Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

Koya · Before February 2015

I believe not everyone has seen the 2011 Flash Gaming Summit article on Everybody Edits, This Post is only for people who have not seen the facts on the game.

I did not write this it was written by Rob Crossley

Chris Benjaminsen bares all about his astonishing social games experiment

"I am not a smart man", insisted Chris Benjaminsen at the end of a remarkable tale on how he built a game, in his spare time, which now makes about $10,000 per month.

The crowd laughed.

Benjaminsen went on to explain why he doesn?t think he?s always so smart, despite the incredible success of his Flash game experiment.

The crowd laughed again, but this time louder, and not at the irony.

But before that is the whole story, which Benjaminsen recounted today at the 2011 Flash Gaming Summit, in what could feasibly be remembered as the best lecture of the event.

It began with eye-popping facts.

Benjaminsen?s game, Everybody Edits, has accumulated around 250k registered users in seven months. That equates to 11.2 million individual games sessions, 33.5 million levels played, and a fan forum that grows by 2,000 posts per day.

Since monetising Everybody Edits, it has made over $39,000, at a rate of about $10,000 per month.

?These guys are crazy for the game?, Benjaminsen said, though the best demonstration of the fans? zeal was yet to come.

The game allows anyone to either edit worlds or simply play them together, in a similar model to a Wikipedia page (where people can either read or make changes).

Benjaminsen initially didn?t have any high hopes for the project. But he prototyped the idea with a close-knit group of friends, over Skype, and their reaction was so strong he felt he just might be onto something.

Quickly he built a rudimentary version of the game and published it on Flash gaming portal Newgrounds. It was well received. Now more people were thinking he was onto something.

The hook for Everybody Edits, like Minecraft it would seem, is that it allowed people to define their own experience more freely.

?People need to have an identity in a game,? Benjaminsen said. ?People need something in there to feel unique, be special.?

He was still only building the game in his spare time, usually on weekends, yet people joined in their hundreds. Benjaminsen said he would irregularly build on his project, adding new ways to manipulate the levels. In return, more people showed an interest.

Popularity began to have its own issues, he said whilst half-joking (or possibly not) that he spent around thirty-minutes on developing the game?s back-end ? a decision that would backfire as people complained about server issues.

Soon after improving server stability, Benjaminsen felt his experiment was ready to discover monetisation.

This is, of course, bearing in mind that the top social games developers today ? such as Playfish ? insist a developer should never retroactively apply monetisation models to games already made. Many are adamant that developers need to work out a payment system before writing a single line of code.

Benjaminsen went the opposite way. His first punt was a donations policy. ?I just liked the idea of them,? he said.

And on the first day, he made $48.30.

On the seventeenth day a single fan donated $100, but that was the largest spike on the initial donations graph.

So Benjaminsen adopted a ?donations for rewards? framework ? something which crowd-funded projects are often built on.

The avatar in Everybody Edits was once a red dot that would traverse the levels. Benjaminsen thought that donations could allow people to essentially buy new avatars ? allowing them to modify their identity as well as the levels they play.

Now people could buy different types of ?Smileys? ? those generally obnoxious yellow-faced characters that, due to their diversity, nevertheless seemed ideal for a Flash game like Everybody Edits.

And on the first day, he made $112.

This was still not a particularly serious project, Benjaminsen said. He revealed he had to manually take payments and provide rewards as there was yet an automated system in place. That would change soon as more and more people began to pay for unique content.

The next step was to build a Beta package. The fun of Everybody Edits is that people can create their own worlds to play in, Benjamin said. And now, for just $10, they could save their creations to a server and download them whenever they wanted.

And on the first day, he made $300.

Benjaminsen pointed out that the transaction model had not grown because of any significant rise in popularity.

?Roughly the same amount of people had been paying,? he said. ?It?s just that now they were paying more.?

Soon, micropayments were added. New Smileys in exchange for cash. This was spread across numerous payment options, from Kongregate credits to PayPal.

?I used MafiaWars as my model,? Benjaminsen said of this stage in the experiment. ?You had a free currency and a pay currency?.

Players could either play for points to buy, or buy them outright. ?One dollar roughly equalled one day?s play,? he said.

