Sports fans like to play games with eachother, online and off

When we were designing MyColts.net we were heavily influenced by Computer Game Theory. We think the overall community experience can and should be one big game fans play together…

Just this piece in Forbes written by Peter Daboll, CEO of Bunchball. He does a better job than I explaining game mechanics. I think this is an element missing from most sports social nets / community sites.

From Forbes – Gaming is pervasive, motivating and addictive across all demographics. But, it is not the game content that drives people to visit at least twice a day, every day. It is the unique game mechanics–the “meta game”–that drives people to continue to play. People like to play the games, but they like the challenges and competitive aspects of the games. Simple mechanics include earning a trophy or a badge to display in your profile, seeing trophies that you have not yet achieved, having challenges or seeing your name on a leaderboard. These simple mechanics have a profound impact on consumer behavior. Increasingly, the content is generated by the users themselves, and it is becoming secondary to the “earn, reward, gift, redeem” meta-game culture.

Read the entire article