#i think the only other instance was hannibal in 2015

[dummerjan]

But you like it, don’t you? When I am like this.

This is the line I keep coming back to.

Vegas says this and yet, when they have sex he shows no trace of anger. He is overwhelmed by Pete initiating the kiss, he is reverent when taking the rope and binding Pete’s hands. His kiss, to me, is an expression of gratitude, accepting Pete’s submission and thanking him for it. He worships him, every touch tender and gentle, appreciative.

(I just had to include this pic, I couldn't help myself.)

I don’t think Pete ever looks like he is enjoying Vegas’ cruelty and mood swings. Yes, he is fascinated by him during the torture scene in Ep. 7, but in that instance the violence isn’t directed at him and purely business related. It’s a kind of violence Pete is familiar with, has exerted himself without qualms. When he is the victim he doesn’t cower or back down, he laughs at Vegas in defiance and despair, but not because he finds any pleasure in it. I am not saying he isn’t a masochist. But even if he is, it doesn’t mean he derives pleasure from any kind of pain, especially not in the context of captivity and torture when he is expecting to die. Same goes for the intimidation and humiliation. So, from where does Vegas get the idea that Pete likes him volatile and moody? Was he just trying to get a rise out of Pete because he likes him defiant and fierce? Is it just something he says in self-defense after Pete saw him in such a vulnerable state, grieving his hedgehog and failing his father’s task? Vegas strikes me as an incredibly lonely person. For me, personally, the pain of being lonely and lacking relationships is as much, if not even more, about lacking the possibility to love someone, to prove myself worthy of being loved and capable of love as it is about not being loved and having someone care for me. To have proof that I am not a monster that needs to be locked up in the basement, kept away from other people. And this might just be self-projection because those are the kind of characters I latch onto, but that is what I recognize in Vegas. When I look at Vegas I see someone who is finally allowed to be soft, caring, show affection and love. Previously he only had Macau to care for, but he also had to protect him from Kan in the role of the big brother.

He is still violent, manipulative, cruel and selfish but he is also a human being capable of love and deeply, painfully lonely. To finally have someone be the object of that love must be overwhelming. That’s how I interpret the way he looks at and so carefully touches Pete in the hospital, with reverence and wonder, not yet understanding how and why he is allowed to have that and thus all the more desperate to prove himself worthy of Pete.

I thought this would help me figure out what he means when he says "But you like it, don’t you? When I am like this." but I am just continuing to overthink this obessively to no avail. I doubt it's that deep but there’s a dissonance between his words and actions that I can’t figure out and it's been driving me crazy. Maybe someone else can make sense of it.

[guylty]

It’s time to come to a proper run-through of last month’s Red Dragon Con 5 in London. Kate already wrote at length about the decision process and the run-up to the con on her blog last week. I’m afraid, I didn’t have that many qualms. When the news came through that Richard was going to attend the con, I was on those tickets as fast as you can say “Dolarhyde”. Not because of Hannibal, the fannibals or any previous con experience. In fact I had never been to a con before – and if truth be told, I never really wanted to go to a con before. But after checking the con ticket prices and making sure that flights to London in February are generally slow sellers, I reckoned that it was worth investing in it – even if only to witness the potentially one and only ever con attendance of Mr Armitage. Who knew whether this kind of event would ever happen again – with RA, that is? He had been rather shy about attending cons in the past, so this could easily be a once-off. Enough reason for me to see for myself, especially as I had experienced the fannibals as a very welcoming, nice fandom back in 2015 when Hannibal was on air. However, I was rather relieved that not only one but two of my fandom friends agreed to join me in London – Kate and Hariclea.

RA is definitely my Waterloo…

What more or less passed me by was Kate’s long battle in January with a very persistent cold that almost had her cancel her participation. We did, however, lose Hariclea as a co-con companion, as sadly, Hariclea’s mum passed away a couple of days before the event and she understandably had to cancel her attendance to go home. Nevertheless, on Friday morning, I took the early morning flight to LCR to get a few hours of exhibition hopping in before I was going to meet Kate. I made my way out to Heathrow to meet Kate in the hotel she had kindly booked. Sharing a hotel room with a stranger I had only known online and barely seen a photograph of? Of course – I have only ever met nice people through my fangirling activities. Plus, she was taking the same risk *grins*. I took the Piccadilly Line out towards Heathrow, got off at Hatton Cross, hopped on a bus, got off at the edge of the Heathrow runway, walked through a rather cold, grey, wet London day and kind of chuckled when I saw the hotel was right next to a bowling alley. Well, just in case that whole con malarkey didn’t work out we at least had some alternative entertainment…

Fuck it, Dude. Let’s go bowling!

I can tell you, there was a certain amount of excitement as I made my way to room 156 where my conspirator was already waiting for me, having checked in an hour earlier. If I hadn’t stopped smoking last November, I would’ve had a couple of rollies to calm down the nerves. (cf. a previous meeting also involving a hotel way back in 2014. I see a theme developing here…) As it was, I didn’t need any rollies. Kate opened the door, I said hi, we hugged – and we launched into a very comfortable friendship right there and then. Let me tell you, the woman is tolerant, witty and easy-going, ignoring my moody nonsense and providing the funniest comparisons from here to the Antipodes and back. We seemed to be pretty much on the same wave-length with everything over the weekend – from party attendance to fannibal defending to beddie times. Kate had me in stitches with her quips, and that alone made for three of the happiest, most carefree days of my life.

N/C

Registration

So, with the basics basically out of the way, we were looking forward to the weekend, con novices that we were. The con was billed to start at 4pm on Friday with registration. Since we had opted to stay in a hotel about 15 minutes away from the con venue, we decided to head over to the Renaissance hotel for a bit of re-con – and a bite to eat – in advance of the 4pm registration. Much to our surprise, a queue had already formed when we entered the lobby of the Renaissance hotel at about 3pm. We joined the queue – an exercise that would prove to be event-defining for the rest of the weekend… At the end of the queue we registered and received our dog tags badges for the event.

Totally reconciled with the fact that Gold tickets were sold out: Regular tickets were adorned with the Armitage. ‘A beautiful rear can also endear’ etc.

Thanks to some prior research we had also a) brought lanyards (so didn’t have to buy any) and b) signed up for stewarding at the con. Except that while Kate’s application as a volunteer had been accepted, I had never heard back from them. Kate encouraged me to try and get into stewarding nonetheless – which I did and was also “ennobled” as a con steward. This proved very useful later on. In various respects.

But first of all Kate and I finally got something to eat in the bar – and had our first *real* encounter with a fannibal, a lovely woman from Germany called Johanna, who really and totally set the tone and the bar for all subsequent interactions with the Hannibal fandom. There is next to no chance that she is ever going to see this, but if you know her, please let her know: Johanna, if you are reading this – thank you for being so kind, so funny, so encouraging. You really make a fantastic figurehead for your fandom. I enjoyed meeting you, and I regret not having bumped into you again! – You would think that you can’t lose your companions in a hotel – but you can. A lot of the communication and arranging of meetings was conducted via text message and/or Twitter DM that weekend. And that includes my roomie Kate and I. Yep, there were various instances where we had to call each other on the phone to locate each other in the hotel. Mad! Luckily fellow fan armidreamer and I had also exchanged phone numbers, and so I was able to hook up with her on Friday, too, and we ended up meeting all through the weekend. The more the merrier, right?

Anyway, the queuing continued, this time for the various extras one could splash out on. Photo ops and autographs are the big draw at cons, and I suspect it is where a lot of extra money is actually being made. Coming to RDC5, I had no intention of getting anything beyond the one autograph that was included in my ticket already. When Kate said that she was going to get a photo done, I was still undecided. However, you can’t just rock up at the photo (or autograph) sessions at these cons. Rather, you buy a voucher that entitles you to a photo shoot or an autograph. And so I decided to play it safe and bought a photo voucher – just in case. More about the whole photo saga later. And believe me, it’s a saga. If I knew it would be, I wouldn’t have bothered. I am still embarrassed. Like many other people I also had huge reservations about paying hefty prices for an autograph. Especially as autographs actually do not mean that much to me *personally*. I own a few already (personalised and unpersonalised, on photos, programmes and tickets – heck, I even have a silver “RA” on my beloved Pop!Thorin – see picture right), and I never had to pay for any of them. But then I thought I’d better use the opportunity and get a couple of autographs signed for future auctions – my donation, so to speak. And I also wanted to get a souvenir for Hariclea as a tiny little consolation for missing the con… So, whoa, 85 GBP went out the window there… (1 photo + 2 autographs). Seriously, I do hope that Richard also got a cut of that! Yep, I am still reeling myself. Don’t tell Mr Guylty, or this marriage is over! However, I’d ask you all to not be judgmental about this. Not that I mind if you were judgmental to *me* about this – I used to be the same for a long time. So, serves me right. But the other fans do not deserve any derision. There is much some to be said for and about these paid photo ops and autographs, the people who provide them and the people who buy them. And I will get to that in due course. Suffice to say that, with all that queuing done, it was already time to gather in the main hall for the big event of the day – the Opening Ceremony. Were we going to get our first glimpse of Richard? 