Soon there were $2 Smileys, $5 Smileys, $10 Smileys.

?And the first response we got was people saying ?that?s great, we want more?. I was just testing really, this was an experiment.?

So out came the next Smiley, dubbed the ?Big spender?, yours for $50.

?We sold seven in the first hour,? he said.

?That?s a 16x16 pixel Smiley I sold for $50.?

And on the first day, he made $1,152.

?There?s a misconception that microtransactions that they are still thought of as small transactions. That?s simply not true,? he said. ?People spend $10, $20 and more on Microtransactions?.

Benjaminsen said key to success was giving players a choice in what they thought was valuable.

This was still, remarkably, a part-time experiment. After Christmas Benjaminsen stopped working on the game, the revenues fell significantly.

?I was just too busy,? he said.

?So one Thursday, a month later, I added some stuff in.?

And on that day, he made over $1400.

?When new things happen, people will inevitably talk about it, and that?s something that goes viral pretty quickly within your audience,? he explained.

Everybody Edits finally caught up on Benjaminsen. It started making $10,000 per month, and soon he began to dedicate more time to it.

Key to the game?s success, he said, was how it allows people to play together ? something which enhances the need to build an in-game identity.

?I personally believe that?s why I sold a $50 Smiley, because people could show it off to each other. People need to have an identity in a game, people need something in there to feel unique and be special,? he said.

Chris Benjaminsen is the co-founder of Player.IO.

?What we have decided is that we want to help other people get started. We think there?s real value in Flash gaming, so we want to offer people advice and talk to other developers,? he said.

?We are also offering investment to get people started,? he added, before displaying his email address ? <a class="__cf_email__" href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" data-cfemail="14577c667d67546478756d71663a7d7b">[email protected]</a><script cf-hash='f9e31' type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */!function(){try{var t="currentScript"in document?document.currentScript:function(){for(var t=document.getElementsByTagName("script"),e=t.length;e--;)if(t[e].getAttribute("cf-hash"))return t[e]}();if(t&&t.previousSibling){var e,r,n,i,c=t.previousSibling,a=c.getAttribute("data-cfemail");if(a){for(e="",r=parseInt(a.substr(0,2),16),n=2;a.length-n;n+=2)i=parseInt(a.substr(n,2),16)^r,e+=String.fromCharCode(i);e=document.createTextNode(e),c.parentNode.replaceChild(e,c)}}}catch(u){}}();/* ]]> */</script> ? onto his final PowerPoint slide.

?But I?m not a smart man,? he concluded just minutes before a well-deserved applause from the packed room.

?No honestly, I?m not.

?Just for fun, we told our community that they would get a free and unique Smiley if they sent postcards to my home address. I suppose I forgot at the time how many unique users we had.?

?And on the first day, we got 57?.?

Last edited by SquadFS (Sep 27 2011 2:11:25 pm)

tailschao · Before February 2015

nice!!! I am glad to see all of our money make Chris so happy

stefsls · Before February 2015

so chris make moar things! >:D we wants to spend our monneyz on it xD

Dazz · Before February 2015

Could you please post here the link of your source?

Processor · Before February 2015

10.000$? i guessed the half...

Koya · Before February 2015

dazz wrote:

Could you please post here the link of your source?

sure It's Right Here

capasha · Before February 2015

dazz wrote:

Could you please post here the link of your source?

It's hard to Google.
http://www.develop-online.net/features/ … spare-time
http://www.develop-online.net/news/3714 … -Flash-dev

Something dies inside me when I saw the picture of a crap world.

Edit: I remember when he was Live somewhere. And the only he talked about was money. He didn't give a crap about the players. I guess it's still the same now.
Just look at the good support EE have. Send a email to Chris and you will never get a answer.

Last edited by doh (Sep 27 2011 2:14:25 pm)

Koya · Before February 2015

doh wrote:

dazz wrote:
Could you please post here the link of your source?
It's hard to Google.
http://www.develop-online.net/features/ … spare-time
http://www.develop-online.net/news/3714 … -Flash-dev

sorry, already done it.

capasha · Before February 2015

SquadFS wrote:

doh wrote:
dazz wrote:
Could you please post here the link of your source?
It's hard to Google.
http://www.develop-online.net/features/ … spare-time
http://www.develop-online.net/news/3714 … -Flash-dev
sorry, already done it.

