社交游戲開發(fā)商和發(fā)行商經(jīng)常會(huì)討論社交游戲的三大特性，即病毒性，盈利性和留存率。本篇文章將針對(duì)用戶留存問題展開研究。

用戶留存率，也被稱為用戶粘性，可以說是游戲設(shè)計(jì)的基本要素。我敢保證，那些前社交游戲設(shè)計(jì)者（包括我在內(nèi)）常常會(huì)因?yàn)樽约壕闹谱鞯挠螒蜃兂闪税l(fā)行商任務(wù)清單中的一小部分內(nèi)容而感到憤恨和委屈。

甚至，他們也因?yàn)樵诘谝徊ㄉ缃挥螒蚶顺崩铮螒虺俗鳛橐环N病毒式傳播“機(jī)器”，并未能體現(xiàn)任何用戶留存功能而感到極端郁悶。其實(shí)在第一波游戲設(shè)計(jì)浪潮中也不乏好游戲，例如《Dungeons & Dragons: Tiny Adventures》，而且，正是從那時(shí)起，社交游戲開始慢慢步入正軌，并取得了很大的進(jìn)展。從其它游戲類型轉(zhuǎn)變成社交游戲的過程中，最大且最好的變化即是，當(dāng)別人問你什么是用戶留存功能時(shí)，你已經(jīng)能夠應(yīng)對(duì)自如了。首先你可以告訴他們，你的游戲設(shè)計(jì)中最棒且最有趣的部分是什么。

隨之你還應(yīng)該思考一些更為具體的問題。因?yàn)橐恍拜^機(jī)靈”的人就會(huì)繼續(xù)追問你，到底采用了何種特定的游戲設(shè)計(jì)元素才能夠挽留更多用戶。一款有趣的對(duì)抗小游戲?qū)⑽婕一ㄙM(fèi)15分鐘于游戲，但是它的用戶留存率問題即是：這些用戶明天是否還會(huì)繼續(xù)玩游戲呢？也許你玩過《Farmville》，對(duì)游戲中的莊稼種植任務(wù)也是再熟悉不過了。在游戲中你需要種植一些莊稼，并隔一段時(shí)間回到游戲中收獲它們。一些莊稼需要兩天的時(shí)間才會(huì)成熟?？梢哉f，這是社交游戲中最普遍的用戶留存機(jī)制。玩家在游戲初期進(jìn)行點(diǎn)擊，并隨后回到游戲中查看結(jié)果。這也正是很多非游戲設(shè)計(jì)者所關(guān)心的用戶留存機(jī)制問題。

現(xiàn)在，我們將種植莊稼任務(wù)與《Farmville》中整體的用戶留存機(jī)制作比較：從僅有的幾塊農(nóng)田發(fā)展成為一大片廣闊的土地，并形成一座穩(wěn)定的農(nóng)場。你也許會(huì)覺得它們之間的聯(lián)系并不大，但是事實(shí)上，用戶留存機(jī)制已經(jīng)把它們牢牢緊扣在一起了。

farmville(from kotaku.com)

以下是提高用戶留存率的幾大方法：

故事情節(jié)和游戲角色：讓玩家愿意回到游戲中觀看游戲情節(jié)的發(fā)展。美劇《Lost》就是個(gè)典例。它能讓觀眾心系著故事情節(jié)，想打開電視觀看他們喜歡的角色和情節(jié)的發(fā)展。如果玩家能在游戲中操縱主要的游戲角色，并自行選擇故事情節(jié)的發(fā)展，那么他們定會(huì)想要重新回到游戲中，觀看游戲角色和情節(jié)的發(fā)展。

制定“超額”的任務(wù)清單：不論玩家的游戲時(shí)間是一小時(shí)，一周還是一個(gè)月，都為他們安排更多的游戲任務(wù)。在這種“超額”的任務(wù)清單中，玩家可能會(huì)產(chǎn)生一種“不完整感”，而因此想要盡可能地回到游戲中，繼續(xù)挑戰(zhàn)并完成游戲任務(wù)。

