September 16th, 2007
From Kotaku, an interesting story about an online game innovator called Kwari. While certainly not a virtual world in the sense we normally think of, Kwari’s new multiplayer onling gaming experience takes the addictive and highly competitive nature of an online FPS and then adds in a system where you get money for kills. As the company’s press release notes,
“…Kwari flies in the face of the social network gaming ethos, which hinges on projecting an identity online, and for others to be able to interact or engage with that online persona. Bring money into the equation, however, and the rules have to change. Anonymity becomes necessary as well as psychologically appealing to a point where Kwari is virtually diametrically opposite to the core values of social networking.
“Money changes everything,” said Eddie Gill, founder and creator of Kwari. “I wanted to create something that had more of a buzz than a traditional FPS. The concept of playing for money is not a new one. However, these games tend to be an existing multiplayer game with a cash prize tagged on the end, much like clan tournaments, which means only a minority walk away with cash winnings – and usually a small amount at that.”
Gamers playing Kwari for cash set up an account, are matched on the basis of skill, and enter a game at a pre agreed stake level ranging from one cent to one dollar a hit. During the four-round matches (3x 16-player maps, 1x 64-player last man standing map called ‘The Killing Floor’) every time a player hits another, money is decremented from the target’s stake and added to the shooter’s. In a way, the player’s money stake mirrors their in-game health, except it’s exchanged from one player to another.
There are also jackpot prizes which require keys to unlock. These jackpots are fed by self-inflicted damage sustained by the players in all games being played globally. For example, if a player jumps from the top of an arena or takes damage from a hazard, their stake is decremented and this feeds into the jackpots, which are then released hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly – the latter are expected to pay out millions of dollars. Most importantly; all money paid in to the game by players is won out of the game by players.
Being a game of skill, how much money a player can win depends partially on their in-game performance. So to ensure a level playing field, all games are skill-matched so that only players of equal ability are able to compete.”
We think this convergence of skill-based gaming and virtual worlds is one area to definitely watch going forward.
This entry was posted on Sunday, September 16th, 2007 at 8:54 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