Opening Ceremony

Remember I said it would prove useful to sign up as a volunteer at the con? Well, we realised that when we walked into the main hall for the opening ceremony. Not sure how many rows there were in total, but the first ten rows or so of the auditorium were completely occupied already, as were the last ten. No coincidence: The first few rows were reserved for Gold ticket holders! (If you were admiring those fabulous photos of Richard taken at the con – those came from Gold ticket holders who were really quite close up to him and the other guests.) Regular ticket holders had to sit at the back. There was only a small number of rows in between that still had empty seats – and they turned out to be reserved for the stewards!! So we quickly brandished our steward badges and bagged some seats half way back the auditorium. Definitely worth while volunteering – not least because it looked as if there were not enough seats for the regular ticket holders for whom extra chairs were added at the back of the hall. Anyway, this was our view:

The red and black dot on the stage is Jeremy Davies (played a character called Peter Bernadone in Hannibal). He was the first guest to be called onto the stage, and you get an idea how many people were there and how far back we were sitting – despite our privileged steward seats… After Davies, two more guests were announced, namely Aaron Abrams and Scott Thompson. They were the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of Hannibal (playing a bit of a comedic duo, crime scene investigators Brian Zeller and Jimmy Price) and absolute fan favourites. (You may also remember Scott Thompson from the Hannibal aftershows “Post Mortem”.) I very much warmed to them, too. (More about that in a later post.)

And finally, finally… Look at the picture above again. See the screen on the right? And further right to that, the double doors? That’s where the guests were ushered in, and wow, like at every other event I have ever seen RA live at, it gave me a total jolt to the stomach when I spotted RA there, beside the stage, waiting to be called… He couldn’t help but mess around before he was introduced and made funny shadow shapes behind the screen… Don’t you just have to love him…? I really dislike the word dork, but he really is a messer! You’ve already seen some of my pictures of the event, so I’ll put a slide show in here with the whole, unedited shebang – sorry, really not great, but just for the record.

The Complete and Unedited Pictures of RA at the Opening Ceremony

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This whole solo appearance lasted for the tiny eternity of 2 minutes, btw! As the second billed guest RA received a lot of cheering and clapping – he was the eponymous Red Dragon, after all – but not as much as Mads Mikkelsen, understandably. He looked absolutely gorgeous on stage though, not least because he was casually dressed all in black with tighty black jeans, a comfy hoodie and a leather jacket. All of the guests had directed a few words at the audience, but RA really made a nice little welcome speech that seemed a bit longer. “Some of you travelled far and braved the weather, congratulations. I didn’t have to because this is my home.” etc. He also could not resist a comment about the flower crowns referring to them as “flower heads” (although one of the previous guests – Aaron? – had used the term before), no comment 😁. His toned down facial shrubbery that was more like a slightly neglected lawn of wild flowers than a full-blown hayfield, looked rather good from far away. And from closer up, even more so, I suppose…

(See the edited pics of the opening ceremony in bigger version in part 2 of my RDC5 series.)

I have to say that I thought RA looked and sounded like a complete pro in those two minutes he had on stage. His ex tempore speech was just perfect for the occasion – welcoming people, referring to the actual day (by way of weather – so English *haha*), throwing in a little personal admission (“I’m at home”) and spreading a bit of fun with his gentle teasing re. flower heads. So yeah, I thought he came across as a confident and self-assured, a bit curious and wide-eyed about the whole event he was finding himself at, but willing to go on the journey. Again, I felt as if he really set the tone there, opening up and signalling that he was here to experience this and that he was willing to have fun. Thumbs up. Finding out that his appearance on stage only lasted 2 minutes, really surprised me. At the time, it felt much longer. But yeah, maybe time stands still whenever the master himself turns up in RL *hehe*…

Anyway, RA was then followed by the star of the con, Mads Mikkelsen. Again, he also made a lovely little intro speech, and I have to say I was very much impressed by the resounding and warm applause that he was welcomed with. You could tell that the fannibals were absolutely ecstatic to have Mads at the con. They didn’t hold back, and those kind of open admissions of love and admiration were something I really, really loved seeing all through the weekend. – After Mads had been introduced, all guests returned to the stage again. As part of the whole group, Richard looked slightly shy and awkward on stage, I thought. Not quite in his element. He was definitely the tallest of all guests, yet even as it was happening and I hadn’t even yet seen any photos of the event, it occurred to me that he looked as if he wanted to blend into the background. Up to his usual modesty, I guess, he was kind of standing one step behind all the others, kind of slouching a bit, with his hands in his pockets and his head all the way down to his shoulders. I haven’t really got any pictures of my own showing all of the guests standing there on stage, but yeah, my heart broke a little bit there – whether it was for a gorgeous guy making himself small and invisible, or for a gorgeous guy being modest and humble, it definitely added to his attraction. However, it also added to the danger of succumbing to APM…

Anyway, believe it or not, it was all a good start to the whole experience. Nice fannibals, nice fellow fans, nice roomie, nice guests, nice RA. The opening ceremony was just half an hour long or so, then the guests were all whisked away and the room emptied. We were basically done for the day. For the Gold ticket holders, it was only just getting interested though: They actually had a meet & greet with the guests – which Richard apparently was a great hit at, according to the tweets that I saw. Ourselves, Kate and I kind of hung around, thinking we might have a look at the promised party. But then we both kind of folded at about 9pm and decided to go back to our hotel instead. It had been a long, exhausting day – with both of us travelling from a different country, finding our way to our hotel, meeting each other, negotiating our way around the event – and dealing with the accelerated heart rate of being in the vicinity of the OOA… No wonder we thought we needed to lie down.

In the end, we actually ended up chatting until after midnight. The amount of processing to be done when seeing RA in the flesh *haha*… And that was only after half a day of con life… We had no idea what was going to hit us the next day…

An Armitage Fan at #RDC5 – FRIDAY [part 7 of the whole saga otherwise] It's time to come to a proper run-through of last month's Red Dragon Con 5 in London.

[loretranscripts]

Lore Episode 18: Hunger Pains (Transcript) - 12th October 2015

tw: cannibalism, gore

Disclaimer: This transcript is entirely non-profit and fan-made. All credit for this content goes to Aaron Mahnke, creator of Lore podcast. It is by a fan, for fans, and meant to make the content of the podcast more accessible to all. Also, there may be mistakes, despite rigorous re-reading on my part. Feel free to point them out, but please be nice!

Today’s episode is the second of four that will be released during the month of October. It’s a month known for its focus on folklore, legend and superstition. We’ll be back to a biweekly schedule in November, but October calls for something special. No tricks, but I do hope that you’ll enjoy the extra treats. And now, on with the show.

One of the most chilling historical events of the last 200 years, one that has fascinated me for most of my life, is the 1846 pioneer journey of the families and employees of James Reed and George Donner. I can’t think of a last name that evokes as much emotion, as much fear, and as much instant visual imagery, as the Donner name. In the years since that fateful winter, the name has become synonymous with mountain passes, frozen bodies huddled around dead campfires, and of course, cannibalism. The Donner party has a way of stopping us in our tracks. We are morbidly fascinated with their tragic journey, but even more so, we’re amazed at how far they went to stay alive. Their story forces us to look straight into the face of a fear that most people bury deep beneath the surface: people eating other people. We can look for justification. We can research the reasons behind their situation and write sterile and safe papers about the horrible plight they found themselves in. But at the end of the day, we are simply and powerfully horrified. From the story of Hansel and Gretel to the modern TV show Hannibal, we have always maintained a repulsive fascination with those who cross the line. We can’t stand to think about it, and yet we can’t look away, either. Maybe it has to do with the morbid symbolism of one body within another. Perhaps it’s the realization that, like cattle or wild game, humans can sometimes become food for something, or someone, else. Or perhaps, deep down, we’re fascinated with cannibalism because we believe that maybe, just maybe, it could turn us into monsters. I’m Aaron Mahnke, and this is Lore.

Humans have been confronted with cannibalism for a very long time. Archaeologists have discovered signs of the act that date back tens of thousands of years. In some instances, the reasons have clearly been ritualistic, while others have been driven by food shortages. There’s a lot we still don’t know, but what we do understand has highlighted the fact that, long ago, it was far more common than it is today. In the realm of ancient history, Greek and Roman historians recorded instances related to war and conquering. The Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70AD, for example, resulted in scattered reports of cannibalism. Decades later, when the Romans attacked Numantia, historians in Alexandria recorded similar stories. One interesting observation is that, over the centuries, the accusation of cannibalism has been a political and colonial tool. The ancient Greeks assumed that all non-Hellenistic peoples were simply barbarians and cannibals and used it to justify their hostility toward them. For many empires, even up through the British Empire of the 17th and 18th centuries, it was a way to demonise a people group, and to give themselves permission to come in and take over – to bring civilization, so to speak, which led to deep prejudice against these people groups. One example from 1820 stands out: that was the year a whaling ship called the Essex was rammed and sunk by one of the whales it was pursuing. If that plot sounds familiar at all, it’s because that story went on to inspire the novel Moby Dick. After the accident, the captain and crew of 21 boarded three of their whale boats. They had two choices for a route to safety: they could sail 3000 miles against the wind to Chile, or half the distance with the wind to the Marquesas Islands. But the Marquesans were rumoured to be cannibals, so they took the longer route. As a result, the crew spent months at sea, and eventually resorted to cannibalism themselves to survive. Reality can be cruel – and ironic, apparently. But something darker sits at the centre of many cannibalism stories.