Then remove the tl;dr post and only add the link and a quote to some of it.

Zoey2070 · Before February 2015

I remember seeing that back in... what, May? And people are all saying Chris needs money and junk, such lies.

sarcasticphoenix · Before February 2015

ok... Chris is awesome.
I expected him to make somewhere around $50000 on this game a year.
So... let's all spend our money on gems so chris can become a billionare.

Cyral · Before February 2015

Wow quite interesting! Never knew how many players there are

Dazz · Before February 2015

Ok thank you for the links. Yeah on topic, what can I say, smart guy...vs aprox. 250k gullible users.

Last edited by dazz (Sep 27 2011 4:43:10 pm)

Stubby · Before February 2015

If Benjaminsen wants money, he needs to update more, cause that was some really epic stuff he earned. 1smile1

Last edited by Stubby (Sep 27 2011 5:14:52 pm)

Pugmatt · Before February 2015

Wow o_O Chris makes a lot money off a game that was originally a test game.

Cyral · Before February 2015

^yes, but does he actually but it to ee, not really, he needs to use the money for better usage,
-maybe an actual support page, not "send an email and not here back for 300000 years"

-Actually read the forums, (omg... sbeam dosent read em either) like whats the point of bug suggestions if he never fixes em, etc...

-Too many noobs on ee nowadays, for the 60000 time, we need a pro/featured tab
EDIT: 800th Post

Last edited by Cyral (Sep 27 2011 7:57:08 pm)

Pugmatt · Before February 2015

^^Yep

Muffin · Before February 2015

That's impressive to get $120k a year for a game you touch once a month.

Pyromaniac · Before February 2015

Lol, i've only given Chris $10.01

XxAtillaxX · Before February 2015

I've gave Chris $30.03 He sure does liek dat money.

Last edited by ?tilla (Sep 28 2011 6:03:22 am)

Dazz · Before February 2015

^ same here $30.03 :/ *what>was>I>thinking?* donations... my auntie

Muffin wrote:

That's impressive to get $120k a year for a game you touch once a month.

Actually he said 120k users not $

DK Levels · Before February 2015

dazz wrote:

^ same here $30.03 :/ *what>was>I>thinking?* donations... my auntie
Muffin wrote:
That's impressive to get $120k a year for a game you touch once a month.
Actually he said 120k users not $

Nope.He didn't even say 120k users, Muffin was on about how he gets $10k per month so therefore $120k per year...

Koya · Before February 2015

just saying chris makes $10,000 profit not net profit, the player.i.o host costs around $4,500 a month alone so his current profits are $5,500. then he has his server which would cost a heck of a lot, his earnings are down the drain.

RPGMaster2000 · Before February 2015

SquadFS wrote:

just saying chris makes $10,000 profit not net profit, the player.i.o host costs around $4,500 a month alone so his current profits are $5,500. then he has his server which would cost a heck of a lot, his earnings are down the drain.

^ This. I believe I made a post somewhere displaying the absolutely massive costs that EE puts out on Chris.

Koya · Before February 2015

RPGMaster2000 wrote:

SquadFS wrote:
just saying chris makes $10,000 profit not net profit, the player.i.o host costs around $4,500 a month alone so his current profits are $5,500. then he has his server which would cost a heck of a lot, his earnings are down the drain.
^ This. I believe I made a post somewhere displaying the absolutely massive costs that EE puts out on Chris.

Thanks RPGMaster2000 for posting here. Backing up my point.

Official Everybody Edits Forums

#1 Before February 2015

Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#2 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#3 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#4 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#5 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#6 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#7 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#8 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#9 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#10 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#11 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#12 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#13 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#14 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#15 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#16 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#17 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#18 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#19 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#20 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#21 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#22 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#23 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#24 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

#25 Before February 2015

Re: Chris Benjaminsen 2011 Flash Gaming Summit [If You Havn't Seen It]

Board footer