所有權(quán)和收集：人們總是喜歡收集一些“戰(zhàn)利品”。同時(shí)這種方法也能幫助開發(fā)者盈利。

愧疚感：讓玩家因?yàn)闆]能重新回到游戲中而產(chǎn)生愧疚感。這種方法只能稱得上是短期戰(zhàn)略，如果長期使用將會(huì)適得其反。因?yàn)橐坏┩婕野l(fā)現(xiàn)他們因?yàn)橛螒蚨e(cuò)失了更多東西時(shí)，他們將不會(huì)再回到游戲中了。

錯(cuò)失的機(jī)遇：在游戲中添加一些活動(dòng)以“誘惑”那些離開了游戲的玩家，即他們?nèi)绻軌蚣皶r(shí)回到游戲中，便能體驗(yàn)這些活動(dòng)。玩家如果不愿意回到游戲也不會(huì)有所損失，但是這些活動(dòng)卻可以有效地吸引他們每天回來看看。如此，玩家還能感受到游戲世界的蓬勃生氣，并因此提高他們對(duì)游戲的興趣度。

每日活動(dòng)：一天一次的游戲任務(wù)或者競賽項(xiàng)目。

每周活動(dòng)：你應(yīng)該考慮所有玩家所具有的不同游戲模式，并思考如何做才能以不同的頻率吸引不同的玩家。我建議現(xiàn)代社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)必須同時(shí)具備每天活動(dòng)和每周活動(dòng)機(jī)制。

“冷卻計(jì)時(shí)器”（Cooldown timers）：這個(gè)機(jī)制也可用于上述幾大方法中，但是我想要在這里對(duì)其進(jìn)行詳細(xì)說明。你可以通過它控制游戲的節(jié)奏和玩家在每一個(gè)關(guān)卡中的能量?？梢哉f這是社交游戲中非常有效的一種機(jī)制。它的維持時(shí)間一般是5分鐘至1小時(shí)。

讓玩家能夠積極愉快地與好友進(jìn)行交流：不應(yīng)該將病毒式傳播與用戶留存機(jī)制完全分離開來。它們也存在一定的交互性（游戲邦注：在一些優(yōu)秀的社交游戲中尤其如此）。玩家可能會(huì)因?yàn)橄牒秃糜岩黄鹩螒蚨匦禄氐接螒蛑?，所以提供玩家與好友一起游戲的機(jī)會(huì)可以說是一種有效的用戶留存方法。

我曾經(jīng)玩過《Magic: The Gathering》（可以說這是我玩過的游戲中最好的一款）。在游戲中我被很多熊一般大的“松鼠”襲擊著，而唯一能夠幫我存活的卡片卻超出了我能夠支付的范圍。所以我便使用了“Jace, the Mind Sculptor”這張牌逃出了危機(jī)。我發(fā)現(xiàn)“Time Walk”這張牌能讓我獲得一個(gè)額外的回合。如果我在下一回合中再次使用“Jace”，我將能夠找到“Channel”和“Farost Titan”這兩張牌。我可以使用“Channel”對(duì)“Emrakul，Aeons Torn”發(fā)動(dòng)攻擊。除非出現(xiàn)了更大的對(duì)手，要不我便可以獲得一個(gè)額外的回合。對(duì)“Emrakul”的襲擊使我消滅了對(duì)手一半的卡片。而我也能夠確信“Farost Titan”有能力打敗“Gaea’s Cradle”。這時(shí)候我的對(duì)手已不再握有能夠與我相抗衡的厲害角色了，除了“Banefire”，這真的是一張極其厲害的卡片，有可能對(duì)我的所有卡片造成致命的威脅。

