Played a FANTASTIC multiplayer e-mail based game today, called "Darts of Poison Extreme." It’s one of the many games offered by MOHYSE.com, and quite addictive. I played a3dmofo and jverbal; lost to mofo, and won against verbal. Check out some of the screenshots:
A few thoughts here. From a design standpoint, they are very slick indeed. Great vector art, incredibly suggestive of motion and speed and movement. Great transitions, and a really nice, contemporary look overall (that works to suggest an "eastern" motif).
If you get a chance, I highly suggest trying it out You don’t have to actually e-mail someone to play; the game has a "practice" option, where you can just try out the game. From a marketing standpoint, this is pure gold. Instead of trying to pry user information from visitors, this game does twice the work. When a visitor decides to play, he/she must enter his/her e-mail, as well as the e-mail of a friend. In this way, Mohyse receives two working, active e-mails – and a snapshot of who their audience/demographic is.
Games are fun. Have no doubt about that – the fun factor is what attracts me the most to it. But there is a marketing side to games, a payoff (from a business standpoint) that makes them desirable. Until recently, I never really thought of games as serving a function outside of "entertainment." In terms of a "Return on Investment," games are incredibly beneficial in terms of the user information they acquire.
And besides… ninjas and poison darts are fucking FUN.
