The hottest entertainment platform in the world? Warm up for Gamania's 15th anniversary! The winner of Gamania Hall of Fame in March reveals!
Most Influential Entertainment Channel Urban dwellers ’ lives, excluding food and sleep, consist mostly of forms of entertainment such as social networking and shopping etc. These demands have been well-brewed in the virtual world. Internet provides people with various channels and choices of social contact and entertainment. In a way people are so used to it that they cannot live without internet and in fact, vice versa. Given the circ umstances, if any company can provide a faster, more diverse, convenient and improved entertainment platform, no doubt such platform will be swarmed with global internet communities in no time. Gamania has always positioned itself as a global digital entertainment brand which means online games will not be the sole content of its service. In the future, Gamanian will develop a more comprehensive entertainment network but how does it slash its way out in this global entertainment battle? G!Voice gives you the exclusive indepth report!
Editing Department
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● Publisher: Albert Liu ● Editorial Desk: Eric Chen ● Editor-in-chief: Yoyo Dai ● Creative Desk: Kiwi Chang/Betty Wang ● Art Editor: YOW!design ● Web Planner: Kenji Lin ● Web Designer: Snow Wang ● Publishing: Gamania Brand Center
Contents Features
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The Whole World is Raving About Entertainment Platform beanfun!
No.1 Choice of Channel of your Future Digital Entertainment beanfun! now thriving in TW & HK It's Show Time for Beanfun! Planning and Preparation in GUS & GJP Shaping the Brand Image of beanfun! GIO Karl:
beanfun! Once you enter beanful! You'll never consider leaving!
Special
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15th Anniversary of Gamania! Senior Gamanians have something to say!
Column
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Internet Marketing Observer, Mika:
The Ghastly "Dante's Inferno" Shuffle Alliance, Jojo:
The Meaning Behind the Launch of 3D Animation gamaniabrandcenter:
"The Big Issue" Most Support Worthy Street Magazine
Events
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Gamania Hall of Fame Presents:
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Feature Report on SPACE 17:
The Winner of the Fiercest Operation Team Award for March: Operational Team of "Pop Tag" "It's my HERO" Animation Exhibition: Gama fans, you can't miss it!
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GAMANIA
Features
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04
Hundred million
The Whole World is Raving About Entertainment Platform According to the latest statistics, there are more than 1.5 billion internet users in 2009. This monstrous amount makes one wonder the possibility of substantial market opportunity if there should be an entertainment platform that can successfully gather web users around the world. Each country may develop different online entertainment demand based on its culture and pervasiveness of internet. As an international enterprise, Gamania has to be exceptionally keen towards the trends in every part of the world to take the leads in the torrents of global digital entertainment. In light of this, G!Voice gathered information from subsidiaries and branches in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, the U.S and Germany, which has the most internet usage rate in Europe. Let’s find out which entertainment platforms people from these countries look for fun!
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GAMANIA
Features
China 您好! Special Information Agent GCN IT Vinson Zou
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www.qq.com
www.youku.com
www.kaixin001.com
QQ was launched on Februar y 11th, 1999 by Tencent Holdings Limited. It has functions such as chatroom, games, individual virtual image and online socializing. Although threatened by similar instant messaging software such as MSN Messenger, QQ still occupies the leading position in China ’ s communication market because it was introduced in the market long before any others. Currently QQ has more than 1 billion registered accounts with over 500 million active accounts. In March 2010, its online user number reached a record high at 100 million.
Founded in 2005, Youku was a Chinese video sharing website whose nature is similar to Youtube. It has no limitation on the length of uploaded videos so it attracts many Chinese web users to either upload or watch movies or TV series online. Youku ’ s video playing frequency volumn has reached 100 million a day. Individual account number reached over 12 million which ranks at No.1 in competitiveness among Chinese video sharing industry. It is also the medium that 2010 Shanghai Expo selected for collaboration.
Kaixin001.com is one of the famous Chinese social networking website. Founded in March, 2008, the website is known to be the China version of Facebook. The most popular game of this site is Happy Farm which is well liked by students and office workers alike. Currently the viewing volume of Kaixin001 has entered Top 10 of Chinese websites. Its registered users have reached 60 million with 12 million active users per day.
Picture Source: zh.wikipedia.org/、www.yxmhw.net/
Korea
안녕하세요! Special Information Agent GKR-Marketing Jacon Kang
www.naver.com
www.nate.com
www.daum.net
NAVER (in Korean) is a famous searching engine website under NHN company. Officially launched in June, 1999, the site has become the biggest entrance website whose usage rate is as high as 74%. Different from Google's knowledge searching engine, NAVER's search has a autocategorization function which makes it stand out among Korean searching service.
