Gamification is a strange buzzword that is oft quoted in marketing conferences at the moment. It derives from a new found, or rediscovered preoccupation with being engaging. The trick is to soak up as much of a consumer’s precious online time as possible, by introducing a ‘play’ or ‘game’ element to interaction.
The gamification of sport seems to be a tautology – however technology is enabling a different relationship between sport and games.
The Volvo Ocean Race is a good case in point. While economic conditions in Europe and around the world has meant a reduced number of teams on the physical start-line, around 80,000 players have already registered for the online race.
Last time around, the Volvo Ocean Race game kept players at their computer screens, but this time around, gamers can stay connected with their campaign via apps for android and iPhone.
Other changes include a bigger incentive to upgrade from the free game. Like the real race, where a bigger budget impacts the competiveness of the team, the online Volvo Ocean Race game tempts those who want to win, rather than just play, with pro sails packs and autopilot options.
No doubt the debate about the complexity of sailing will go on for a while but gamers by definition are open to understanding and making the most of rules and making strategic decisions quickly with a competitive goal. Just as a teen Facebook user can work out how to rotate crops and derive optimal income from FarmVille, So too can a Volvo Ocean race gamr player determine the best way to sail from Alicante to Cape Town.
Sometimes the analogy of driving a car is used to explain why people have more affinity with Motorsport than sailing, however as Call of Duty MW3 hits the shelves, millions of people who have never seen a gun will work out the best time to use an assault weapon, a sniper rifle or a grenades. Such adaptability to understanding the gameplay also equips a non-sailor with the ability to determine when to use a jib versus a code zero or a heavy spinnaker.
The Volvo Ocean Race Game
Sign Up and Setup : Facebook, Twitter Integration
Creating a new account is pretty straightforward, though the integration with Facebook is not immediately apparent. When registering an account on the web, there is no option to login with Facebook. When registering via the Android app, there is.
Just to confuse things, you can create an account using Facebook that has the same email address as an account created on the web with that email address with a different boat name.
There is relatively little customization of the boat. Players get to choose their preferred hull color. Sails for the time being are generic white/grey.
Once you are registered, you can add profile information including Facebook and Twitter details, hometown and other other individual touches like a photo or avatar.
Sailing
The Volvo Ocean Race Game is a 2D representation from a bird’s eye view. There are no 3D engines or fancy graphics, just a simple “this is land – this is sea” view. Decisions are made through weather information and shaded ‘polars’ which show how fast and how far different sail choices advance the boat.
For those who understand the ins and outs of sailing, there is a lot of information supplied including apparent wind angle, apparent wind speed, true wind speed, true wind angle, boat speed and boat position in Latitude and Longitude.
The ‘Free’ version of the game gives you two sails. A jib for upwind and a medium spinnaker for downwind. Unlike other similar games, there is no concept of sail degradation, however there is a new limiting factor – ‘crew energy’. It doesn’t take too long to realise that to sail faster in the direction you want to go, you need to find some budget.
Volvo Ocean Race Game Upgrades
Five Euros will buy you about 1000 credits. Credits can be used to give you a competitive advantage over the rest of the fleet, or let you play multiple strategies. Every one of the ‘locked’ features gives you an edge.
Special Packages
- Extra Boats – Rather than creating a new email address and a new account for every strategy you want to sail, the new edition of the Volvo Ocean Race Game allows you to buy extra boats for your ‘fleet’. These have the same boat name and can be raced from a single log-in. This is especially handy when you are sailing from a mobile device, because signing in and out of different accounts on a phone can be a bit of a hassle.
Sails
- Pro Sails – Over the course of 5,000 or so miles, a couple of knots can make a lot of difference. The pro sails pack gives you a genoa, code zero and light spinnaker as well as the default jib and medium spinnaker. This will increase the wind range that you can sail effectively in, but at the extremes you need the special sails.
- Special Sails – This pack gives you a ‘wind-seeker’ for very light airs and a heavy spinnaker for extreme downwind sailing.
- Candy bars for Crew Energy. This is quite a technical part of the game, but not very well communicated. The wiki for the game says: When you start a race, your crew is at 120% crew energy. Every 20 minutes your crew will restore 1% crew energy (i.e. 3% per hour) up to a maximum of 120%. Every time you steer your boat without a sail change, it will cost your crew 3% crew energy. Changing your sail (with or without steering your boat) will cost your crew 9% crew energy. As long as your crew energy is equal to or above 100% your boat will have 100% of boat speed.
Navigation
Both these extras are about speed. They aren’t really navigation aids. If you dont look where you are going, you will just run aground faster.
- Auto Sails – For those gamers who want to sleep, there are some ‘auto’ options available. Auto sails will choose the most efficient sail from your available sails for the angle to the wind you are sailing.
- Auto Angle – keeps the boat at an optimal angle of attack.
Volvo Ocean Race Game Android App
One of the best things that has come to the Volvo Ocean Race online game is the ability to play from a phone. If you haven’t got the waypoints turned on, then going mobile allows you to quickly and easily make decisions, but also creates the conditions for the game to become an obsession.
The Android Volvo Ocean Race Game App installs quickly and looks great. Multiple boats in your ‘fleet’ can be controlled from a single login and the game loads pretty well over a slow connection. On a Samsung Galaxy II S, we think the Android app looks better and has better gameplay than the iPhone version (which we have tested on an iPad not an iPhone)
Volvo Ocean Race Game iPhone App
It’s great that the game can be played on the iPhone, but there seem to be a couple of little glitches that don’t appear on the Android app. For example, when you click to navigate, your boat appears pointing directly up and you have to choose your heading from zero degrees rather than your current heading.
Integration and signing in works well if Facebook is installed on your device (iphone or iPad)
Work in Progress
There are a few things that still need to be sorted out to make this a really great game.
The biggest one would be being able to see the real boats. There is a tab for it on the browser version, but it doesn’t seem to work. It doesn’t look like the actual boats are shown on the mobile app for Android or iPad. Being able to see the position of the teams in the Volvo Ocean Race would help engage fans even more and stop having to log out of the game and into the Volvo Ocean Race tracking app.
