果:

元数据驱动应用设计_设计驱动的应用内购买:创造可持续的获利能力

Online Survey Conducted in 2014 with 3,000 paying players

2014年进行了3,000名付费玩家进行的在线调查

  1. 购买(甚至下载)是有风险的 (Buying (even downloading) is a risk)

元数据驱动应用设计_设计驱动的应用内购买:创造可持续的获利能力

In The Journal of Marketing, James W Taylor wrote about the four forces which prevent people from making any purchase, be it a game or a pair of shoes. We need to know what we are getting, what we are missing out on, what others will think of our decisions and deal with other things in our lives.

詹姆斯·W·泰勒(James W Taylor)在《市场营销杂志》(The Journal of Marketing)中写道,阻止人们购买任何东西的四种力量,无论是游戏还是一双鞋子。 我们需要知道我们得到了什么,我们错过了什么, 别人将如何看待我们的决定,并处理生活中的其他事情

In short, if we are going to make better, more sustainable In App Purchase (IAP) design, then first we have to keep more players for longer and create the conditions where they feel safe to buy things in our game.

简而言之,如果我们要做出更好,更可持续的In App Purchase(IAP)设计,那么首先我们必须让更多的玩家留在更长的时间,并创造让他们可以放心购买游戏中物品的条件。

The current IAP models typically use:

当前的IAP模型通常使用:

  • Unlimited Content – Capped by limited energy (such as Candy Crush Saga)

    无限内容 –受到有限能量的限制(例如Candy Crush Saga)

  • Exponential Cost Escalation – Building a bigger base requires bigger stores (* of Clans)

    指数成本上升 –建立更大的基础需要更大的门店(部落冲突)

  • Time-Limited Events – Special limited editions and timed events (Puzzles & Dragons)

    限时活动 –特殊限量版和定时活动(拼图与龙)

  • Casino Mechanics – Not part of this discussion as it relies on different psychology

    赌场力学 –不属于本讨论的一部分,因为它依赖于不同的心理学

These kind of purchases strongly focus on the conversion of the player to spending, rather than on delivering an expectation of value. We don’t get to retain users if we treat them as disposable, like visitors to a carnival midway (or fairground if you’re British). If we rig the games too far, then people will lose the joy and simply stop coming back.

这些购买强烈地侧重于玩家向支出的转化,而不是交付对价值的期望。 如果我们将用户视为一次性用户,就不会保留他们,例如嘉年华中途(如果您是英国人,则是游乐场)的访客。 如果我们将游戏装配得太远,那么人们将失去欢乐,而只会停止回来。

The concept of ongoing spending as a user presents different short-term vs. long-term risks. Most players have a budget they are comfortable spending regularly. In the heat of a game they might exceed that, but this creates Buyer’s Remorse unless they feel they can choose to limit this spend in the future. We have to consider the short and long term risk profiles of the game as well as the context for players including:

用户持续消费的概念会带来不同的短期和长期风险。 大多数玩家都有自己愿意定期支出的预算。 在游戏的*中,他们可能会超过这个数目,但这会造成买方的mor悔,除非他们感到他们将来可以选择限制这一支出。 我们必须考虑游戏的短期和长期风险状况以及玩家的环境,包括:

  • Escalating costs – The perception of ever escalating costs will impact player demand. This isn’t the same as price sensitivity but never-ending upward pressure creates payment fatigue.

    不断升级的成本 –不断升级的成本将影响玩家的需求。 这与价格敏感性不同,但永无止境的上行压力会造成付款疲劳。

  • Never-ending spend – The perception that I will always be asked for more money from the game creates payment fatigue, but that is different from the desire to want to spend money of my own choice. Always have more for me to acquire on my own initiative; don’t make my basic retention depend on it.

    永无止境的支出 –我总是会被要求从游戏中获取更多的钱,这会造成支付疲劳,但这不同于想要自己选择花钱的愿望。 总是有更多的主动权让我获得; 不要让我的基本保留依赖于此。

  • Comparative progress – Seeing others perform better than me can create playing fatigue. If someone else’s spend alone makes it appear impractical for me to compete, I will abandon the game – claiming that it’s pay-to-win.

