Just having fun brainstorming an idea to engage a community around a publisher’s new R&D game.
Collectable
Card
- Individual card
- Similar to playing cards
- But fits in a wallet
- Not something to wear
Size
CR80 credit card size
- Fits in wallet
- Allows holder opt-in sharing
Material
Linen finish card stock
- Not plastic
- Shows wear over time
- Lasts many years if well cared for
Front design
Characters/weapons/etc from R&D game
- Could use player roles, like duelist or support
Back design
IRL game puzzle
- Simple and timeless
- Conversation starter
- Interactive between card holders
Card Holders
Every gamer account
- Take a snapshot of every player account on every game
- Send opt in notices to each account requesting mailing address
- Shipping is the cost of a postcard
- Players can keep all cards received, or keep 1 and list the others on secondary markets
Editions
First edition
- One of a kind
- Not reproduced
- Shipped before R&D game launch
Subsequent editions
- Merch/Swag/Perks/etc
- Events/anniversaries/version updates/etc
Vibe
Like playing PACMAN at Pizza Hut and trading Garbage Pail Kids
Notes
- Within containers of safety and reliability, players feel integral to the game. The game gives and receives value from the players, and the players give and receive value from the game.
- This game is a chance to give a younger generation the feelings from the early internet, when we were actually playing together, but with the learnings from the past decades, so the game can also protect players and treat them respectfully. The game is the community and the community is the game.
- Community strategy is like 1988, with garbage pale kids to show off to your friends and trade, not pokemon, and pacman at pizza hut, with cheesy food and leader boards of friends challenging friends with encouragement, because the stakes aren’t life or death, they’re esteem, which everyone takes turns at getting celebrated for. And also some pack vibes, like the coins the military have and use to make others buy drinks. (not the brand language, but the camaraderie vibes)
Prelaunch cards:
- Send 1 to every single account on every game by the publisher.
- Allow people with multiple accounts to get multiple cards.
- Similar to Paris Hilton window shopping her sex tape, the publisher wants a secondary market for these cards on ebay/fbmarketplace/etc.
- Cards are better than shirts or hats, because the publisher isn’t turning players into advertisements, they’re saying thank you.
- Cards are driver lic size, so people can carry them in their wallet and pull them out when they want to share. It’s all up to them.
- Cards are made of really nice playing card material, not plastic, because it’s good to show wear, but also if you take care of it, it’ll last a long time (because exclusivity isn’t what’s rare, it’s what holds attention over time.)
- The front of the card is something from the new game, like a character or weapon.
- The back of a card is something that brings the cards together, like puzzle pieces. But the puzzles are about community, not game play, so they work whenever the cards are played with. For example, if in ten years, two people realize they both have a card, they can pull them out, look at the back and see what the puzzle pieces say.
- First card printing is one of a kind and will never be reproduced.
- Subsequent card printings are stickers and games, so one side is the character/weapon and the other side is a game, ideally replayable with any other card, so people interact IRL.
- The whole point of these cards is to tell every player of every game by the publisher that the publisher appreciates them, everyone is together, the publisher is excited to give them something new.