At the core of almost all Native American cultures, across Canada and the northern part of what is now the United States, there are stories of the supernatural effects that eating other humans can have on a person. Each tribe seems to refer to the stories with different terms, but they’re all eerily similar. Wabanaki legend speaks of the man-eating snow giant, Giwakwa. The Cree tell tales of the Witiko, also a giant and also a man-eater. The Micmac tribes of northern Maine up through Nova Scotia tell stories of the Chenoo, creatures that were once human but had been transformed through some horrible crime that was usually cannibalism. The most common name for these creatures among Native Americans, however, is one we already know from popular culture. They are the Wendigo, a creature that was once human, but had been transformed by their hunger for human flesh into a monster that can’t ever be satisfied. One Native American description of the creature claims that a Wendigo is taller than a grown man, with a gaunt body and dead skin that seems to be pulled too tightly over its bones. Tales speak of the tangle of antlers upon its head, and the deep eye sockets that seem to be dead inside, and it smelled of death and decay. In Cree mythology, though, the Wendigo was simply a human who had become possessed by an evil spirit. It would take over, and then turn its hunger and hatred toward the people around it. To the Cree, the Wendigo was most often just another person: a neighbour, a friend, a sister, a son. There was no hope for those who were transformed into man-eating creatures. There was only one solution available: these creatures must be hunted and killed. It’s fantasy; it’s a cultural meta-narrative about something else, something deeper – at least, that’s what the anthropologists tell us. But some have taken those legends at face value.

Swift Runner was a Native American from the Cree tribe that lived in the western portion of Canada. He was born in the early 1800s and worked as a hunter and trapper in the north country, near Fort Edmonton, as well as a guide for the north-west mounted police. He was a big man, standing over 6ft tall, and according to the reports, he was well-liked and respected among his people. He and his wife had six children; it was said that he was a loving father who cared deeply for his family, which is why the winter of 1878 will be remembered as a tragedy. According to the reports, Swift Runner stumbled into a Catholic mission in St. Albert, sometime in the spring of 1879. He was distraught and unfocused; he told the priest that the winter had been harsh, and that his entire family had starved to death. He was, in fact, the only one to make it out alive. But something didn’t sit right with the priest. For one thing, Swift Runner didn’t look like a man who had endured starvation throughout the winter months – he was a solid 200lb and seemed healthy and strong. Another hint that all was not well were his nightmares, which often ended with him screaming in the night. In the end, the priests reached out to the mounted police. A group of investigators were dispatched to look into the matter, and they took Swift Runner back to his winter camp. To his credit, Swift Runner was helpful – he immediately showed the men a small grave near the campsite, and explained that it was the grave of one of his boys. They even went as far as to open the grave, and everything lined up with his story. They were the bones of a child, and it was safe to assume the child was Swift Runner’s. But then the police found other clues that began to paint a darker picture. Around the camp in scattered locations, they began to uncover more bones and a skull. Not just a few, either. There were bones everywhere. Some of the larger bones were hollow and snapped in half, clearly the result of someone sucking the marrow out. They also found bits of flesh and hair. The evidence began to pile up, and they looked to Swift Runner for an explanation, and that’s when he told them the truth. According to him, a Wendigo spirit came into their camp during the winter. It spoke to him and told him to eat his family. At first, he resisted, ignoring the voice. But slowly, over time, the Wendigo took control, and then it took action. Swift Runner’s wife was the first to die, then one of the younger boys, and one by one his family was killed and eaten. Then the creature moved on to his mother-in-law, and his own brother. To Swift Runner, it was cold fact – a monster had eaten his family, and the police agreed. They simply disagreed on the identity of that monster. The mutilated human remains were collected and transported to Fort Saskatchewan, along with Swift Runner himself. His trial began on August 8th of 1879, and it was about as cut and dried as it could be. Both the judge and jury refused to accept the story of the Wendigo. They saw the man as a murderer and sentenced him to be hanged. Over 60 people gathered at the fort on December 20th to watch the hanging. One witness to the execution, a man who had reportedly seen several hangings in his life, was said to have slapped his thigh and declared “Boys, that was the prettiest hanging I’ve ever seen”.

The Severn river in Ontario winds through the homeland of the Sandy Lake first nation. This area of Canada is so isolated that it wasn’t until the early decades of the 20th century that the western world really made an effort and reach out and connect with the people who lived there. It’s way up in the far western corner of Ontario, in the kind of territory where lakes have islands that have their own lakes. By the late 1800s, the Hudson Bay Company had closed down enough of its trading posts that the closest one to Sandy Lake was over 140 miles away. That was a 50 hour walk across rough terrain. I’m not really sure that “isolated” is a strong enough word to use here, the place was practically alien. Jack Fiddler was born in the 1830s - or maybe it was the 1840s, most people aren’t sure, but we know that he was a Cree Indian, and he worked as a trader. He made the trek between the villages and the trading post for a living, and in the process, he met lots of people. He was also the son of the Sandy Lake people’s shaman, and over his lifetime he had five wives and many, many children. When Jack’s father died in 1891, he took over as the leader of the Sandy Lake people. Now, that sounds fancy, but in reality, there were only roughly 120 people living in this community. He had influence over the wider geographical area as well, but his real power came from his role as the tribal shaman. A shaman’s powers were a vital part of his leadership – when Jack became the spiritual leader of his people, he became the keeper of their ancient traditions and their guardian against the approaching darkness that was western civilization. There are even legends that tell of Jack Fiddler curing illnesses. But most importantly, Jack became their first and only defence against the Wendigo, often called upon to hunt down and kill them. I know, this sounds like the stuff of comic books or Hollywood movies, but Jack Fiddler lives up to the hype. In fact, over his lifetime, he claimed to have defeated 14 of the monsters. But Jack didn’t go looking for tall, monstrous creatures with antlers and bony bodies. No, he understood the Wendigo to be more subtle. Some Wendigos, Jack said, had been sent to attack his people by other shamans. Others had been members of his own tribe, who seemed to have been overtaken with an unstoppable urge to eat human flesh. When it was his own people, Jack said that he and his brother, Joseph, were the ones called upon to do the hard thing and kill the individuals. And not just kill them, no, that wasn’t enough to stop the possession. You see, it was believed that the Wendigo’s spirit could actually hop from one body to the next, so those who died as a result of their possession were often burned to stop the infection from spreading. For the Sandy Lake people, and many of the other Native American tribes that cover much of the northern half of North America, the Wendigo stories were more than just here say. It was an idea that was rooted in ancient tradition. Ceremonies were built around the legend. People were warned and educated constantly about the danger this creature posed to the community, and then suddenly, all of that tradition and history ran headlong into the modern world, and the results were disastrous.

Some time in 1905, Joseph Fiddler’s daughter-in-law was brought to Jack’s village. She was very sick, according to multiple first-hand accounts. She was in deep pain that often drove her to cry out and moan and constantly make noise. Some of the women tending to her would even have to hold her down to keep her under control. Jack and his brother, Joseph, were brought in. They were old men by then, both in their 80s and very frail, but they knew what was causing her illness, and they knew how to stop it. They had done it many times before, and so they did what they did best: they took a thin rope and looped it over her head, and then, slowly, they tightened it. It wasn’t done in cold blood - it was a calculated decision that these men came to only after deep discussion, but it was driven by fear. If the Wendigo spirit inside her had been allowed to take control, there was no telling how destructive it might have become. To them, this was preventative, it was mercy, a form of euthanasia that protected the entire community. The Fiddlers were mere instruments in the hands of a culture driven by superstition. Witnesses testify to their quiet, dignified nature, but it didn’t help; the men were brought before a six-man jury later that year. The Toronto newspapers printed sensational headlines about the trial, crying out against devil worship and murder, and in response, people around the country cried out for a conviction. And they were guilty, without question. These men had killed a member of their family – it might not have been a crime of passion, but they were still murderers, so when they final verdict came down, it was far from a surprise: guilty. The Cree people of Sandy Lake lost their leader, they lost two of the most respected elders of their tiny community, and most frightening to them, they lost their last remaining Wendigo hunters. Real or not, these men had been a wall that kept the darkness and fear at bay, and now that wall was gone.