NATE (in Korean) is a website set up by SK Telecom in October, 2001. The site provides exchange platforms for services such as shopping, searching, news, clubs, comics and animation. NATE ON is also the most widely use communication messenger in Korea with 6.5 million members.
Daum (in Korean) was founded in 1995 and it is the first website in Korea to provide email service. In addition to searching and email services, it also provides news, blogs and videos. Its sub-website Daum cafe is the leading paid-per-view fans website whic serves as the indicator for Korean celebrities popularity and stardom status. Currently there are 6.25 million Daum cafes and 31 million registered users. Recently Daum also provides service similar to Twitter on high tech mobile phones.
Picture Source: www.nate.com/、www.naver.com/、 www. daum.net
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GAMANIA
Features
Japan
どうも! Special Information Agent GJP-Marketing Airi Kanaya
www.mixi.jp
www.gree.jp
www.nicovideo.jp
Mixi was founded by ミ ク シ ィ in Japan 2004. The purpose of this website is to create a platform that provides blogs, personal community, web album for people to exchange hobbies and interests. It has become the leading Japanese social networking website with members as high as 20 million, nearly 1/3 of Japanese population, even Facebook is paled in comparison.
GREE is a company established by former Rakuten employee, Yoshikazu Ta n a k a i n 2 0 0 4 . G R E E c a n b e accessed through mobile phones and has a mobile user log-in rate as high as 98%. With 16.73 million users, GREE is considered the most successful mobile phone service website in Japan. GREE provides functions such as social networking, games and bidding in which 60% of its income comes from games.
Nico Nico Douga ( ニ コ ニ コ 動 画 ) which originally means “ Smiley Videos” was founded in 2006. The website provides mostly Japanese animation (manga) whose nature is similar to YouTube. Users can leave messages underneath the videos which increase the interaction and entertainment value. Currently it is the biggest online video/music sharing website in Japan with 15.64 million members.
Picture Source: www. nicovideo.jp/、www.gree.jp/、 www. mixi.jp
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USA Hello! Special Information Agent GUS Product Director Kevin Crawford
www.facebook.com
www.twitter.com
www.youtube.com
There goes without saying that Facebook is the hottest website on earth now. Created by Mark Z u c k e r b e r g i n F e b r u a r y, 2 0 0 4 , Facebook has become the most successful social networking website in 5 years. Registered users in the U.S alone reached 130 million and over 300 million worldwide.
Twitter is a website that provides social networking and micro-blogs. The users may publish or announce up to 140 words of update through SMS, instant messenger or emails. Many American celebrities enjoy pushing their private lives on twitter but sometimes it can be over-sharing. Currently twitter has about 20 million registered users in the U.S.
YouTube was founded by Steve Chen, Cha Hurley and Jawed Karim in 2005. Originally the website was meant to share video clips between friends and later on it has transformed into a public sphere online for net users to store videos or publish works. Right now American teenagers like to upload self-made teaching videos on YouTube to share with everyone. Currently there are about 90 million registered users in the U.S.
www.youtube.com〠www.twitter.com〠www.facebook.com
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Features
Germany Hallo! Special Information Agent GHQ-International Business Carsten Lammert
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www.studivz.net
www.bravo.de
www.knuddels.de
StudiVZ was created by a German student from University of St. Gallen in February, 2006. Initially it was not established for any commercial purpose, it was meant to change the status in the university where “No on knows anyone”. University students may find out who their classmates are for any particular course through the website. Currently there are 4 million students who use this website to communicate and exchange with students in other schools or other countries.
Bravo is the biggest teenage magazine in Germany. First published in 1956, the content revolves around topics that most teens are most interested about, such as movies, pop music, celebrities and sex education. Bravo formed a knowledge group called, Dr. Sommer-Team in 1870 to research in full scale and answer teenagers ’ questions. In addition to issuing physical magazines, its website Bravo.de is also among the favorite websites frequented by German teens with an average 1 million visitors per day.
Knuddels is the biggest chatting and social networking website in Germany. There are around 1.2 million users that log in to chat, flirt, date or play online games every day. Registered users can upload their pictures to their personal websites and give ratings to other users. Many users share articles and videos of their dates. It is very popular among young people in Germany.
Picture Source: www.studivz.net、www.bravo.de、 www. knuddels.de
Taiwan 你好！ Special Information Agent GHQ-Brand Center Anna Haung
tw.beanfun.com
www.wretch.cc
tw.yahoo.com
Originally as a station in Bulletin Board System (BBS), Wretch was founded by Chih-Yu, Jian, a graduate of Information Engineering major in NCTU in 1999. The website provides functions such as web albums, blogs and message boards. It caused a wild sensation when the “ hot girl album ” was introduced. In 2006, Yahoo officially bought and merged Wretch and became the No.1 website of the Top 100 in Taiwan. The website has around 10 million members in Taiwan.