    比较进步 –看到别人的表现比我更好,会造成游戏疲劳。 如果仅别人的花销对我来说竞争似乎不切实际,我将放弃这场比赛-声称这是赢钱的。

  • Substitute games – We can’t ignore that there were an average of 362 mobile games released every day in Feb this year alone. There are always substitute games, and they are all free too.

    替代游戏 –我们不能忽略,仅今年2月每天平均发布362个手机游戏。 总有替代游戏,而且它们都是免费的。

Buyer’s Remorse is a real thing. We build up a great deal of anticipation and often get caught up in the heat of the moment when we make a purchase (or download).  But after our purchase is when we are at our most vulnerable and we will (at some point) cool down and review our purchase decision. The role of a designer is to keep that player playing. More than that, as a designer of IAP we have to keep players wanting to not just continue playing, but paying. That requires us to sustain their attention, interest, and desire over time!

买方的Re悔是真实的。 我们建立了很大的期望,并且经常在购买(或下载)时陷入困境。 但是在购买之后,我们便处于最脆弱的状态,我们将(在某个时候)冷静下来并审查我们的购买决定。 设计师的作用是让玩家发挥作用。 不仅如此,作为IAP的设计师,我们必须让玩家不仅希望继续比赛,而且希望付费。 这需要我们随着时间的流逝保持他们的关注,兴趣和欲望!

Just like every game mechanic has to engage and entertain a player, our game purchases have to ‘supercharge’ a player’s sense of delight and drive repeat engagement.

就像每个游戏机制都必须吸引并娱乐玩家一样,我们购买游戏必须“增强”玩家的愉悦感并推动重复参与。

  • Unfinished Business: Games like Kim Kardashian Hollywood do an amazing job with the narrative progression and the format of what are essentially ‘Cookie Clicker’ tasks and still create a sense of unfinished business. The gameplay may be limited but the engagement is very real – this leaves the player always wanting more. That engagement directly helps overcome the issues from any opportunity cost there may be

    未完成的业务: Kim Kardashian Hollywood之类的游戏在叙事进程和本质上是“ Cookie Clicker”任务的格式上做得非常出色,并且仍然产生未完成的业务感。 游戏玩法可能会受到限制,但参与度非常真实–这使玩家总是想要更多。 参与可以直接帮助克服可能存在的任何机会成本中的问题

  • Continued Relevance: Games like the VEGA conflict show items which players will be able to unlock later in the game. Their associated stats similarly go a long way to show the continued relevance of playing as well as how what the players just unlocked fits into the game. Often this is about putting the monetization in the context loop, rather than in with the core game mechanics.

    持续的相关性: VEGA冲突之类的游戏显示了玩家可以在稍后的游戏中解锁的物品。 同样,他们的相关统计数据可以显示游戏的持续相关性以及玩家刚刚解锁的内容如何融入游戏。 通常,这是将获利放在上下文循环中,而不是放在核心游戏机制中。

  • Social Capital: It’s also important not to ignore both the social consequences and the value that players put on the ability to personalize their experience as long as others are able to observe their decisions. This was key to most of the revenue in the now shutdown Playstation®Home experience with examples like the ‘Gold Suit’ offering its wearers social capital. However, people often misunderstand this phenomena – customization has to be authentic as it’s about a real person’s response to your experience.

    社会资本:同样重要的是,只要他人能够观察自己的决定,就不要忽视社会后果和玩家赋予个人化体验能力的价值。 这是现已关闭的Playstation®Home体验中大部分收入的关键,例如“金装套装”为佩戴者提供社交资本的例子。 但是,人们经常会误解这种现象-定制必须是真实的,因为它是真实的人对您的体验的React。

  • Inertia: It’s also easy to underestimate how important it is to keep your players playing – even if they are freeloaders! The fact that a player deliberately chose to play your game is hugely valuable – it’s a massive compliment to you and your team and you should respect that.  This is the key to you being able to generate revenue in the first place and their ongoing commitment will be hard to win. That’s why your initial on-boarding process is so vital. Acknowledge that every player has a lifecycle and be aware of how their needs will change as they move from Discovering to Learning then Engaging.  Building longevity takes an understanding of the community as well as how your game’s rhythm of play fits into your players’ lifestyles.