Superstition has often served to answer our questions and calm our fears. From the Changelings of Ireland to the vampires of New England, the stories we tell have helped us explain the mysteries we don’t understand. That’s not all superstition does, I know, but it makes up a lot of the examples we find. We fear the unknown and we come up with anything to explain it away. Cannibalism is something that humans have feared for a very, very long time, not because we’re actually convinced it could change us into supernatural monsters. No, at the root of it all, cannibalism is just a line that we don’t think we should cross, and rightly so. History is littered with examples of people who have crossed the line, not because their life was at risk or because they had no choice, but because of something darker. Deep belief in the folklore of their upbringing, mental instability, premeditated violence… whatever the reason, every example reveals humans to be the true monsters, capable of anything, even the things we fear the most. Maybe Jack Fiddler understood this; perhaps he knew that he represented the final entry in a vital, ancient lineage. He saw a world ill-equipped to defend itself against the evils he had fought all his life. I have to imagine that the idea of it simply exhausted him. On September 30th, 1907, while on a walk outside with a police constable, Jack escaped into the woods, where he strangled himself with the sash he wore. His brother would later die in prison from tuberculosis. On July 30th, 2008, a man named Tim Mclean was riding a greyhound bus along the trans-Canadian highway in Manitoba, when one of the other passengers attacked and killed him. The man, Vince Weiguang, did more than just kill Mclean, though. He stabbed him, beheaded him, and then proceeded to cannibalise the body. Was the killer just insane, or did he perhaps meet an evil spirit there, on his trip through Wendigo territory? That’s a question that would be impossible to answer for certain, but the courts ruled in favour of insanity. In the end, he was held in a high security mental institute in Manitoba, but he stayed there for less than a decade. Earlier this year, in May of 2015, he was released back into society.

This episode of Lore was produced by me, Aaron Mahnke. Learn more about me and this show over at lorepodcast.com, and be sure to follow along on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, @lorepodcast. You can back the show over at Patreon.com/lorepodcast, and get some sweet rewards in return, like extra episodes, premium transcripts, and so much more. This episode of Lore was made possible by you, listeners who are always hungry for more. [Insert ad break]. And one final note: the recent live show in Portsmouth, New Hampshire was an insanely good time. The theatre sold out, and I got to meet so, so many of you – it was awesome. If you missed it and you wish you’d been there, I’ve added an audio bootleg to the shop on the website. $5 will get you all three live episodes, plus a healthy dose of my witty banter, so be sure to check that out. And as always, thanks for listening.

[mysterylover123]

Top 5 Shipping Moments of 2015

I dunno about you guys, but 2015 was a pretty awesome year for me. So let’s get too hot for the po-lice and the firemen and count down the top 5 Shipping moments of 2015

#5. SOUTH PARK MAKES CREEK CANON

I’ll be honest, for the longest time I didn’t get the Creek phenomenon. Craig and Tweek barely ever interacted in the show outside of one season 3 episode where the boys kept tricking them into fighting each other. So why was it so popular to slash ship them, especially when there were plenty of major characters around with literally dozens of slashy moments to choose from? Then Trey and Matt actually made a whole episode dedicated to examining slashfic and shipping, which deserves to be mentioned here since other than a quick nod on Avatar the Last Airbender, I can’t remember a show ever acknowledging it’s shipping fanbase, or at least not to this extent. And to make it better, they made Creek semi-canon in the process! And included fanon shipping fanart! Who else would have the balls?

#4. GRAVITY FALLS CREATES DIPCIFICA

Dipper/Pacifica probably wasn’t a ship until the 2015 episode “Northwest Mansion Mystery” launched it into mainstream popularity. Now it’s one of the most popular in the Gravity Falls fandom, and we were all hoping for more. Pacifica Northwest had appeared early on as Mabel’s rival, so there wasn’t a lot of shipping her with Dipper Pines. But following their interactions in this episode, which did a lot to flesh out Pacifica as a character, the ship became really popular, so much that many people assumed (now that Wendy was out of the picture) that the two would end up together in the series finale. While they don’t, and the show isn’t up for revival any time soon, there’s still a possibility, and it all goes back to this episode.

#3. THE FORCE AWAKENS CREATES STORMPILOT

Yep, 2015 is such a crowded year for Shippers that StormPilot is only #3. Force Awakens was a big movie for shippers, as it created a fresh crop of lovable characters with thick subtext. StormPilot became the big one, and now everyone wants a piece of it. In my opinion, Finn was the most creative new character introduced in the film - a stormtrooper who isn’t just a faceless, identity-free goon and who ends up turning to the good guys. He was a welcome new edition, and the chemistry he forms with Poe Dameron, the ace pilot who was this movie’s equivalent of Princess Leia, caught my eye right away; I remember thinking in the movie theater ‘This is going to get shipped.’ I just didn’t guess how much.

#2.  HANNIGRAM WINS

Like Korrasami the year before, the much ship-teased Hannibal/Will pairing finally became canon atop a hill, holding hands, and all but kissing, confirmed later by the creators. Hannigram is a strange and shocking pairing, but hell, it was one great ride. Whether you ship it or not, there’s no denying this one was majorly popular in its day and still is. And though most TV shows with popular slash pairings introduce the chemistry and comment on it, only to backtrack later on and pair the mains up with ladies, this was one instance where they weren’t queer-baiting. Instead, the teases were completely intentional. In that sense, Hannigram is kind of like the evil Korrasami - ship teased, end the day standing together in a (could be interpreted as) platonic touch, and confirmed later on by the creators as canon. Chances are both got their happy endings.

#1. STEVEN UNIVERSE GIVES US RUBY AND SAPPHIRE

We didn’t know Garnet was really two lesbians in a trench coat until 2015, but ever since then, Ruby and Sapphire have won us over with their love story, their happy relationship, and their sheer adorability. Sadly, we don’t get the backstory of Ruby and Sapphire until 2016 in The Answer, but 2015 did give us both “Jail Break’ and “Roadside Motel”. There is so much to love about the Ruby and Sapphire pairing,, from their first introduction to the sheer fact that they’re so much in love they can’t stand to be separated, to the fact that they’re nonetheless still real people (well, Gems) who fight like an actual couple, and can still make up and come to an understanding. What else could shippers ask for?

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Disclosure: DryCactus, creators of Poly Bridge are currently one of my Patreon sponsors. The framework for this article was drafted prior to their involvement, but I believe strongly in practicing transparency.

Previous Articles in this Series:

Why Social Sharing?

In a marketplace that's flooded with choice, how do you reach more players? The cost of user acquisition has skyrocketed, and is well out of reach for most indie, or even mid-sized game studios. Advertising via social channels may have some small impact if positioned correctly, but it can just as easily fall flat if the campaign doesn't hit exactly the right mark. So if you're unable to pay for user acquisition or direct advertising, how can you help ensure that you reach more players than those that have already downloaded your game?

Enter: Social Sharing!

The #1 Rule for Great Social Shares

If you learn only 1 thing from this article, let it be: The best social shares are those that players genuinely WANT to share.

Why is that distinction important?

The core reason behind this is simple: Genuine word of mouth recommendations from people you know have a much greater impact than other advertising options. (Source) Think about it, which do you trust more: Billboard after billboard for the next big game, or 'omg this game is so awesome!' from several of your close friends?

Not much you can do as a creator to promote your game will mean as much as people who love your game sharing and talking about it in a positive fashion, of their own volition. If you give them the right tools to do so, make it easy and fun, they can be some of your biggest advocates!

Alphabear

One of my favorite recent examples of well designed social sharing is the simple, yet powerful implementation in Alphabear.

I follow the developers (Spry Fox) on Twitter and once worked with one of the founders, and yet I still heard of this game through other people long before I saw the official announcement. Why? Because of hilarious Mad-Libs style bear shares. Shortly after the release, my Twitter feed was a flood of adorable bears saying often dubious things.

Now, that doesn't mean that all of the shares are adorable bears saying obscenities or otherwise adult things. Some of the most entertaining are those that are perfectly SFW, but just work so well. Such as this one from Susan Arendt, which I've been referring to as Hannibal Bear.

The share feature is a fun extension to the core game.  The words used in the image are pulled directly from the session that preceded it. Players are able to cycle through a variety of options, and share the one that they think is the funniest / weirdest / most dirty.

This feature wasn't free: It required design, planning, development, testing and more. In exchange, Spry Fox has received over 2100 player initiated shares in the past 30 days (as of Nov 7th, 2015) (Source). When you consider how many people may be following each of those players that have shared, you can start to get a better idea of the potential impact.

Poly Bridge

While social sharing mechanics are more prevalent in mobile & casual game titles, don't disregard the power of a well designed social mechanic in a more traditional PC game release. Developer Dry Cactus has created a very effective sharing mechanic in their Steam Early Access game: Poly Bridge.

The core gameplay is pretty straightforward: Build a bridge so that it fulfills the conditions to solve a puzzle.

It gets a bit more... hilarious when you are able to see how other players have solved the same puzzle. By including a GIF sharing option, Poly Bridge has created a way for players to share their brilliant and/or entertaining solutions with the world. This can be done through the official Online Gallery, or through sharing GIFs on Twitter, Reddit, or elsewhere!

The Online Gallery contains over 46,000 replays, as of 7th November 2015:

Note: Anyone can share from the Online Gallery, increasing the potential for the the content to be seen by more people.

On Twitter:

There's even a dedicated subreddit for Poly Bridge with over 2k users where players share their solutions: http://ift.tt/2mos29h

Solutions like this one, from Reddit user Violets-Are-Blue:

Source: http://ift.tt/2moCtcO

By giving players the ability to share their solutions through both a centralized hub, Twitter, and on the platforms of their choice, Poly Bridge has managed an impressive level of visibility out to a larger audience while still in Early Access.

Considerations for Great Social Shares

Every game is going to require individual consideration for what would be the most impactful in terms of their social share design. The following are intended to serve as more general guidelines when designing your social sharing feature(s).

#1: Is this something players want to share?

