Kongregate Addiction

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Description

Kongregate is a social web games website, described by its founders as "the YouTube of videogames". The site allows visitors to play games created and submitted by members, in much the same way that YouTube showcases video content created and submitted by its members. The site relies on Adobe's Flash web plugin and the Ruby on Rails web application framework to power the games that it provides.[1][2][3]

History

The site was created in June 2006 by siblings Emily and Jim Greer. The site was initially run through a testing phase which lasted until December 2006.[4] During this time, game developers and players tested the site's interface and functionality. In December of the same year, the site was formally opened to the public.[1] The site formally entered the beta testing phase on March 22, 2007.[5][6]

The Kongregate website itself was designed by Happy Cog Studios.[7]

As of July 2008, Kongregate has raised around $9 million in capital from investments by Reid Hoffman, Jeff Clavier, Jeff Bezos, and Greylock Partners.

Features

Games

A registered user may upload any type of game that they have created. As long as a game is not rated below three stars (out of five) it will show up on the list of games. Those with less than two stars will not, but can still be found in the user-created games list or when a search is performed on it.

Developers can get revenue from games they have uploaded if they can attract enough people or receive a high enough rating. After a game is uploaded, it joins a weekly and monthly contest where the highest-rated game per week or month wins cash, with runners up receiving smaller amounts. Also, a portion of the advertising revenue goes to the developer when twenty US dollars is reached.

Interface

Every game has a universal chat window with multiple rooms to allow users to chat with other users playing any of the games on-site. Multiplayer games have their own chat rooms only accessible while playing that game. The chat displays high scores and when the criteria for a new challenge or achievement is met. The chat window also displays a notification when a game has contacted the Kongregate servers to submit statistics for the game. By hovering over a registered user's name one can see what games they are playing. By clicking on a name, users can also see a small version of their profile, where they can add them as a friend, mute them or send a private message.

Users also have icons next to their names depicting their status on Kongregate. All users have their level number near their names. Moderators have the letter "M" in orange appearing beside their user name. A blue "D" signifies a developer - one who has uploaded a game on the site. A red "R" next to a user's name means they're the owner of the chat room one is in. Members of the Kongregate staff are designated by the letter "K" in red. Friends can be added by clicking on a user name, then clicking the "add as friend" button, or by scrolling over the user's name and clicking "add as friend".

High scores can be accessed through any game that can submit them, and are updated in real-time based on statistics sent to the Kongregate server. Users can be sorted by friends, all-time, weekly, or daily. Once a user has achieved a high score they are immediately notified in the chat window. Only the top 25 are shown for all except all-time which shows the top 50.

Profiles

Kongregate profiles are similar in ways to other social site profiles. The profile shows location, age and gender (which can be hidden), one website link entered by the user, a small "about me" section, and what the user has done on Kongregate. The profile also displays any games that a user has marked as a favorite, all the games that the user had created, and all the badges and cards the user has earned.

The friends list is divided into two categories: Friends and Fans. Any user who adds another as a Friend becomes one of that user's Fans; if both users add each other, they are listed as Friends. A user's profile shows both people they have added as friends and people that have added that user as a friend. Also displayed are comments, consisting of shouts, whispers visible only to the owner of the profile (which are similar to comments on Myspace), and the comments a user has left on games.

Rewards

Kongregate has a system of points, which are prizes awarded for performing certain on-site actions. There are many ways to gain points on Kongregate, such as by rating other users' games (one point per rating), referring friends (15 points upon sign-up, and up to 13 points as they level up, up to level 10) and, completing achievements or points challenges (5, 15, 30 or 60 points depending on difficulty). The site has stated plans to make points redeemable for certain prizes, but the feature is not yet available. Gathering points increases the user's level. Currently, points are only used for advancing in levels on the site, which can be used to identify the user's activity on the site.

As part of Kongregate's points system, there is a badge system similar to that found on Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming hub. Registered users have the opportunity to win badges upon reaching particular requirements (called achievements), for example killing a designated number of enemies, in certain games.[8] For each badge, a user is awarded a specific amount of points based on the difficulty of the achievement. The "Easy" badges are worth 5 points, the "Medium" badges are worth 15 points, the "Hard" badges are worth 30 points and the "Impossible" badges are worth 60 points. Greg McClanahan, the community manager of the site, is in charge of creating badges.[9]People can also earn points by uploading games, the rating on those uploaded games, rating games, and referring friends.

In addition, Kongregate offers cards used in the game Kongai as special prizes for accomplishing weekly challenges. The cards were originally designed by UDON Entertainment only, but now Massive Black is designing them too.[10]

Kreds & Tip Jar

Kreds are virtual coins that can be spent on extras for Kongregate and games. Once an account is funded, the user can purchase power ups, virtual items and is able to donate funds to the developer of a game via the tip jar feature. Games on Kongregate will always be available to play free of charge, however Kreds enable players to purchase bonuses that may not otherwise be available.

References

1. ^ a b Baertlein, Lisa (2007-03-23). "New site aims to be the YouTube of gaming" (in english). Yahoo! News (Yahoo! Inc.). http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070322/tc_nm/videogames_kongregate_dc;_ylt=ArdqXL2QVjpq6UvTdSQf7uZk24cA. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.

2. ^ Kirkpatrick, Marshall (2006-10-19). "Kongregate: a Next Generation Web Games Marketplace" (in english). Tech Crunch. http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/19/kongregate-a-next-generation-web-games-marketplace/. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.

3. ^ Wilson, Matt (2006-12-20). "Kongregate: Your Gatorade For Flash Games" (in english). Solution Watch. http://www.solutionwatch.com/536/kongregate-your-gatorade-for-flash-games/. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.

4. ^ Greer, Jim (2006-09-01). "Gamers asking for Kongregate!". Jim on Web Games. http://jimonwebgames.com/articles/2006/08/31/gamers-asking-for-kongregate. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.

5. ^ Nicole, Kristen (2007-03-22). "Kongregate Announces Funding, Launches" (in english). Mashable Social Networking News. http://mashable.com/2007/03/22/kongregate/. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.

6. ^ Marshall, Matt (2007-03-21). "Kongregrate, the online social game hub" (in english). Venture Beat. http://venturebeat.com/2007/03/21/kongregrate-the-online-social-game-hub/. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
7. ^ "Kongregate". Selected Works. Happy Cog Studios. 2007. http://www.happycog.com/design/kongregate/. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.

8. ^ Bardinelli, John (2007-06-29). "Kongregate rolls out achievements for Flash games" (in English). Online (Joystiq). http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/29/kongregate-rolls-out-achievements-for-flash-games/. Retrieved on 2007-07-21.

9. ^ McClanahan, Greg (2007-10-17). "Create your own badge graphics!" (in English). Online (Kongregate). http://www.kongregate.com/forums/1/topics/2762/. Retrieved on 2008-08-24.

10. ^ McClanahan, Greg (2008-08-19). "Witches in Kongai!" (in English). online (Kongregate). http://www.kongregate.com/forums/1/topics/17537?page=4#posts-319151. Retrieved on 2008-08-24.

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