    惯性:很容易低估让玩家保持游戏状态的重要性-即使他们是免费下载程序! 玩家故意选择玩您的游戏这一事实具有巨大的价值-这对您和您的团队都是巨大的赞赏,您应该尊重这一点。 这是您首先能够获得收入的关键,而他们持续的承诺将很难赢得。 这就是为什么您最初的入职流程如此重要的原因。 确认每个玩家都有生命周期,并意识到他们的需求从发现到学习再到参与的过程将如何变化。   延长寿命需要了解社区,以及您的游戏节奏如何适应玩家的生活方式。

We should not consider someone who pays once to be a customer.  They may have purchased, but unless they do it again there is work to do to not only create a scaleable business, but also one which delivers what our players actually want!

我们不应该将一次付款的人视为客户。 他们可能已经购买了,但是除非他们再做一次,否则要做的工作不仅是创建可扩展的业务,而且还可以交付我们玩家真正想要的东西!

According to Park & Lee, players are buying because they have an expectation of value, not just because they are happy with the game. They are demonstrating a desire to get more out of our game and we have to sustain that if we are to encourage them to keep spending. You can’t sustain this desire if your IAP doesn’t deliver both logical and emotional value. If we respect our players, we will earn a longer Lifetime Value (LTV), but unfortunately no matter how good our game is there will always be a diminishing return.

根据Park&Lee的说法,玩家之所以购买是因为他们对价值有期望,而不仅仅是因为他们对游戏感到满意。 他们表现出了从游戏中获得更多收益的愿望,如果我们要鼓励他们继续花钱,我们就必须坚持这一点。 如果您的IAP无法同时提供逻辑和情感价值,您将无法维持这种愿望。 如果我们尊重我们的玩家,我们将获得更长的终生价值(LTV),但不幸的是,无论我们的游戏多么出色,回报总是会减少。

That’s why we have to take a design view to the kinds of goods we offer players.  I like to break these down into four categories:

因此,我们必须从设计角度考虑为玩家提供的商品种类。 我喜欢将其分为四类:

  • Sustenance – Goods we require to continue playing

    支持 -我们需要继续玩的物品

  • Shortcuts – Goods which speed up the actions we are performing

    捷径 –加快我们执行行动的商品

  • Socialisation – Goods which are primarily about social capital

    社会化 –主要与社会资本有关的商品

  • Strategy – Goods which open new playing options

    策略 -开启新玩法的商品

These goods can come in various forms:

这些商品可以有多种形式:

  • Consumable – a one-time use item

    消耗品 –一次性使用物品

  • Capacity – something which enhances growth/play

    容量 –可以提高成长/发挥的能力

  • Permanent – a permanent upgrade or unlock item

    永久 -永久升级或解锁物品

  • Generators – an increase in the supply of a consumable

    发电机 –消耗品供应的增加

Looking at your game, you will be able to identify a point in the game mechanic or the context loops of play (perhaps even the metagame) where any of these items would benefit the players. However, the problem most developers fall into is forgetting to make their goods scaleable.

查看您的游戏,您将能够确定游戏机制中的某个点或游戏的上下文循环(甚至是元游戏)中的任何一项都将使玩家受益。 但是,大多数开发人员遇到的问题是忘记使他们的商品可伸缩。

It’s something which, in my opinion, was the downfall of the free2play version of Dungeon Keeper.

我认为,这是Dungeon Keeper的免费版本的崩溃。

Scale matters!

规模很重要!

Some methods we can use to help scale goods include:

我们可以用来帮助扩大商品规模的一些方法包括:

  • Bundles – Whether it’s a BOGO or a pack of 10, selling more than one consumable in a single transaction not only makes the offer more attractive to the player, it also means that they may have some left over. And that means they’ll need to come back to use them.