If your players don't genuinely want to share it, they likely won't. Consider player motivations: What sort of player do you think will be playing your game? What are things or experiences that they'll want to share? Why?

For example: If you create a sharing mechanic that's centered around sharing high scores, but your players aren't particularly competitive or motivated by boasting, you're unlikely to see great results. What other types of sharing might appeal to those players, and how can it be integrated into your experience?

#2: Does this extend the experience?

In some cases, you may decide that social shares don't quite fit the theme or player type of your game. That's okay! Don't try to shove in a social sharing feature just for the sake of having one. If it doesn't make sense, and doesn't add to the experience, you may be better off cutting it and investing your time elsewhere.

However, if you have the opportunity to extend your experience through sharing and conversation, absolutely look at what would work best for your game. You have a golden opportunity to leverage word of mouth recommendations, and create a better experience for your players. Don't think of social sharing as something that is tacked onto the end of your experience, but rather as an extension. What's the watercooler moment from your game? What will people want to share and talk about with their friends?

#3: Is this Unique or Personal?

If the visuals, content, and experience of social sharing in your game is the same every time the player attempts to share, why would they do it more than once? The best social shares provide a unique, or otherwised personalized sharing experience. While the framework may be the same for each share, if the content itself is unique or personalized, there's a much greater chance the player will share more than once.

In Alphabear, the bear & the associated words in the share change with each share. In the case of Poly Bridge, the GIF is a unique look at that player's approach to solving the puzzle. As a result, players are motivated to share their experiences on an ongoing basis.

#4: Is it easy to find & use?

If you make it hard for people to find and use your social sharing option, don't be surprised if it's seldom used. Don't bury it away or make it confusing. Use the standard icons for each platform wherever you can, and make the user experience of sharing as easy as possible.

#5: Is it Interesting?

To be successful, your social sharing content needs to be interesting to those viewers of the existing player. After all, your social sharing content serves as an advertisement for your game. You have just a few seconds to capture someone's attention and communicate why they should download the game.

What does someone who is not already playing the game get out of the content? What message are you sending with it? When scrolling through a feed filled with content, what makes yours stand out?

Note: Humor is almost always a big win if you can do it well, and it fits with your content & audience.

#6: Is this the right content for the right platform(s)?

In general, the effectiveness of social content is as follows:

Short Video > Long Video > GIF > Personalized Image > Standard Image > Text only

However, not all content types work on all social platforms or with all player types. For example, longer videos are a great option if your players are heavily engaged and primarily going to be sharing to YouTube. However, that same video will be shortened into a tiny sliver of the full experience when shared to Twitter. If your players are more likely to be on the latter, focusing on longer form video is likely to be ineffective. In that instance, focusing on great GIF sharing could prove to be a much better option.

Before you dive into developing your social sharing feature, determine what content will work best for your players and the experience that you're building. Your content may be shared in multiple places, but optimizing for what you think will be the primary use case is always wise.

 #7: Have I included Download Info? Your download info can be as simple as including the name of your game, a brief tagline, and which platforms the game is available on in the accompanying visuals. However, that still requires a bit of initiative on the part of the prospective player, which will result in fewer downloads. Ideally you want to include a smart redirect link to download the game directly in the shared text. That way potential players can simply click on a link and be directed into the appropriate store based on their current device type. You want to make it as easy as possible for interested parties to download your game. Optimize for less steps or complications whenever possible!

#8: How will I measure effectiveness?

Understanding your return on investment for your social sharing features can be incredibly useful in evaluating your success and where you can improve upon in the future.

Some areas to consider:

How many shares have been completed?

On what platforms?

What percentage of my players are using the feature?

How many times has the unique hashtag been used?

How many times has someone clicked on the download link?

How many downloads have resulted from those shares?*

What's the retention look like for players who share vs players who don't?

*To the best of your ability. It can be hard to measure the direct download impact when some downloads will be from people who've seen the game, but go to download it later rather than directly from a social share link.

Getting Started

If you're not familiar with social sharing: Research first!

Play other social games, see how their sharing features work. Look at what works, what doesn't, and how it could be improved upon. If you really don't understand social sharing motivations, find people who do! Ask questions, do user testing against your ideas, and be open to feedback on what might not be working.

Before developing your social share feature, ask:

How can this extend the experience of my game?

Why would my players want to share? What would they want to share?

How will the shared content encourage non-players to download?

Is there a better option that I'm not considering?

How much time and effort is required to include this feature?

How will I track the success of this feature?

What's my unique hashtag? (Note: ALWAYS check if it's already being used first)

From there, treat your social sharing feature like any other feature in your game. Budget time for design, dev, testing and polish. Iterate, solicit feedback, measure effectiveness, and improve where possible.

In Closing

To create an effective social sharing feature, you can't just slap on a 'post to FB/Twitter/etc' button on your high score or end screen. However, if you're willing to put in the effort to create something that players actively want to use, you may find yourself with an outpouring of support and downloads that might not otherwise have been possible!

Have an example of a great use of social sharing? Questions, comments, something to add? Leave a comment, or drop me a line @boopsocial!

Next in this series: Connecting With Your Fans

Want to support my writing? Consider backing me on Patreon!

[passing-smiles]

TV: Riverdale, ‘The River’s Edge’ (S1E1, 2017)

When Riverdale was announced, it was easy to be dismissive. It’s the sixth show on the CW in recent years to be adapted from comics, and is helmed by Greg Berlanti of Arrowverse and Supergirl fame, along with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (formerly of Glee, now Chief Creative Officer at Archie Comics). It didn’t help either that the ridiculous description of ‘Archie meets Twin Peaks’ was attached to it everywhere it went; no show, you’d think, could pull that off. But stick around for the first episode and you’ll see that Riverdale has plenty going for it on its own terms.

Let’s be clear: Twin Peaks this is not. One of the things that that show did so well was that it began in medias res, with a large part of the plot being the discovery of what had gone before. There’s little of that in Riverdale, with pretty much every plot having its beginning over the course of the previous summer, when Jason Blossom (supposedly) drowned, Archie had an affair with his music teacher, and Veronica Lodge’s father was arrested for fraud. The episode’s opening sets up the death, with narration from Jughead - now cast as a withdrawn novelist-come-reporter and played by Cole Sprouse - and a set of brief but illuminating flashbacks reveals Archie and Geraldine Grundy’s history, but rather than lingering on these starting points, the episode just keeps going, squeezing in more than enough plot points to power the entire series. There are times when it feels like the writers are overplaying their hands: Betty’s rebellion against her mother, for example, is set up and knocked down rapidly, and Veronica’s motivations in befriending Betty are explained as soon as the question is raised. There’s upsides and downsides to this approach; refreshingly, with these kind of things out of the way, the show is free to move on to some less hackneyed plots and tropes, but it also means that emotions have to be brought to the fore unnaturally quickly. Characters have a tendency, especially towards the middle of the episode, to go from speaking calmly to shouting far too quickly, and this doesn’t do any favours to a show that’s unapologetic in its teen-centredness. Going from nought to sixty again and again can be exhausting for an audience, but it’s reasonable to hope that the firm foundations established over this first forty-five minutes will stand the series in good stead to further develop characters and plots that aren’t quite as predictable as the Pretty Little Liars-style stuff in this episode.

Despite the teen-soap writing, some parts of Riverdale are positively well-made. The whole show has a visual panache that’s reminiscent of the one that kept me tuning in to early seasons of Teen Wolf, with bold colours where necessary and great neons against thematic darks. Jughead’s opening monologue has luscious wide shots, fuzzy closeups, and stylised framing; another instance of the Wes Anderson-gone-wrong approach that’s beginning to pop up all over Netflix. There’s some defiant colour-grading that seems to be ripped straight from the work of a good comics colourist, with hazy summer yellows, washed-out greys, and suburban whites. Fittingly for a character - Archie himself wants to be a musician - and franchise that’s always been intertwined with music, pop soundtracking is almost ubiqutious. Josie and the Pussycats put in an appearance and so does Archie’s own writing, but scarcely a scene goes by that doesn’t have some kind of synthpop backing to it. When it’s taken away, though, the silence is thoughtful, and not accidental. Riverdale won’t be getting compared to Hannibal in terms of aesthetic beauty any time soon, but it would be a mistake to think that the cinematographers, production and lighting designers aren’t pulling their weight here.

I think it’s important, too, to view the show in relation to its source materials. The Archie back-catalogue consists largely of shorter gag strips, along with serialised soap-style storytelling in Life with Archie, but the ‘New Riverdale’ initiative, started in 2015, is designed to bring these teen comics back to their original target audience: teens. Mark Waid on Archie has provided a fresh spin on the Betty/Veronica feud, and one that avoids their entire relationship being predicated on Archie, and Chip Zdarsky on Jughead has quietly canonically confirmed its lead character as asexual. Outside of New Riverdale, Aguirre-Sacasa himself has made bold strokes with his horror reinventions, Afterlife with Archie and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Riverdale is heavily indebted to these comics for providing a foundational belief for the show to exist on: not only can these characters, who are actually older than their current writers, be reinvented, but they should be, because the Archie whose comedic mishaps were so successful in the thirties just can’t cut the mustard in the Instagram age. It’s hard to imagine a show where Archie, the definiton of the pure and all-American teen, has had an affair with his teacher, where Betty and Veronica are not just best friends but Veronica actually attempts to help Betty establish a relationship with Archie, where Kevin Keller, a gay man, is a lead character, and where Archie and Jughead are no longer friends, without the work that’s been done on the page over the last few years. This is a comics adaptation, then, that’s thoroughly in touch with what’s going on in the comics themselves, rather than the other way around. For me at least, that’s a welcome change.

