© C. Warren 2005 . Entertainment Strategies PUT NAME OF TALK HERE For the Love of the Game Putting Fan Culture at the Heart of Game Craft.

© C. Warren 2005 www.FanTrust.com


Entertainment Strategies

PUT NAME OF TALK HEREFor the Love of the Game

Putting Fan Culture at the Heart of Game Craft


Fans take interactivity beyond the game. Will you be there to meet them?


We hold these truths to be self-evident

• Story is important

• Interacting with gamers goes beyond game play

• A conversation is a type of interactivity


Will there be a Nobel Prize for game stories?


“The story was the bushman’s most sacred possession. These people knew what we do not; that without a story you have not got a nation, or culture or civilization. Without a story of your own to live, you haven’t got a life of your own.”

-- L. Van der Post,

The Lost World of the Kalahari




Thousands of hours of game design?

Years of game play?

At latest count, there are 27,870 Final Fantasy storylines written by gamers

appearing on just one unofficial website: FanFiction.net


From “aficionado” to “zealot,”your fan by many other names…….

Critic

SupporterAuthori

ty

Contributor

Groupie

Champion

Core Client

Investor Subscriber

Repeat Customer

Patron

Member

Meal Ticket

ViewerWell

Wisher


If you look up “Fan Fiction” on Google, you get more than 2 million links!


The Web is your oyster


Genres

• Fan Fiction

• Blogs: “Grand Text Auto”

• LitCrit

• Reviews

• Mods

• Role play and other game interaction


“Get a life.”

William Shatner to Star Trek fans

It all started with a naughty idea about Kirk and Spock…


“Filk” & “Slash”

Fans also create other tributes to storylines:

• “Filk” is folk music by fans about their favorite TV shows or characters

• “Slash” is erotica by fans featuring explicit sex between established characters


Fan Question:

“I have written a script for my favorite game. Where can I send it?”

Corporate Answer:

“Keep on writing.....the more you write the better you will get !!

But... ALL unsolicited ideas and scripts are left unopened and are THROWN AWAY. This is for YOUR protection.”



• People who critique and people who create

• One expert estimates that 98% of fanfiction is written by women

• The New York Times calls fan-written criticism “electronic tough love”

Who are these people?


Fans: Outsiders or Insiders?






“If someone had told me when I was growing up in New York City that someday people would win tens of thousands of dollars, automobiles, and other prizes from being good at games I’d have told them to double up on their medication.”

-- Angel Munoz

Cyberathlete Professional League Founder & President


Fun & games… orgames sweatshop?


Competitive video game play will be the next “Reality Television”.





Does bad TV

make good games?


“Five years from now every game will have a story.”

-- Nokia game producer


From Fandango (what not to do)

to Fantastic (how to be fabulous)!


The changing business of Fans

GameDeveloper

Publisher

Consumer

Publisher ConsumerGame

Developer

Existing Model

New Model


“Thanks for taking the time to check these pages out, and enjoy!”

-- Chief Executives BioWare, Company Webpage quote

• Good game companies are exploring and exploiting direct relationships with Fans

• Today’s technology makes connecting Fans and Brands easy and relatively inexpensive

• Fans seek entertaining and well-run places to form communities-of-interest and swap ideas


Old media meets new media?

“Nielsen Plays New Game, Adds Videogame Ratings Service”

-- MediaPost Headline 2004


Lead from your strengths

• Extend interactive storytelling beyond the game

• Cultivate Fans online

• Analyze Fan intelligence

• Staff for the fan future


TrendsTrends


HeroesHeroes


www.FanTrust.com

Catherine Warren, President

Keep Your Fans in the Picture

© C. Warren 2005 . Entertainment Strategies PUT NAME OF TALK HERE For the Love of the Game Putting Fan Culture at the Heart of Game Craft.

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