我說了這么多，但是這與社交游戲有何關(guān)系呢？如果你經(jīng)常玩《Magic》，那么你便能體會(huì)到我所描述的是一個(gè)多么有趣，愉快的故事。因?yàn)楸贿@個(gè)游戲故事深深吸引了，所以我也希望那些沒有玩過《Magic》的人能夠和我一起體驗(yàn)這種樂趣，并進(jìn)一步了解這款游戲。好的游戲都能夠提供給玩家好的故事情節(jié)體驗(yàn)。而如果一款社交游戲缺乏好的故事情節(jié)，那么這可以說是它的一大敗筆，將阻礙它的進(jìn)一步發(fā)展。當(dāng)你的好友告訴你他花費(fèi)了15分鐘在《Farmville》中等待收割番茄時(shí)，你是否還會(huì)覺得這個(gè)游戲情節(jié)有意思呢？

一個(gè)有趣的故事情節(jié)必須讓玩家之間能夠進(jìn)行有趣的互動(dòng)，或者讓玩家能夠真正融入游戲，體驗(yàn)游戲的樂趣。角色扮演游戲在這一方面就表現(xiàn)得很出色（我經(jīng)常與好友一起玩《Dungeons & Dragons》）。紙牌角色扮演游戲使玩家能夠融入史詩般復(fù)雜的游戲世界，深切地體驗(yàn)到游戲的樂趣。玩家可以結(jié)合自己豐富的想象力，在游戲中嘗試任何挑戰(zhàn)。而視頻角色扮演游戲雖然帶有較多局限性，但是它所展現(xiàn)的畫面感和視覺震撼都推動(dòng)玩家進(jìn)一步與游戲角色相融合。好的游戲作品將能為玩家呈現(xiàn)好的故事情節(jié)，而身臨其境的“戰(zhàn)爭”體驗(yàn)也將帶給玩家難忘的情感沖擊。

但是社交游戲卻做不到這幾點(diǎn)。社交游戲中并沒有角色扮演類游戲（游戲邦注：作者認(rèn)為《Mafia Wars》和其它類似的游戲都不屬于角色扮演游戲）。這些游戲中并未提供給玩家更深層次的互動(dòng)，玩家也很少會(huì)在游戲中遇到讓人激動(dòng)的轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)。但是社交游戲卻可以抓住這些機(jī)會(huì)，因?yàn)樗鼈兡軒蜕缃挥螒蛘嬲靥岣哂脩袅舸媛?。而且如果玩家能告訴好友自己在游戲中的體驗(yàn)，那么這無疑也是一種很有效的病毒式傳播。

在《Mafia Wars》等社交游戲中，你必須操縱著游戲中的黑手黨等角色，而且除了一些派對(duì)游戲（如《Pictionary》，《Time’s Up》）以及文字游戲（如《Boggle》，《Scrabble》）等，甚少有游戲不需要玩家操縱任何角色。

Social Game Design: Retention part 1

Social game creation and distribution companies often discuss three important qualities of a game on a social network. Virality, Monetization, and Retention. Today’s topic is retention (but you already knew that, didn’t you?

Retention, also known as engagement, also known as BASIC GAME DESIGN. I’m sure some pre-social games designers (like me) feel offended and traumatized that the main thing we work so hard at can be relegated to just one of three bullet points on a distributor’s to-do list.

Many are even more offended that most “games” in the first wave of social network games didn’t really have any “retention” features at all, they were just viral spam machines. Take a deep breath. Maybe two. The first wave wasn’t completely awful (Dungeons & Dragons: Tiny Adventures, for example) and social games have come a long way since then. The best news for those transitioning from other game types to social games is that when someone asks you about retention features you already know what to do. Start by telling them about all the coolest and funnest parts of your design.

Soon you’ll find you need to get more specific. The smart ones will come back to you asking for specific game design elements that get a player to come back to your game later. A fun minigame will keep a player’s attention for 15 minutes, but the retention question is: will they come back tomorrow? You are probably familiar with growing crops in Farmville. You plant crops and then must come back later to harvest them. Some crops take 2 days to grow. This is one of the more common forms that retention mechanics are taking in social games. Start something with a click, come back later to see the results. This is what most non-designers think of when they talk about retention mechanics.

Now contrast that with the overall retention mechanic in Farmville: a persistent farm that you grow from a few fields to great big huge tracts of land. You can see there’s a lot of room between those two things, but anything on the straight line the connects them will be a retention mechanic.