There’s some things to be skeptical about in Riverdale, apart from notions of ‘quality’; writers have indicated that the much-lauded canon of asexual Jughead won’t apply to the show for the first season at least, and, aside from Josie and the Pussycats’ tiny appearance in this episode, Riverdale’s a very white town indeed. But considering what the show’s creators have already gotten right, I think it’s only fair to give them the chance to better themselves over the season. It’s good fun television, at the very least, and I enjoyed it enough to tune in again next week. Isn’t that all it has to do?

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Disclosure: DryCactus, creators of Poly Bridge are currently one of my Patreon sponsors. The framework for this article was drafted prior to their involvement, but I believe strongly in practicing transparency.

Previous Articles in this Series:

Why Social Sharing?

In a marketplace that's flooded with choice, how do you reach more players? The cost of user acquisition has skyrocketed, and is well out of reach for most indie, or even mid-sized game studios. Advertising via social channels may have some small impact if positioned correctly, but it can just as easily fall flat if the campaign doesn't hit exactly the right mark. So if you're unable to pay for user acquisition or direct advertising, how can you help ensure that you reach more players than those that have already downloaded your game?

Enter: Social Sharing!

The #1 Rule for Great Social Shares

If you learn only 1 thing from this article, let it be: The best social shares are those that players genuinely WANT to share.

Why is that distinction important?

The core reason behind this is simple: Genuine word of mouth recommendations from people you know have a much greater impact than other advertising options. (Source) Think about it, which do you trust more: Billboard after billboard for the next big game, or 'omg this game is so awesome!' from several of your close friends?

Not much you can do as a creator to promote your game will mean as much as people who love your game sharing and talking about it in a positive fashion, of their own volition. If you give them the right tools to do so, make it easy and fun, they can be some of your biggest advocates!

Alphabear

One of my favorite recent examples of well designed social sharing is the simple, yet powerful implementation in Alphabear.

I follow the developers (Spry Fox) on Twitter and once worked with one of the founders, and yet I still heard of this game through other people long before I saw the official announcement. Why? Because of hilarious Mad-Libs style bear shares. Shortly after the release, my Twitter feed was a flood of adorable bears saying often dubious things.

Now, that doesn't mean that all of the shares are adorable bears saying obscenities or otherwise adult things. Some of the most entertaining are those that are perfectly SFW, but just work so well. Such as this one from Susan Arendt, which I've been referring to as Hannibal Bear.

The share feature is a fun extension to the core game.  The words used in the image are pulled directly from the session that preceded it. Players are able to cycle through a variety of options, and share the one that they think is the funniest / weirdest / most dirty.

This feature wasn't free: It required design, planning, development, testing and more. In exchange, Spry Fox has received over 2100 player initiated shares in the past 30 days (as of Nov 7th, 2015) (Source). When you consider how many people may be following each of those players that have shared, you can start to get a better idea of the potential impact.

Poly Bridge

While social sharing mechanics are more prevalent in mobile & casual game titles, don't disregard the power of a well designed social mechanic in a more traditional PC game release. Developer Dry Cactus has created a very effective sharing mechanic in their Steam Early Access game: Poly Bridge.

The core gameplay is pretty straightforward: Build a bridge so that it fulfills the conditions to solve a puzzle.

It gets a bit more... hilarious when you are able to see how other players have solved the same puzzle. By including a GIF sharing option, Poly Bridge has created a way for players to share their brilliant and/or entertaining solutions with the world. This can be done through the official Online Gallery, or through sharing GIFs on Twitter, Reddit, or elsewhere!

The Online Gallery contains over 46,000 replays, as of 7th November 2015:

Note: Anyone can share from the Online Gallery, increasing the potential for the the content to be seen by more people.

On Twitter:

There's even a dedicated subreddit for Poly Bridge with over 2k users where players share their solutions: http://ift.tt/2mos29h

Solutions like this one, from Reddit user Violets-Are-Blue:

Source: http://ift.tt/2moCtcO

By giving players the ability to share their solutions through both a centralized hub, Twitter, and on the platforms of their choice, Poly Bridge has managed an impressive level of visibility out to a larger audience while still in Early Access.

Considerations for Great Social Shares

Every game is going to require individual consideration for what would be the most impactful in terms of their social share design. The following are intended to serve as more general guidelines when designing your social sharing feature(s).

#1: Is this something players want to share?

If your players don't genuinely want to share it, they likely won't. Consider player motivations: What sort of player do you think will be playing your game? What are things or experiences that they'll want to share? Why?

For example: If you create a sharing mechanic that's centered around sharing high scores, but your players aren't particularly competitive or motivated by boasting, you're unlikely to see great results. What other types of sharing might appeal to those players, and how can it be integrated into your experience?

#2: Does this extend the experience?

In some cases, you may decide that social shares don't quite fit the theme or player type of your game. That's okay! Don't try to shove in a social sharing feature just for the sake of having one. If it doesn't make sense, and doesn't add to the experience, you may be better off cutting it and investing your time elsewhere.

However, if you have the opportunity to extend your experience through sharing and conversation, absolutely look at what would work best for your game. You have a golden opportunity to leverage word of mouth recommendations, and create a better experience for your players. Don't think of social sharing as something that is tacked onto the end of your experience, but rather as an extension. What's the watercooler moment from your game? What will people want to share and talk about with their friends?

#3: Is this Unique or Personal?

If the visuals, content, and experience of social sharing in your game is the same every time the player attempts to share, why would they do it more than once? The best social shares provide a unique, or otherwised personalized sharing experience. While the framework may be the same for each share, if the content itself is unique or personalized, there's a much greater chance the player will share more than once.

In Alphabear, the bear & the associated words in the share change with each share. In the case of Poly Bridge, the GIF is a unique look at that player's approach to solving the puzzle. As a result, players are motivated to share their experiences on an ongoing basis.

#4: Is it easy to find & use?

If you make it hard for people to find and use your social sharing option, don't be surprised if it's seldom used. Don't bury it away or make it confusing. Use the standard icons for each platform wherever you can, and make the user experience of sharing as easy as possible.

#5: Is it Interesting?

To be successful, your social sharing content needs to be interesting to those viewers of the existing player. After all, your social sharing content serves as an advertisement for your game. You have just a few seconds to capture someone's attention and communicate why they should download the game.

What does someone who is not already playing the game get out of the content? What message are you sending with it? When scrolling through a feed filled with content, what makes yours stand out?

Note: Humor is almost always a big win if you can do it well, and it fits with your content & audience.

#6: Is this the right content for the right platform(s)?

In general, the effectiveness of social content is as follows:

Short Video > Long Video > GIF > Personalized Image > Standard Image > Text only

However, not all content types work on all social platforms or with all player types. For example, longer videos are a great option if your players are heavily engaged and primarily going to be sharing to YouTube. However, that same video will be shortened into a tiny sliver of the full experience when shared to Twitter. If your players are more likely to be on the latter, focusing on longer form video is likely to be ineffective. In that instance, focusing on great GIF sharing could prove to be a much better option.

Before you dive into developing your social sharing feature, determine what content will work best for your players and the experience that you're building. Your content may be shared in multiple places, but optimizing for what you think will be the primary use case is always wise.

 #7: Have I included Download Info? Your download info can be as simple as including the name of your game, a brief tagline, and which platforms the game is available on in the accompanying visuals. However, that still requires a bit of initiative on the part of the prospective player, which will result in fewer downloads. Ideally you want to include a smart redirect link to download the game directly in the shared text. That way potential players can simply click on a link and be directed into the appropriate store based on their current device type. You want to make it as easy as possible for interested parties to download your game. Optimize for less steps or complications whenever possible!

#8: How will I measure effectiveness?

Understanding your return on investment for your social sharing features can be incredibly useful in evaluating your success and where you can improve upon in the future.

Some areas to consider:

How many shares have been completed?

On what platforms?

What percentage of my players are using the feature?

How many times has the unique hashtag been used?

How many times has someone clicked on the download link?

How many downloads have resulted from those shares?*

What's the retention look like for players who share vs players who don't?

*To the best of your ability. It can be hard to measure the direct download impact when some downloads will be from people who've seen the game, but go to download it later rather than directly from a social share link.

Getting Started

If you're not familiar with social sharing: Research first!

Play other social games, see how their sharing features work. Look at what works, what doesn't, and how it could be improved upon. If you really don't understand social sharing motivations, find people who do! Ask questions, do user testing against your ideas, and be open to feedback on what might not be working.

Before developing your social share feature, ask:

How can this extend the experience of my game?

Why would my players want to share? What would they want to share?

How will the shared content encourage non-players to download?

Is there a better option that I'm not considering?

How much time and effort is required to include this feature?

How will I track the success of this feature?

