Inside Social Games

Note: this is the first time I’ve tried to play anything in German. But even though I can’t quite read the language, after some trial and error I was able to figure out the basics of the game!

15.30 - Das Bundesliga Tippspiel by Marcel Duee and Marcus Engel is a German prediction game for soccer in a fantasy football kind of way (just not as complex). Each week you are able group with friends and predict the results of that week’s game(s).

Unlike other social games, 15.30 has not created an application that caters to the casual gamer, but a niche market within their own country. In Germany, soccer is the number one sport, so you can imagine that an application like this has the potential to be as big as Fantasy Football is in the United States. Furthermore, 15.30 beautifully supports social networking with capabilities to form “buddy leagues,” allowing users to predict and compete against friends, family, and people more relevant to the soccer games you care about.

Another great social feature in 15.30 is the automatically generated “fan leagues” that passively puts you in contact with fans of your club (your buddy league basically). You can also select your favorite club and determine some of your own UI, thus allowing you to add a little bit of personality to your game. It’s nothing too extravagant, just some simple color, and graphical changes, but the fact that the developers put thought into this shows that they have a lot of potential to take 15.30 even further.

The game adds community with non-Facebook-friends around what is called the “15.30 Shoutbox.” Now, there may be a language barrier, and this may be a different sport then what most Americans are used to, but any serious sports fanatic knows you can’t have the best time possible if you can’t talk a little trash to their friends. And that’s exactly what the Shoutbox is for. It let’s you write messages, talk trash, and just have a good time with your friends online.

As a stand alone application, if you don’t like soccer, or you can’t read German, then 15.30 is nothing special. However, that’s not what the developers wanted. They targeted a specific demographic and created a tool to enhance the number one sport in Germany in a social way, and they did a damn good job of it. Is it perfect…? If there was anything I could suggest, it would be some sort of better rewards system. As it stands, as well designed as it is, it has the potential to become boring after the initial novelty wears off. Very well done 15.30: Gute Idee und gute Arbeit!