    捆绑包 –无论是BOGO还是10包,在一次交易中卖出一种以上的消耗品,不仅使报价对玩家更具吸引力,还意味着它们可能还有剩余。 这意味着他们需要回来使用它们。

  • Ratchet Mechanisms: It can be scaling how many recharge crystals you need to continue your run, having died multiple times like in Blades of Brim by SYBO, or the classic mechanic where to upgrade your HQ you first have to upgrade your Gold and Mana Stores (which of course takes an escalating amount of time and resources to complete). I’m falling out of love for this system to be honest, but it’s still valid when spread amongst a large number of assets such as the different heroes in Marvel Future Fight. This method also includes multi-part items such as the Blueprints in the Force Collection.

    棘轮机制 :它可能会缩放需要继续运行的补给晶体的数量,它们已经多次死亡,例如SYBO在《金边的剑》中,或者经典的机械要升级总部,您首先必须升级金牌和法力商店(当然这需要花费越来越多的时间和资源来完成)。 老实说,我对这个系统不感兴趣,但是当它散布在大量资产(例如“漫威未来之战”中的不同英雄)中时,它仍然有效。 此方法还包括多部分项目,例如Force Collection中的“蓝图”。

  • Scissor-Paper-Stone: This remains my favorite approach to scale and I think the most consumer friendly – add a touch of dilemma to the purchase. Do you buy the Blue Sword or the Red one? Blue is better on Green, but Vulnerable to Red attacks… Do it well and you’ll turn purchase decisions into a positive part of the reason to play. Look at games like Hearthstone or DOTA where players have no problems with spending money. A dilemma doesn’t have to be profound, it can be as simple as the mental switch between collecting gems and avoiding obstacles in Lets Go Rocket from Cobra Mobile.

    Scissor-Paper-Stone:这仍然是我最喜欢的扩展方法,我认为对消费者最友好-在购买时增加了一些难题。 你买蓝剑还是红剑? 蓝色在绿色上要好一些,但容易受到红色的攻击……如果做得好,您将把购买决定变成游戏理由的积极部分。 看一下像《炉石传说》或《 DOTA》这样的游戏,玩家在花钱上没有问题。 难题并不一定要很深远,它可以像在《眼镜蛇移动》中的《 Let Go Rocket》中收集宝石和避开障碍之间的思维转换一样简单。

  • Customization: The more creativity you allow your players, the more engaged they will be with their characters emotionally and the better impact your purchases will have on ongoing retention. However, this has to be authentic. You can’t fake Geek Cool.

    定制化:您赋予玩家的创造力越多,他们在角色上的情感投入就越多,您的购买对持续保留的影响就越大。 但是,这必须是真实的。 你不能假冒极客酷。

There are other things you can consider too, such as how rare an item might be, what function that item delivers, why that’s special, and how it improves the gameplay. But also ask why an item will be something a player aspires to get and how you can make it more personal.

您还可以考虑其他事项,例如某件物品可能稀有,该物品可以提供什么功能,为什么如此特别以及如何改善游戏玩法。 但也要问为什么一个物品会成为玩家渴望得到的东西,以及如何使它变得更加个性化。

IAP must be part of the game design experience. We have to create a sense of anticipation and delight if we are to attract players’ interest and create the desire to act and purchase from us.  We are now retailers inside our game and as such have to think in a similar way. Why not consider some of the following techniques?

IAP必须是游戏设计经验的一部分。 如果我们要吸引玩家的兴趣并创造出向我们购买产品和购买产品的欲望,就必须营造一种期待和愉悦的感觉。 我们现在是游戏中的零售商,因此必须以类似的方式进行思考。 为什么不考虑以下某些技术?

  • Help from a friend: Games like Criminal Case actively use Facebook connections to offer gifts to their friends of freely available consumable items like energy. Learning from Puzzles & Dragons as well as Marvel Future Fight, we can connect with other players who are online at the same time as us and make tentative allies. These can be a great excuse to see what impact a power or new character might have on our game, and make it easier to get past a troublesome boss.

