Lord help the wine traditionalists if it is true: Technology entrepreneur Seth Preibatsch suggests that the next decade of digital innovation will be about the, “Game Layer.”
The “Game Layer,” is a dynamic that was introduced to the wine world last week when, within a day of each other, VinTank, a Napa-based digital consultancy, and Snooth Media each announced their own spin on the new, new thing in digital – game-like elements as a part of the wine + online experience; a sort of Farmville meets educational “Atta boy.”
If the announcements didn’t register with you mentally, you’re in good company: Neither press release (here and here) passed the “30 Second Rule”—the law of the PR jungle that says if it’s not understandable in 30 seconds it can’t be that important. Yet, it’s hardly the fault of VinTank or Snooth—it’s just that people are still getting their heads around QR codes and aren’t ready for a potential game-changer (no pun intended) on the order of the, “Game Layer.” However, these developments bear watching even if we’re a good 18 months out from broader awareness.
To date, your experience with online games is probably stratified into three categories:
• Xbox, PlayStation or Nintendo
• A glancing familiarity with World of Warcraft (and the pale, sunken-eyed souls who play it)
• The annoyance of Farmville or Mafia Wars on Facebook (Initiated by the kid you never talked to in high school who inexplicably friended you up and now spams your email inbox with Farmville crap)
What’s emerging beyond that (and social networking), driven by the growth of digital marketing and smart phones in the mobile space, is the incorporation of elements of gaming into our daily interactions and information consumption.
To understand this, it’s helpful to understand some of the terminology:
Game Layer: An opaque term that Preibatsch, the precocious 22-year old founder of a tech company called SCVNGR, uses to define the next wave of innovation this decade, a philosophy that he thinks is far more revolutionary (and he is far more apt to profit from) than the previous decade that was marked by the, “Social Layer” i.e. social networking. The “Game Layer” suggests that all of our interactions (what we do and why we do it) can be influenced by game mechanics.
Game Mechanics / Game Dynamics: The universal law(s) that is inherent in gameplay – from Old Maid to Monopoly to online. This story lists 47 game dynamics that SCVNGR follows in its client efforts.
Game Theory (from Answers.com): A mathematical method of decision-making in which a competitive situation is analyzed to determine the optimal course of action for an interested party, often used in political, economic, and military planning.
Both the VinTank program (called VinPass) and the Snooth program (called Wine Rack) are similar in nature and use a “Game Layer” on top of digital wine activity incorporating “Game Mechanics”—offering badges and other digital ephemera-based incentives for performing activities like writing tasting notes or demonstrating knowledge.
As an aside, now is a good time to note that the clichéd saying about Generation Y parental coddling and, “Everybody gets a trophy” is no longer the province of youth soccer leagues. Ahem.
VinPass’ program is chiefly sponsored by the Wines of France and is multi-platform. This means that users at various wine social networking sites like Winelog.net and wine mobile applications like Drync can “unlock” digital badges based on drinking and writing tasting notes related to French wines like Beaujolais, Champagne and wines from regions like the Loire Valley. Additional, real world incentives can be achieved, as well – discounts on purchases of event tickets and such.
Wine Rack by Snooth appears to be a more fully realized program upon launch and offers digital “trophies” to users who read, take quizzes, taste and rate wines at Snooth.com. Their program launches with title sponsorship from Terlato Wines International. Similar to VinPass, users (in an undefined way) can earn tangible rewards like access to tastings and offers from retailers.
Overall, I have mixed feelings about these so-called, “Game mechanics” embedded into otherwise normal digital wine activities.
Wine and digital engagement, in all of its variations, can act as a great democratizing counter-balance against the historical empiricism of the wine elite. However, progress wrought over the last five to six years has a great opportunity to step backwards if game-like elements take hold. A game, inherently, is a zero-sum proposition: there are winner and there are losers. Wine has seen enough of that, no? I wait with bated breath to hear the first braggart that has accumulated 30 digital trophies who then takes to his high horse …
In addition, there’s a seedy underbelly with these “Game mechanics” that isn’t quite simpatico with privacy issues. When Snooth co-founder and CTO Mark Angelillo says the Wine Rack idea was borne out of the notion of, “Give(ing) users a better idea of how they were learning and growing with wine, how they were getting interested in the product and how they were progressing through playing with wine data” my first thought wasn’t, “This is a user benefit” it was, “This is a marketing benefit”—as in: Wouldn’t wine marketers love to buy this sort of information.
Another sore point is that the education a user obtains from reading and going through quizzes on these sites doesn’t have any tangible value. Wouldn’t an inordinate amount of time spent earning a badge be so much more useful if it mapped to a baseline knowledge marker on an actual wine certification? Why, yes, it would.
Despite these initial misgivings, it’s hard to slow down the digital zeitgeist and all indications point to the “Game Layer” and “Game Mechanics” becoming a much more significant and present part of our lives and digital engagement.
If you’re the sort that views life like a competitive chess match, you’re in luck. If you’re an accidental tourist in life who avoids conflict and competition while seeking respite in the calming waters of the wine world, well, maybe there will be a “Trophy” for that in the Game of Wine.
Additional Information
Ed. Note: Preibatsch has the platform to get in front of the so-called “Game Layer” revolution, but McGonigal has the cred.
- TED speech by Seth Preibatsch
- TED speech by Jane McGonigal, Ph.D and author of, “Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World”
- Games People Play: Game Theory in Life, Business, and Beyond by The Great Courses
Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/is_it_game_on_in_the_wine_world/
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