Game of Thrones: Immersive experience and audience engagement

The Conducttr Conference 2014

Belén Santa-Olalla

Game of Thrones: Immersive experience and audience engagement

@belen_santa

#cdttr2014

Brief

Episodic content + Participation

Ruled bybroadcasting

Ruled by audienceparticipation

Storyworld

Episodes are just another piece

• More entry points• More engagement levels

SocialMedia

Onlineevents

Live events

A new world awaits…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8HpCyIJqxI

Conducttr Role

AUDIENCE DATABASE

CONTENTDATABASE

GAME LOGIC

SOCIAL MEDIA, EMAIL

TELEPHONENETWORKS

DATALOG

PLAYER

INCLUDES:• POINTS• BADGES• INVENTORY

AS WELL AS• MESSAGES• POSTS• STATUS UPDATES

Team

• Project leader & Storytelling

Belén Santa-Olalla

• Game Mechanics & QA

Robert Pratten

• Implementation & Managemen

Eduardo Iglesias

• Project leader

Berni Melero

• Management & Production

Javier López

• Social Media Strategy

Cristina de Pablos

• Communications and Events

Cristina Merino

• Graphic Design & GoT QA

Gastón Mass

• Project leader

Gregòire Sierra

• Interface developer

Gilles Boison

Timescale

• Dec’13 – Conversation starts

• 15 Feb – Proposal gets approved

• 22 Feb – Spot shoot and Performance

• 17-18 Mar – Shoot webseries

• 7 Apr – Launch 4th season

Getting ready War

Experience development

2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9

Discovery

10

2 31 4 5

Live Events

OnlineExperience

Seriesepisodes

Webseries

Performance Coronation

22 Feb 7 Apr 5 May 16 June

Project Management

Premise

19 Realms

Choose your Family

Choose your Realm

World building

• Hinge territory:

Game of Thrones + Contemporary Spain

“Location” Touchpoints

Fort

Town Square

Battlefield

Organic Brand Integration

Forest

Brothel

Militar Camp

Working with available resources

• What do we have in house?– Illustrator – Strategy Guide

– Production Unit – Webseries

– Broadcast slots – Spots and TV shows

• Turning around limitations:– One actor - monologue

– Addressing the audience

– Making the most out of exteriors

Character development

The wildling known as Edwyck

Will people identify with him? • Dry character• Rough language • Outlaw (deserted The Wall)===================================• Depth of character – Beneath the mask• Hard unveiled past• Sense of belonging: “Niñitos” (Kiddies)• One-and-one conversation with “warriors”• Clearly empowered by the character

Scriptwriting

One single scriptwriter Character BibleUnified tone across all channels

- Webseries- Live events- Conversation on Facebook- Graphic campaign

The power of Live Events http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfrgpVx6kDY

http://19reinos.canalplus.es/Coronacion.html

Designing Game Mechanics

ATTRIBUTES

BADGES

INVENTORY

Three types of actions

• Training actions#pledgeloyalty #moverealm #buypotion

Get familiarized with the universe, improve avatar

• Combat actions#attack #seduce #betray #givecoin

Generate conversation, involve 3rd party

• War actions#attack REALM

Organize strategy, create sense of community (1hr/week)

Potions

Special Items

The importance of pacing

Levels of engagement

Interactive

Non-active

Producer

General content

Interactive content

Deep content

Mike Dicks at BleedinEdge

Casual player:@19Reinos #Atack #MAD #Viveponiente

Badges

Loyalty Badges

Frequent players, not necessarily very active

Courage BadgesReally active players

Different people enjoy different things

http://amyjokim.com/2012/09/19/social-engagement-whos-playing-how-do-they-like-to-engage/

Achievers

SocializersExplorers

Killers

Bartle types

Blend story and game mechanics

Channeling behaviours

• Rewarding behaviours that generate conversation• Not rewarding behaviours than might generate spam

or cheating

Balancing wealth in game economy

Law of conservation

Flexibility – weekly wage

Codes

JWZE8

Implementation

…leaves roomfor responses

on-the-fly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LE6QeXsGdc

Automated interactivity…

Encourage User Generated Content

Leave gaps to be filled

Listen and react

“Let it go”

19 Reinos Stats

• +5600 players

• 126,500 messages on Twitter

• 3200 tweets per battle

• Final battle: 123 tweets per minute

• 36,000 attacks

• 1300 seductions

• 5400 betrayals

• 6000 coin exchanges

• 155 kingslayers

• 82 kings during the game

• More than 1000 people in Callao at the coronation

Take-aways

1. Define roles and design your own collaboration

2. Create User Journey (Platforms & Emotional)

3. Engage: play with pacing and personalization

4. Be flexible: Add wins and remove fails

5. Consider different types of audiences

6. Never underestimate their intelligence

7. Create a territory and let it go

And always…

AUDIENCE

…place the audience at the centre

Belén Santa-OlallaSenior Creative Consultant

@Belen_Santa

Email: [email protected]

Web: http://www.conducttr.com