What's my unique hashtag? (Note: ALWAYS check if it's already being used first)

From there, treat your social sharing feature like any other feature in your game. Budget time for design, dev, testing and polish. Iterate, solicit feedback, measure effectiveness, and improve where possible.

In Closing

To create an effective social sharing feature, you can't just slap on a 'post to FB/Twitter/etc' button on your high score or end screen. However, if you're willing to put in the effort to create something that players actively want to use, you may find yourself with an outpouring of support and downloads that might not otherwise have been possible!

Have an example of a great use of social sharing? Questions, comments, something to add? Leave a comment, or drop me a line @boopsocial!

Next in this series: Connecting With Your Fans

Want to support my writing? Consider backing me on Patreon!

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Disclosure: DryCactus, creators of Poly Bridge are currently one of my Patreon sponsors. The framework for this article was drafted prior to their involvement, but I believe strongly in practicing transparency.

Previous Articles in this Series:

Why Social Sharing?

In a marketplace that's flooded with choice, how do you reach more players? The cost of user acquisition has skyrocketed, and is well out of reach for most indie, or even mid-sized game studios. Advertising via social channels may have some small impact if positioned correctly, but it can just as easily fall flat if the campaign doesn't hit exactly the right mark. So if you're unable to pay for user acquisition or direct advertising, how can you help ensure that you reach more players than those that have already downloaded your game?

Enter: Social Sharing!

The #1 Rule for Great Social Shares

If you learn only 1 thing from this article, let it be: The best social shares are those that players genuinely WANT to share.

Why is that distinction important?

The core reason behind this is simple: Genuine word of mouth recommendations from people you know have a much greater impact than other advertising options. (Source) Think about it, which do you trust more: Billboard after billboard for the next big game, or 'omg this game is so awesome!' from several of your close friends?

Not much you can do as a creator to promote your game will mean as much as people who love your game sharing and talking about it in a positive fashion, of their own volition. If you give them the right tools to do so, make it easy and fun, they can be some of your biggest advocates!

Alphabear

One of my favorite recent examples of well designed social sharing is the simple, yet powerful implementation in Alphabear.

I follow the developers (Spry Fox) on Twitter and once worked with one of the founders, and yet I still heard of this game through other people long before I saw the official announcement. Why? Because of hilarious Mad-Libs style bear shares. Shortly after the release, my Twitter feed was a flood of adorable bears saying often dubious things.

Now, that doesn't mean that all of the shares are adorable bears saying obscenities or otherwise adult things. Some of the most entertaining are those that are perfectly SFW, but just work so well. Such as this one from Susan Arendt, which I've been referring to as Hannibal Bear.

The share feature is a fun extension to the core game.  The words used in the image are pulled directly from the session that preceded it. Players are able to cycle through a variety of options, and share the one that they think is the funniest / weirdest / most dirty.

This feature wasn't free: It required design, planning, development, testing and more. In exchange, Spry Fox has received over 2100 player initiated shares in the past 30 days (as of Nov 7th, 2015) (Source). When you consider how many people may be following each of those players that have shared, you can start to get a better idea of the potential impact.

Poly Bridge

While social sharing mechanics are more prevalent in mobile & casual game titles, don't disregard the power of a well designed social mechanic in a more traditional PC game release. Developer Dry Cactus has created a very effective sharing mechanic in their Steam Early Access game: Poly Bridge.

The core gameplay is pretty straightforward: Build a bridge so that it fulfills the conditions to solve a puzzle.

It gets a bit more... hilarious when you are able to see how other players have solved the same puzzle. By including a GIF sharing option, Poly Bridge has created a way for players to share their brilliant and/or entertaining solutions with the world. This can be done through the official Online Gallery, or through sharing GIFs on Twitter, Reddit, or elsewhere!

The Online Gallery contains over 46,000 replays, as of 7th November 2015:

Note: Anyone can share from the Online Gallery, increasing the potential for the the content to be seen by more people.

On Twitter:

There's even a dedicated subreddit for Poly Bridge with over 2k users where players share their solutions: http://ift.tt/2mos29h

Solutions like this one, from Reddit user Violets-Are-Blue:

Source: http://ift.tt/2moCtcO

By giving players the ability to share their solutions through both a centralized hub, Twitter, and on the platforms of their choice, Poly Bridge has managed an impressive level of visibility out to a larger audience while still in Early Access.

Considerations for Great Social Shares

Every game is going to require individual consideration for what would be the most impactful in terms of their social share design. The following are intended to serve as more general guidelines when designing your social sharing feature(s).

#1: Is this something players want to share?

If your players don't genuinely want to share it, they likely won't. Consider player motivations: What sort of player do you think will be playing your game? What are things or experiences that they'll want to share? Why?

For example: If you create a sharing mechanic that's centered around sharing high scores, but your players aren't particularly competitive or motivated by boasting, you're unlikely to see great results. What other types of sharing might appeal to those players, and how can it be integrated into your experience?

#2: Does this extend the experience?

In some cases, you may decide that social shares don't quite fit the theme or player type of your game. That's okay! Don't try to shove in a social sharing feature just for the sake of having one. If it doesn't make sense, and doesn't add to the experience, you may be better off cutting it and investing your time elsewhere.

However, if you have the opportunity to extend your experience through sharing and conversation, absolutely look at what would work best for your game. You have a golden opportunity to leverage word of mouth recommendations, and create a better experience for your players. Don't think of social sharing as something that is tacked onto the end of your experience, but rather as an extension. What's the watercooler moment from your game? What will people want to share and talk about with their friends?

#3: Is this Unique or Personal?

If the visuals, content, and experience of social sharing in your game is the same every time the player attempts to share, why would they do it more than once? The best social shares provide a unique, or otherwised personalized sharing experience. While the framework may be the same for each share, if the content itself is unique or personalized, there's a much greater chance the player will share more than once.

In Alphabear, the bear & the associated words in the share change with each share. In the case of Poly Bridge, the GIF is a unique look at that player's approach to solving the puzzle. As a result, players are motivated to share their experiences on an ongoing basis.

#4: Is it easy to find & use?

If you make it hard for people to find and use your social sharing option, don't be surprised if it's seldom used. Don't bury it away or make it confusing. Use the standard icons for each platform wherever you can, and make the user experience of sharing as easy as possible.

#5: Is it Interesting?

To be successful, your social sharing content needs to be interesting to those viewers of the existing player. After all, your social sharing content serves as an advertisement for your game. You have just a few seconds to capture someone's attention and communicate why they should download the game.

What does someone who is not already playing the game get out of the content? What message are you sending with it? When scrolling through a feed filled with content, what makes yours stand out?

Note: Humor is almost always a big win if you can do it well, and it fits with your content & audience.

#6: Is this the right content for the right platform(s)?

In general, the effectiveness of social content is as follows:

Short Video > Long Video > GIF > Personalized Image > Standard Image > Text only

However, not all content types work on all social platforms or with all player types. For example, longer videos are a great option if your players are heavily engaged and primarily going to be sharing to YouTube. However, that same video will be shortened into a tiny sliver of the full experience when shared to Twitter. If your players are more likely to be on the latter, focusing on longer form video is likely to be ineffective. In that instance, focusing on great GIF sharing could prove to be a much better option.

Before you dive into developing your social sharing feature, determine what content will work best for your players and the experience that you're building. Your content may be shared in multiple places, but optimizing for what you think will be the primary use case is always wise.

 #7: Have I included Download Info? Your download info can be as simple as including the name of your game, a brief tagline, and which platforms the game is available on in the accompanying visuals. However, that still requires a bit of initiative on the part of the prospective player, which will result in fewer downloads. Ideally you want to include a smart redirect link to download the game directly in the shared text. That way potential players can simply click on a link and be directed into the appropriate store based on their current device type. You want to make it as easy as possible for interested parties to download your game. Optimize for less steps or complications whenever possible!

#8: How will I measure effectiveness?

Understanding your return on investment for your social sharing features can be incredibly useful in evaluating your success and where you can improve upon in the future.

Some areas to consider:

How many shares have been completed?

On what platforms?

What percentage of my players are using the feature?

How many times has the unique hashtag been used?

How many times has someone clicked on the download link?

How many downloads have resulted from those shares?*

What's the retention look like for players who share vs players who don't?

*To the best of your ability. It can be hard to measure the direct download impact when some downloads will be from people who've seen the game, but go to download it later rather than directly from a social share link.

Getting Started

If you're not familiar with social sharing: Research first!

Play other social games, see how their sharing features work. Look at what works, what doesn't, and how it could be improved upon. If you really don't understand social sharing motivations, find people who do! Ask questions, do user testing against your ideas, and be open to feedback on what might not be working.

Before developing your social share feature, ask:

How can this extend the experience of my game?

Why would my players want to share? What would they want to share?

How will the shared content encourage non-players to download?

Is there a better option that I'm not considering?

How much time and effort is required to include this feature?

How will I track the success of this feature?

What's my unique hashtag? (Note: ALWAYS check if it's already being used first)

From there, treat your social sharing feature like any other feature in your game. Budget time for design, dev, testing and polish. Iterate, solicit feedback, measure effectiveness, and improve where possible.

In Closing

To create an effective social sharing feature, you can't just slap on a 'post to FB/Twitter/etc' button on your high score or end screen. However, if you're willing to put in the effort to create something that players actively want to use, you may find yourself with an outpouring of support and downloads that might not otherwise have been possible!