Here’s a spewing of ideas that increase retention:

Story & Characters- players come back to see what happens in the plot. TV shows like Lost do a great job with this – people want to come back to see what happens to the characters they love and how the story develops. In some games you play the main character and make choices about how your story develops, but just because the player is in control it doesn’t mean they don’t want to return to see what happens next.

To Do lists – give the player more than they can accomplish in a single session, in a single week, in a single month. Everything from a list of missions to achievements can create the feeling of incompleteness and striving toward goals that bring players back.

Ownership & collection – people love amassing loot. Note that this can overlap with monetization.

Guilt – something bad will happen if you don’t return. While effective in the short term, it can be counterproductive long-term. Once a player feels they have lost too much they will never return.

Missed opportunities – add events to your game that trigger while the player is away, but that can be taken advantage of if the player returns in time. Nothing is lost if the player doesn’t return, but they can enjoy monitoring the game in the background or checking at least once a day. This also increases the feeling that the game world is a living thing, increasing player interest overall.

Daily Events – once-a-day quests & contests.

Weekly Events – think about the overall play pattern of your users and how to engage different users at different frequencies. I recommend having both daily and weekly events for modern social networks.

Cooldown timers – okay this is more of a mechanic that can be applied to several other things on this list, but it deserves mention on its own. You can control both the pace of play and the power level of abilities you give to players through cooldown timers. They are super effective in social network games. These timers can last from 5 minutes to several hours.

Interacting with your friends in fun and positive ways – don’t separate viral and retention mechanics too much. They have some overlap, especially in well-designed social games. Players will come back to your game just to play it with their friends, and mechanics that allow them to work together are usually the strongest for retention. （source:designsideout）

Social Game Design: Retention part 2

This past Saturday I was playing Magic: The Gathering (possibly the best game ever made). In one game I was getting attacked by many squirrels (bear-sized squirrels) and the only card I had that could get me back into the game cost more than I could pay. I used Jace, the Mind Sculptor to dig for a way out. I found Time Walk, buying me an extra turn (this was a vintage rotisserie draft). On that next turn I used Jace again, this time finding Channel and Frost Titan. I used Channel (taking me down to 1 life) to cast Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. In addition to a huge guy, that bought me another turn. Emrakul’s attack took away half of my opponent’s board. Just to be sure, I cast the Frost Titan to lock down his Gaea’s Cradle. He didn’t have enough guys to get through, but he did have a Banefire, which he cast for the last 1 damage to kill me.

So what does this have to do with Social Games? If you play enough Magic, you know I just told you a cool and somewhat hilarious story. The story is so interesting to me that I was willing to tell it to you even if you don’t play Magic, putting in almost enough information for you to be able to understand it. Great games give players great stories to tell. I believe the lack of great stories is a problem for social games. When’s the last time someone told you a thrilling tale of how they waited 15 minutes to harvest tomatoes?

To get a great story you need interesting interactions between players, or between the game and the players. Role-playing games do this best. (I have been regaled countless times with a friend’s previous night’s Dungeons & Dragons adventure.) Paper RPGs combine complex interactions between people with a fantasy world that has epic storytelling possibilities. Players can do anything and the results are as awesome as their combined imaginations. Video game RPGs are more limited, but the graphics and well-composed worlds give players a lot of fuel to imagine the lives of their characters. Good writing will deliver great stories, and close-fought battles give the player emotional moments they won’t soon forget.

All of this is absent from social games. There are no RPGs (Mafia Wars and its myriad of clones are NOT RPGs. Don’t believe anyone who tells you that*). There aren’t any complex player interactions. There are no close encounters with surprising turnarounds. Social games could really use some of these things. These are the kinds of things that can dramatically increase player retention in a game. Also, if players are telling their friends what happened over lunch, you’ll get some real-life viral spreading.

* Technically they are games in which you play the role of a mafia boss or similar. But there are very few games where you don’t play the role of something. I guess you don’t do it in party games (Pictionary, Time’s Up) and word games (Boggle, Scrabble).

(本文作者是Gregory，為游戲邦編譯)

（source:designsideout）