    朋友的帮助:刑事案件之类的游戏积极利用Facebook的联系向其朋友赠送礼物,例如能量等可免费使用的消耗品。 从《拼图与龙》以及《漫威未来》中学习,我们可以与其他同时在线的玩家联系,并建立试探性盟友。 这些可能是一个很好的借口,可以查看力量或新角色可能对我们的游戏产生什么影响,并使越过麻烦的老板更容易。

  • Free use of an item: Sometimes we have to show people what they are missing out on; unless you have used a better car/gun/etc, how will you know how much more fun it is that the one you already have? Sometimes this temporary use can be a reward or part of a daily challenge, but it can also be highly effective to use ‘Opt-In’ Video Ads to offer such experiences. These put a commercial value to the free item, something the player often appreciates more as a result.

    免费使用某件物品:有时我们必须向人们展示他们所缺少的东西; 除非您使用了更好的汽车/枪/等,否则您将如何知道已经拥有的汽车会带来更多的乐趣呢? 有时,这种临时使用可以作为奖励或日常挑战的一部分,但使用“选择加入”视频广告来提供这种体验也可以非常有效。 这些为免费物品带来了商业价值,因此玩家通常会更欣赏这些东西。

  • Predictable uncertainty: Knowing you will get something but not knowing what is a great tool. This is often used crudely by throwing a roulette wheel into the game. However, it’s more interesting in its use in Crossy Road: I regularly get a random creature from the coins I earn through play or from watching opt-in videos. These creatures are all delightful in some way, and each time I get one the other becomes more interesting. There are some which I just had to get my hands on straight away – as a result I was willing to spend real money to get the ones I wanted, Emo Goose and Frankenstein.

    可预测的不确定性:知道您会得到一些东西,但不知道什么是一个好工具。 这通常是通过在游戏中投入轮盘赌来粗略使用的。 但是,它在Crossy Road中的使用更有趣:我会定期从通过玩游戏或观看选择观看的视频中获得的硬币中获得随机的生物。 这些生物在某种程度上都令人愉悦,每当我得到一个时,另一个就会变得更加有趣。 有些东西我只需要立即动手即可—结果,我愿意花真钱来买我想要的东西,Emo Goose和Frankenstein。

  • Limited offer: Whether it’s limited by time or event, it can be really effective to make players authentic and in-game context plausible offers. Fake scarcity will add to playing fatigue.

    优惠数量有限无论是受时间还是事件的限制,它都能真正有效地使玩家获得真实可信的游戏内容。 假的稀缺会增加玩耍的疲劳感。

Finally, the point of making sustainable IAP is to look at the sale as the beginning not the end. If we are to really achieve that, then we have to recognize that each purchase we initiate creates its own sense of buyer’s remorse and build playing and paying fatigue – leading to churn. We have to constantly fight this inevitable loss by building post-purchase utility. That means making the user feel special every time they make a purchase, similar to the unboxing experience of an Apple product. Identify and allow players to show off ‘landmark items’ which genuinely expand the scale of play, but then don’t forget to show them what their money has bought. All this has to also take into account how each purchase affects the gameplay of others; we can’t afford to increase the engagement of one player at the cost of dozens of others.

最后,制定可持续的IAP的目的是将销售视为开始而非结束。 如果我们要真正实现这一目标,那么我们就必须认识到,我们发起的每次购买都会产生自己的购买者自责感,并造成游戏和支付疲劳,从而导致流失。 我们必须通过建立购买后效用来不断应对这一不可避免的损失。 这意味着每次购买时都会使用户感到与众不同,类似于Apple产品的拆箱体验。 确定并允许玩家炫耀能够真正扩大比赛规模的“地标性物品”,但不要忘了向他们展示自己的钱已经购买了什么。 所有这些还必须考虑到每次购买如何影响他人的游戏玩法; 我们不能以牺牲数十名其他玩家为代价来增加一名玩家的参与度。

Show me as a player that you respect my decision to invest in your game and give me a reason to do it again!

向我证明作为玩家,您尊重我投资游戏的决定,并给我理由再做一次!

And for those of you want to see our recent webinar on this same topic, you can view it here:

如果您想观看我们最近关于同一主题的网络研讨会,可以在这里查看:

演示地址

翻译自: https://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/06/23/design-driven-in-app-purchases-creating-sustainable-monetization/

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