Have an example of a great use of social sharing? Questions, comments, something to add? Leave a comment, or drop me a line @boopsocial!

Next in this series: Connecting With Your Fans

Want to support my writing? Consider backing me on Patreon!

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Disclosure: DryCactus, creators of Poly Bridge are currently one of my Patreon sponsors. The framework for this article was drafted prior to their involvement, but I believe strongly in practicing transparency.

Previous Articles in this Series:

Why Social Sharing?

In a marketplace that's flooded with choice, how do you reach more players? The cost of user acquisition has skyrocketed, and is well out of reach for most indie, or even mid-sized game studios. Advertising via social channels may have some small impact if positioned correctly, but it can just as easily fall flat if the campaign doesn't hit exactly the right mark. So if you're unable to pay for user acquisition or direct advertising, how can you help ensure that you reach more players than those that have already downloaded your game?

Enter: Social Sharing!

The #1 Rule for Great Social Shares

If you learn only 1 thing from this article, let it be: The best social shares are those that players genuinely WANT to share.

Why is that distinction important?

The core reason behind this is simple: Genuine word of mouth recommendations from people you know have a much greater impact than other advertising options. (Source) Think about it, which do you trust more: Billboard after billboard for the next big game, or 'omg this game is so awesome!' from several of your close friends?

Not much you can do as a creator to promote your game will mean as much as people who love your game sharing and talking about it in a positive fashion, of their own volition. If you give them the right tools to do so, make it easy and fun, they can be some of your biggest advocates!

Alphabear

One of my favorite recent examples of well designed social sharing is the simple, yet powerful implementation in Alphabear.

I follow the developers (Spry Fox) on Twitter and once worked with one of the founders, and yet I still heard of this game through other people long before I saw the official announcement. Why? Because of hilarious Mad-Libs style bear shares. Shortly after the release, my Twitter feed was a flood of adorable bears saying often dubious things.

Now, that doesn't mean that all of the shares are adorable bears saying obscenities or otherwise adult things. Some of the most entertaining are those that are perfectly SFW, but just work so well. Such as this one from Susan Arendt, which I've been referring to as Hannibal Bear.

The share feature is a fun extension to the core game.  The words used in the image are pulled directly from the session that preceded it. Players are able to cycle through a variety of options, and share the one that they think is the funniest / weirdest / most dirty.

This feature wasn't free: It required design, planning, development, testing and more. In exchange, Spry Fox has received over 2100 player initiated shares in the past 30 days (as of Nov 7th, 2015) (Source). When you consider how many people may be following each of those players that have shared, you can start to get a better idea of the potential impact.

Poly Bridge

While social sharing mechanics are more prevalent in mobile & casual game titles, don't disregard the power of a well designed social mechanic in a more traditional PC game release. Developer Dry Cactus has created a very effective sharing mechanic in their Steam Early Access game: Poly Bridge.

The core gameplay is pretty straightforward: Build a bridge so that it fulfills the conditions to solve a puzzle.

It gets a bit more... hilarious when you are able to see how other players have solved the same puzzle. By including a GIF sharing option, Poly Bridge has created a way for players to share their brilliant and/or entertaining solutions with the world. This can be done through the official Online Gallery, or through sharing GIFs on Twitter, Reddit, or elsewhere!

The Online Gallery contains over 46,000 replays, as of 7th November 2015:

Note: Anyone can share from the Online Gallery, increasing the potential for the the content to be seen by more people.

On Twitter:

There's even a dedicated subreddit for Poly Bridge with over 2k users where players share their solutions: http://ift.tt/2mos29h

Solutions like this one, from Reddit user Violets-Are-Blue:

Source: http://ift.tt/2moCtcO

By giving players the ability to share their solutions through both a centralized hub, Twitter, and on the platforms of their choice, Poly Bridge has managed an impressive level of visibility out to a larger audience while still in Early Access.

Considerations for Great Social Shares

Every game is going to require individual consideration for what would be the most impactful in terms of their social share design. The following are intended to serve as more general guidelines when designing your social sharing feature(s).

#1: Is this something players want to share?

If your players don't genuinely want to share it, they likely won't. Consider player motivations: What sort of player do you think will be playing your game? What are things or experiences that they'll want to share? Why?

For example: If you create a sharing mechanic that's centered around sharing high scores, but your players aren't particularly competitive or motivated by boasting, you're unlikely to see great results. What other types of sharing might appeal to those players, and how can it be integrated into your experience?

#2: Does this extend the experience?

In some cases, you may decide that social shares don't quite fit the theme or player type of your game. That's okay! Don't try to shove in a social sharing feature just for the sake of having one. If it doesn't make sense, and doesn't add to the experience, you may be better off cutting it and investing your time elsewhere.

However, if you have the opportunity to extend your experience through sharing and conversation, absolutely look at what would work best for your game. You have a golden opportunity to leverage word of mouth recommendations, and create a better experience for your players. Don't think of social sharing as something that is tacked onto the end of your experience, but rather as an extension. What's the watercooler moment from your game? What will people want to share and talk about with their friends?

#3: Is this Unique or Personal?

If the visuals, content, and experience of social sharing in your game is the same every time the player attempts to share, why would they do it more than once? The best social shares provide a unique, or otherwised personalized sharing experience. While the framework may be the same for each share, if the content itself is unique or personalized, there's a much greater chance the player will share more than once.

In Alphabear, the bear & the associated words in the share change with each share. In the case of Poly Bridge, the GIF is a unique look at that player's approach to solving the puzzle. As a result, players are motivated to share their experiences on an ongoing basis.

#4: Is it easy to find & use?

If you make it hard for people to find and use your social sharing option, don't be surprised if it's seldom used. Don't bury it away or make it confusing. Use the standard icons for each platform wherever you can, and make the user experience of sharing as easy as possible.

#5: Is it Interesting?

To be successful, your social sharing content needs to be interesting to those viewers of the existing player. After all, your social sharing content serves as an advertisement for your game. You have just a few seconds to capture someone's attention and communicate why they should download the game.

What does someone who is not already playing the game get out of the content? What message are you sending with it? When scrolling through a feed filled with content, what makes yours stand out?

Note: Humor is almost always a big win if you can do it well, and it fits with your content & audience.

#6: Is this the right content for the right platform(s)?

In general, the effectiveness of social content is as follows:

Short Video > Long Video > GIF > Personalized Image > Standard Image > Text only

However, not all content types work on all social platforms or with all player types. For example, longer videos are a great option if your players are heavily engaged and primarily going to be sharing to YouTube. However, that same video will be shortened into a tiny sliver of the full experience when shared to Twitter. If your players are more likely to be on the latter, focusing on longer form video is likely to be ineffective. In that instance, focusing on great GIF sharing could prove to be a much better option.

Before you dive into developing your social sharing feature, determine what content will work best for your players and the experience that you're building. Your content may be shared in multiple places, but optimizing for what you think will be the primary use case is always wise.

 #7: Have I included Download Info? Your download info can be as simple as including the name of your game, a brief tagline, and which platforms the game is available on in the accompanying visuals. However, that still requires a bit of initiative on the part of the prospective player, which will result in fewer downloads. Ideally you want to include a smart redirect link to download the game directly in the shared text. That way potential players can simply click on a link and be directed into the appropriate store based on their current device type. You want to make it as easy as possible for interested parties to download your game. Optimize for less steps or complications whenever possible!

#8: How will I measure effectiveness?

Understanding your return on investment for your social sharing features can be incredibly useful in evaluating your success and where you can improve upon in the future.

Some areas to consider:

How many shares have been completed?

On what platforms?

What percentage of my players are using the feature?

How many times has the unique hashtag been used?

How many times has someone clicked on the download link?

How many downloads have resulted from those shares?*

What's the retention look like for players who share vs players who don't?

*To the best of your ability. It can be hard to measure the direct download impact when some downloads will be from people who've seen the game, but go to download it later rather than directly from a social share link.

Getting Started

If you're not familiar with social sharing: Research first!

Play other social games, see how their sharing features work. Look at what works, what doesn't, and how it could be improved upon. If you really don't understand social sharing motivations, find people who do! Ask questions, do user testing against your ideas, and be open to feedback on what might not be working.

Before developing your social share feature, ask:

How can this extend the experience of my game?

Why would my players want to share? What would they want to share?

How will the shared content encourage non-players to download?

Is there a better option that I'm not considering?

How much time and effort is required to include this feature?

How will I track the success of this feature?

What's my unique hashtag? (Note: ALWAYS check if it's already being used first)

From there, treat your social sharing feature like any other feature in your game. Budget time for design, dev, testing and polish. Iterate, solicit feedback, measure effectiveness, and improve where possible.

In Closing

To create an effective social sharing feature, you can't just slap on a 'post to FB/Twitter/etc' button on your high score or end screen. However, if you're willing to put in the effort to create something that players actively want to use, you may find yourself with an outpouring of support and downloads that might not otherwise have been possible!

Have an example of a great use of social sharing? Questions, comments, something to add? Leave a comment, or drop me a line @boopsocial!

Next in this series: Connecting With Your Fans

Want to support my writing? Consider backing me on Patreon!