When Cartoon Network announced Mini Match last month, I noted that it seems like the network was rounding out its online plays. With FusionFall on the way as a subscription-based, fully 3D MMOG, Mini Match seems more like a lightweight option. At the YPulse Mashup last month, I spoke to Molly Chase, VP and Executive Producer for the Cartoon Network, about virtual worlds vs. MMOGs, plans for expanding Mini Match, and how the virtual world might be a little like Lost.
Virtual Worlds News: So I was surprised to hear you call Mini Match a "virtual world" since it has a lot of gameplay elements to it. What is it? How do you guys differentiate between the two when talking about Mini Match?
Molly Chase: We’ve had internal long discussions about what makes something a virtual world versus what makes something a social gaming destination. We fall back on "virtual world" as the most recognizable term: if you understand what Club Penguin is or Nicktropolis, you understand what Mini Match is. We wanted in the press release to make sure it’s more than just avatar customization and item aggregation.
VWN: So what's next for Mini Match?
MC: To start with, we have three really simple games that you can jump into. Our thing was we didn’t want anyone to have to read directions. We’re going to introduce more games like that sort of simple, two-person game. We’re also looking to introduce more multiplayer gaming and expand what kids expect from a free virtual world.
VWN: What do you mean when you talk about expanding on kids' expectations?
MC: The quality and presentation of graphics, the richness of storyline, and the richness of gameplay. I think all of those things exist in different places, but we’re trying to bring all into one package. Cartoon Network competes mostly on quality. We have to place our bets carefully. With Mini Match we’re going to follow what happens and observe user habits and adapt accordingly and react accordingly.
We’re also going to take what we know of our audience already, for example, you don‘t have to wander around the map and find a game. All the games are at the top of the screen, and you can just drag it down and play it. That’s something we learned from our earlier online communities, like Orbit. We had multiplayer gaming with digital trading cards, and we learned very quickly that kids need an instant match option. Particularly boys, but kids in general don’t run up to each other on the playground and say, "Hi I’m Molly, and I like juice." They can play all afternoon and never get each other’s names. They don’t get a lot of biographical information.
The great thing about virtual interaction is that it’s still anonymous and safe. They can try out different identities, within reason, and play. There’s the joke that World of Warcraft feels like a massively single-player game. We didn’t want that. We wanted that the rooms be big enough to explore, but small enough that the kids are there.
Often we find that the kids interact just by dancing or the emoticons. Out of all the emoticons, the most popular is gas. So that’s not surprising.
VWN: Have you seen any other patterns in the way kids are using Mini Match?
MC: We’ve only been live since June, so we’re still trying to figure out that patterns. They play a lot--that is something we noticed about other virtual worlds. After you’ve got in there and are playing for a bit, the thing you really do is play games and accumulate points. That should be easier. The other thing is that the avatar should stay the same. There are some communities where the avatar changes in different environments.
And they love mysteries. They love these environmental games we've included where you bump into an item, and you're turned into an alien, things like that. We've added mysteries and puzzles like that all over, and we're adding more. It's like Lost, except for I'll promise you that you won't have have to wait for six years to find out the answers.
The other thing we’ve tried to introduce is a mix of modern fashion and a little bit of the fantastical. If you feel like looking like a pirate or alien or whatever or just layering your clothes, that’s there.
In one of our focus groups we looked at how boys and girls asked differently. Then the moderator asked them to enter the game. All but one girl had entered. The moderator went to make sure everything was okay. She said, "oh yeah, yeah. I just need to change clothes before I play."
Knowing that our target is mostly boys, though, between 6-11 with some overlap to 14, they might want something more group-based.
VWN: When you're designing a virtual world aimed specifically at boys, how do you approach that beyond just adding more active gameplay elements?
MC: The design itself is an extension of what cartoon network itself does, very aspirational design. Kids will look at it and say, "That’s for me or for my older brother or sister." If they look and say "Oh, that’s very cool, but it’s for my baby sister," we know we’ve missed the mark. Nickelodeon tries to be very gender neutral and Disney is very girl focused, and Cartoon Network has really been a haven for boys. We wanted to extend that to the virtual space. It just made sense. Everything from the color pallet to competitive play to the focus on the metagame and earning rank—all of those things.
VWN: There are a lot of other games and virtual worlds out there competing for boys' attention. I know you've just launched, but, as you're looking forward, what are your plans for Mini Match?
MC: It’s an interesting time to launch a virtual world. You’re not going to have the halo effect of being the first there. In that way you have to work extra hard to have compelling content. We feel like we have a very critical audience with very high standards and we always strive to meet that.
Our audience always lets us know if we haven’t. I’d stack up our content with anything free online made for adults or kids or whatever. If you’re going to encounter something on Cartoon Network, we want it to be the best.
A little more specifically, we’re going to expand the type of gaming we include, adding more multiplayer elements, and adding additional features.
VWN: So, when I look at what you guys have on deck, FusionFall is subscription-based. MiniMatch looks completely free right now, without even any third-party ads. What's the business model behind it?
MC: As the community grows and as we have advertisers come around who can offer more value to the audience, you’ll start to see more ads. We did a pilot program last fall and with that, and there was a cereal company. With that there was a treasure hunt component and that led to an online site that led to the treasure component. And that treasure was actually in Mini Match. There were some watermarked sites, all clearly labeled that they were advertising.
We wanted to ask kids waht they thought. For kids, if it’s appropriately and clearly labeled, they just thought of it has more content. We were worrying about the ability to add ads and exposing the community to all of that, for them it’s just content.
We’re working on things like worlds that are only opened when they’re sponsored: This particular ride or activity is open only because it’s brought to you by X sponsor. We want to make sure it’s fun, but that the investment isn’t such that when you come back next week and the activity is closed.
VWN: That's a pretty unique way to advertise and to add content.
MC: That’s so important. The space is so fragmented. We saw that announcement [about the booming youth market] you put out and we weren’t even on it.
VWN: Oh, sorry about that.
MC: No. We hadn't announced. It was just a sign that, as big as the list was, there was still so much more out there. You have to respect your audience and make sure it’s something they love. It’s the same for advertisers. Advertisers are looking for something that has that value. There are lots of ways to go about getting reach, if you just want banners.
[Ed: The remainder comes from a follow-up Q&A via email.]
VWN: You compared Mini Match to Lost. Frankly that gets my interest up, and it's neat to see the idea of a set storyline in a still pretty open virtual world. What happens when the story ends, though? We've seen pretty negative reactions to things like Virtual Magic Kingdom closing down.
MC: My enthusiasm for Lost may have gotten the better of me, as it's maybe not a perfect analogy.
Mini Match won't end when the overarching story resolves. It will continue to evolve just as the gameplay will. (For example, perhaps introducing a whole new adventure including entirely new areas of the world.)
The distinction I wanted to make is that there are a number of mysteries that players are encouraged to solve along the way through interaction with other players.
It gives the game another way to encourage interaction and discovery among an audience that often prefers competition and adventure over chatting as the primary activity.
The first set of mysteries will unfold during the course of Mini Match's first years and then naturally evolve from there, just as the Mini Match game experience will.
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