Angry Birds & "Entertainment Snacking"

[Morreion]

Why We Can't Stop Playing (Wall Street Journal)
Mixing Psychology With Physics, Cute Characters, And Lots of Cheering

"Why do smart people love seemingly mindless games? Angry Birds is one of the latest to join the pantheon of "casual games" that have appealed to a mass audience with a blend of addictive game play, memorable design and deft marketing. The games are designed to be played in short bursts, sometimes called "entertainment snacking" by industry executives, and there is no stigma attached to adults pulling out their mobile phones and playing in most places. Games like Angry Birds incorporate cute, warm graphics, amusing sound effects and a reward system to make players feel good. A scientific study from 2008 found that casual games provide a "cognitive distraction" that could significantly improve players' moods and stress levels."

The article goes on to talk about Angry Birds and some of the science behind "entertainment snacking".

The thought occurred to me that with entertainment coming in smaller and smaller sizes and shorter chunks of time to play (phone games, etc.) that this looks like a general trend in entertainment, making things less complicated and less time-intensive. There have been articles on the effect that the Internet is having on reading habits- some readers report reading less, or in smaller amounts than they used to. The effect this is having on MMOs is evident. I don't mind entertainment snacking, but I don't necessarily want my MMO to become a little snack. But this seems to be the trend.

I wonder if novels will be longer short stories in the future to accomodate this trend? Will MMOs become RPGs?

[Oatik]

I think people read too much into the casual game market, the answer to when people most often play "while waiting for an appointment". This is exactly when I play stuff and it replaces sitting around bored or looking at crappy magazines.

Do people play these things, sure they do, are they playing them to replace more complex games? I don't think so.

[Regolyth]

My wife loves this game. She has spent the last few weeks beating all the levels with the highest rank possible (three stars). She sits on the couch and plays this in the same manner I would a session of WoW or something. It's quite addicting.

It's basically the same thing as Crush the Castle, just with a different scoring method. Personally, I like CTC better.

Dec 1, 2010 11:56:01 GMT -5 Oatik said:

Do people play these things, sure they do, are they playing them to replace more complex games? I don't think so.

I totally agree.