Four years ago, @runixo made an interactive world map that showed how a few thousand of security cameras connected to the internet were broadcasting live through the networks without the owners knowing. We put on the front page of a newspaper, Página/12, and the blowback lived for exactly one morning. Then suddenly, a few days later and without any promotion, the map got more than 500,000 visits, their origins unclear to us. Someone at The Verge had found the “creepy horror” map. With the traffic still exploding, Google Maps sent us a message saying that it was “very nice” what we had done but we were violating Google Maps privacy policies. And so we were deactivated. The users had started playing with the map to discover naked people in the cameras.
At that moment, we understood the power of stories turned into interactive games. Telling news through games isn’t just a playful way of informing readers — it’s also a way to create added value for publishers.
Game developers have a lot to contribute. In Latin America, a number of disruptive games have appeared that show social problems through the aesthetics of Mortal Kombat: a thief robbing passengers on a subway, for example, with the victims looking for police to help. It’s not a photo or an interactive — it’s a game about a social problem that is also giving information about what happens daily in the subways of Buenos Aires. Another trash genre is the shitty games, games that tell news created in two or three days by a handful of audiovisual producers. With Mario Brothers aesthetics, they tell of escapes from prison, car crashes, inflation, and more, turning issues into something relevant in time and form.
We see plenty of experiments. The New York Times dialect quiz that was among the paper’s top three articles in traffic for two consecutive years. The 3-D line that illustrates the financial bubble in The Wall Street Journal. The how-to-be-an-Uber-driver game from the Financial Times. They show that stories turned into games aren’t only surprising and disruptive, but they can also makes sense from the point of view of business models. And they’re becoming easier to do. A couple of weeks ago, we were inspired by the You Draw It interactives of The New York Times to draw a parallel between the governments of former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Mauricio Macri. The game generated an impact on traffic and increased new registered users.
News games are difficult to copy, scalable, and increase the value proposition of media companies. News games can become the news themself and generate the viral audience that generate increases direct and social traffic. However, they are expensive to build, and turning them into a regular part of the journalistic workflow is a complicated task. Newsrooms are fast; software development is (often) slow. Most CMSes are designed for simple content; performance can be an issue, and making sure they translate into AMP or Instant Articles can be an uphill battle. The combination of facilities to create environments of virtual reality and the speed of a generation of stories based on games opens a path not yet fully developed for the world of news. The challenge will be to move from experimentation to a business model, and to systematic investment in the team and workflows necessary. By the way, Insecam, a new site, is once again showing all the Internet-connected cameras broadcasting live without their owners knowing. It’s a game being taken to another level.
Hace cuatro años @runixo hizo un mapa mundial interactivo que mostraba cómo unas cuántas miles de cámaras de seguridad conectadas a internet estaban transmitiendo en vivo a través de las redes sin que los dueños lo supieran. Hicimos una tapa de un diario en papel, en Página/12, y la noticia duró una mañana. Pero de pronto, unos días después, el mapa sin ningún tipo de promoción habíamos conseguido más de 500.000 sesiones que no entendíamos de dónde venían. Una publicación de The Verge había encontrado el mapa “del horror”. Una mañana, cuando el tráfico todavía explotaba, Google Maps nos mandó un mensaje diciendo que era muy lindo lo que habíamos hecho pero estábamos violando las políticas de privacidad de Google Maps. Y nos dieron de baja. Los usuarios se habían puesto a jugar con el mapa, a descubrir gente desnuda, en las cámaras de trendnet. Ahí entendimos, hace ya tiempo, del poder de las historias convertidas en juegos interactivos. Entender las noticias a través de los juegos no son sólo formas lúdicas de informar a los lectores, sino una forma crear valor agregado para los portales digitales.
Las comunidades de game developers tienen mucho que aportar. En América latina aparecieron en los últimos años algunos juegos realmente disruptivos que contaban problemáticas sociales a través de estéticas de Mortal Kombat. Un ladrón ingresa al subte y se pone a desvalijar pasajeros, a medida que los pasajeros van quedando desprovistos de sus pertenencias empiezan a mirar hacia los costados. Si el ladrón es alcanzado a ser visto, un policía aparece y lo detiene. No es una foto, ni una imagen, ni un interactivo, es un juego sobre una problemática social que está dando datos sobre lo que ocurre cotidianamente en los subtes de Buenos Aires. Otro género más trash es el de los shitty games, juegos que cuentan noticias creados en dos o tres días por un puñado de realizadores audiovisuales. Con estética Mario Bros cuentan escapes de la prisión, choque de autos, asuntos virales, aumentos de precios llegando a ser relevantes en tiempo y forma.
Los experimentos del New York Times (El Quiz de dialectos) artículo que estuvo entre los tres primeros artículos dos años consecutivos, La línea en 3d que retrata la burbuja financiera en el Washington Post, los juegos de cómo ser chofer de Uber en el Silicon Valley de Financial Times demostraron que las noticias convertidas en juegos no sólo son sorprendentes y disruptivas, sino también tienen sentido desde el punto de vista de los modelos de negocios, y cada vez son más fáciles de hacer. Hace un par de semanas, nos inspiramos en el You Draw it del New York Times para trazar el paralelo entre los gobiernos de la ex presidenta argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner y Mauricio Macri. El juego no sólo generó impacto en tráfico y aumento de nuevos usuarios registrados sino también mejoró la reputación de un sitio que había estado relegado en materia de innovación.
Los juegos de noticias son difíciles de copiar, son escalables y aumentan su valor agregado: se convierten en la noticia en sí misma y la viralización que generan aumenta el tráfico directo. Sin embargo, son caros y convertirlos en parte del flujo de trabajo periodístico es una tarea con complicaciones. Las redacciones son rápidas, el desarrollo de software es lento. Los publicadores están pensados para contenidos simples, la performance disminuye y AMP se rompe con facilidad. Los editores se interesan por incluirlos haciendo frankensteins difíciles de digerir. La combinación de facilidades para crear ambientes de realidad virtual y velocidad de generación de historias basadas en juegos abre un camino todavía no del todo desarrollado para el mundo de las noticias. El desafío será pasar de la experimentación al hallazgo del modelo de negocios, y a la inversión sistemática en el armado de equipos en función de alcanzar los indicadores de crecimiento esperados. Por cierto, Insecam, un nuevo sitio, volvió a mostrar todas las cámaras conectadas a Internet que están transmitiendo en vivo sin que sus dueños lo sepan. Será cuestión de retomar ese juego. Será cuestión de volver a convertirlo en historia.
Mariano Blejman is chief digital officer at Grupo Octubre and leader of MediaFactory.
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
AX Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile