I love the fact that thanks to organizations like Valve, Maxis, and Bioware, user-generated content is attracting tremendous attention from industry and media alike. Still, coverage typically revolves around a single point of interest, i.e. “UGC makes games more interesting” or “UGC can help drive sales.” So I thought I’d compile a (by no means exhaustive) list of the good business-y things about UGC in the context of games:
- It can extend the life and drive the sales of existing games. (
Example 1 ,Example 2 ) - It can lead to entirely new games, not just new styles of play. (
Example 1 ) - It can drive virtual businesses (and whole economies) which generate profit for developer and customer alike. (
Example 1 ,Example 2 ) - It can reduce the cost of populating games with content, and make those games more dynamic and interesting. (
Example 1 ,Example 2 ,Example 3 ) - It can take advantage of non-game-based UGC, such as Flickr and YouTube content, using it (in some cases) to blur the lines between the real and virtual world. (
Example 1 ,Example 2 ) - It can help game developers identify potential employees. (
Example 1 ) - Machinima! (
Example 1 ,Example 2 ,Example 3 ) - It can lead to novel uses for game engines, other than machinima. (
Example 1 ,Example 2 ) - It could help reduce piracy. (
Example 1 ) - It could inform businesses and lead to the development of real-world products. (
Example 1 ) - It can become viral marketing for real-world businesses. (
Example 1 ,Example 2 )
The list could have gotten much bigger, but I think most interesting points can be subsumed within these larger buckets. (For example, “makes games better” goes into #1, 2, and 4). That said, let me know if I missed anything major!
PS. When the debate over the term user-generated content finally ends, can someone let me know which feel-good phrase wins out? I no longer have the patience to follow along. ;)
PPS. There was a great (non-game-specific) article in the NYTimes yesterday about how UGC is revolutionizing consumer products like clothing, soda, etc.
Wow, exhaustive series of links. Incidentally, your first link in the third bullet point has an extra br tag at the end of the URL.
Whoops — thanks for the catch.
gr8 info…as exapmple 1 take us to wikipedia Aurora toolkit, where i can get that. Like If i would like edit..