Casual Connect Keynote: 5 Ways Climbing Mount Everest Taught Me About Social Game Design

Yesterday’s Casual Connect kick-off had Big Fish Games’ Jeremy Lewis introducing the conference at the Benaroya Hall in the epicentre of Seattle, and after some insight about the 35 represented countries and over 2,000 attendees, he passed it over to Ed Viestus.  Ed is a conqueror of all altitudinal challenges and an obsessive, successful mountain cilmber.  He discussed some of the greatest challenges and successes of his life, and really kicked things off in a great way.  I look at 5 lessons of his lessons and compare it to success in the world of game design and development.

Customer service in the mountain climbing business is the same as in social games, and anywhere else.

Ed discussed how no matter what service you’re providing, you need to be in tune with your customers’ needs for that specific activity.  For taking people up the mountain, it’s more than just leading the way: you need to make sure they’re happy and they’re getting the whole picture of what they’re doing and why it’s important.  This applies well to many social games, where some users quickly find the simple game play boring.  Focusing on social elements reminds players that this is about you and your friends, and that keeps people interested.  You’ve also got to be there for your users when problems come up, and like Ed said, it’s bad for business when people die on his trips (he was joking).

He got introduced to this concept while taking a game designer up to the top of his mountain.  That game designer got the opportunity from Big Fish Games who rewarded one of their top game designers with a trip to the top of a mountain with Ed.

Persevere… But not at risk to your project.

“i’ve always felt that mountain climbing has to be a round trip, it doesn’t count if you reach the top and die.”  You need to sometimes make calculated guesses about whether you’re going to succeed, and if the odds are well against you, it’s sometimes best to quit.  Ed is a really stubborn, tenacious guy, but even he, on his first trip to Mount Everest, had to stop just a few thousand feet from the top of the 28,000 feet peak.  The conditions weren’t right.  He made the right decision, left, and didn’t feel regret as he made the correct decision.  In your projects, you need to know when to turn back on wrong decisions or even wrong projects entirely.  Think critically.

For Ed, after that long treacherous north face climb of Everest, he wasn’t able to get to the summit.  But because he was motivated, steady and smart about the decision, he felt no regrets and considered it a success.  It was his third trip, which came later, he was able to succeed, making the overalll trip a full success.  Also, he mentioned that “I ended up climbing it 6 more times, and the second time was justified because I forgot my wallet.”

Don’t sit on your hands after success. Set new goals.

After Everest, Ed then came for K-2, the second highest mountain in the world.    After climbing the tallest mountain the world, Ed was really interested in seeing more, and doing more.  He set out to climb the other tallest mountains, and eventually went after 14 of them.  You need to move quickly in social games, and companies like Playdom are demonstrating that is one of their most vital skills.

Tightening the screws is the toughest, most important part of a project.

It’s the final days that are the hardest.  It’s absolutely true, and in the industry we refer to it as “tightening the screws”, which is extremely difficult.  Ed discussed how on almost every trip he took it was those last steps that were the most difficult, and in fact teams of climbers usually select a few people to represent them at the top (because of the way they work together).  So those two climbers must do it alone, and must climb, as it was on Mount Everest for instance, from 1am for 10 hours straight to reach that summit.  In social games, everyone can get to the Alpha stage where the basic concept is working, but can you work it out so that the game is polished, and the user interface is clear and easy to use?  Those are the screws that must be tightened.

Go with people that you like.  If I don’t like them at sea level, not going to love them at 26000 feet.

You’ve got to work with a team that’s going to survive through the tough days and the easy days. They need to get along and understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses.  It really is as simple as Ed said, though.  Go with people you like.  Work is all about the people around you, and if you’re making games you want this to be a fun environment where people are excited to get started every day.  So get fun people on board.

Marketing and advertising is the life blood of entertainment.

Ed worked hard to climb mountains for years, but to climb the big ones he needed sponsors.  Through marketing and advertising, he was able to move forward and achieve his dream.  He then had to take all kinds of sponsor’s flags to the top to make it happen, but it worked out for him and the advertiser.  If you’re making a game, know that a good game for a specific niche can be a very attractive proposition to a brand that maybe spends their money on newspaper ads that don’t show much return on investment.  Keep your eyes sharp about ways to help advertisers on your game without messing the product around..

 

 

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