Yahoo! was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in 1994. The website provides a series of world wide web services including entrance websites, search engines, emails, instant messenger, blogs etc. Yahoo! Taiwan became No. 1 among domestic entrance websites mainly through online bidding service. It has 12 million registered users in Taiwan and the annual revenue that ranks at 3rd in the world.
Picture Source: www.wretch.cc、tw.yahoo.com、 tw.beanfun.com
Speaking of entertainment platform, we cannot but talk about Gamania's very own game platform, beanfun! Beanfun! not only provides a more convenient environment for players to access online games and conduct account management, but a safer account security protection mechanism. In the future, it will even be developed into a digital entertainment channel. Currently beanfun! has started its operation in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Since its official launch of version 1.0 in Taiwan, the members have reached over 1 million. The next step is to launch in Japan and the U.S. Starting its footstep from Taiwan, we hope that in the future beanfun! will become the top 1 entertainment channel for global net users!
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GAMANIA
Features
beanfun!
No.1 Choice of Channel of your Future Digital Entertainment Can you imagine what digital entertainment in the future will be like? What kind of services Gamania can provide to the playrs in the future? Maybe through Albert ’ s vision for beanfun! we can see outline of it. It will be a world that the players can “Play anytime, play everywhere”. All digital contents will be integrated so through a single entrance, you may gain all the digital entertainment you want.
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The original concept was proposed by Albert in the strategy meeting in 2005. Back then the market didn’t have the concept of “An integrated digital entertainment channel”, social community platforms was not even a phenomena yet. Albert said he wanted to take the service approach to provide Gamania players with a safer and more convenience game environment and operation system. He kind of sensed then that this concept may become a trend in the future.
Gamania's Vision: Provide ALL Digital Entertainment As the time goes by, this concept gradually became more relevant with the trend and that is how beanfun! came to shape. “Integrate all digital games into one platform” is something Gamania must do. However, integrate all digital entertainment into one channel will be even a bigger goal and vision for Gamania in the future. Albert said, “With the advance of technology, we can already foresee that the center of entertainment in the future will not only exist in computers. It may disperse to everywhere, including medium like TV, computer, mobile phones, laptops or even anything that can be connected to a screen. ” No matter what kind of digital entertainment the players or people demand, they may easily find their service through it.
A More Convenient and Safer Experience for Players To realize such vision, what would be the main task Gamania must undertake right now? Albert said the
first stage is the most crucial: we must execute the integration well, “it can provide players any games produced by Gamania and at the same time, making them feel more very convenience and safe.” What can beanfun! help Gamania in the long run? Albert thinks that, “We can consolidate Gamania’s game communities through beanfun!. Maybe right now our Taiwanese users are proportionally larger, but in the future, we can use it to improve the number of users in the west and even the rest of the world. Beanfun! will become a cross-nation and crossethnic Hyper Entertainment Channel. After beanfun! has become globalized, Gamania will become stronger and more influential.”
Reinforce Gamania's Self-Produced Games However, Albert also said that Gamania products must have strong enough competitive edge to attract players around the world to join this channel. With the foundation of a substantial numbers of global members, we can introduce more digital entertainments and provide players with a compressive entertainment horizon. Judging from beanfun!’s current functions, it may be just a game management platform that players may access to play various games with one single account. However, Albert hopes that in the future, beanfun!’s real vision can be realized. Beanfun! will become the Hyper Entertainment Channel and the no.1 channel for players around the world and realize the dream that the players may “play anytime and anywhere”.
Chronicle of beanfun! Magic Stick
Dolphin Team
beanfun!
Time: 2005 What: Adopted the service approach, integrated all game accounts to provide players with higher convenience and better account security mechanism.
Time: 2006 What: Established Dolphin Project team, hoping to propose a brand new concept consolidating game, entertainment content and services. Mimigigi and hooka were produced during this period.
Time: 2009 What: Confirmed the development blueprint, the project has thus changed its name to beanfun!, hoping to become the no.1 choice of digital entertainment channel and enabling players to "play anytime, play everywhere".
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beanfun! now thriving in TW & HK Experience Sharing: GTW & GHK
beanfun! has operated in Taiwan and Hong Kong for a year and a year and 7 months respectively. The initial goal was to transfer all GASH members to beanfun! so the players may manage all Gamanian games with one single account. However, like any newly launched product, there will be tons of problems to be solved by operation team. G!Voice interviewed the deputy operational director of GTW Summer Yu and GOO of GHK, Yaling Chang and asked them to share their ups and downs for the past year. From the service industry’s stance, what is the most difficult move? To change the consumer’s habits. When beanfun! launched in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the same challenge remained. Although integrating multiple game accounts into one is a good thing for players, changing players’ log in habit may not be as favorable.
Communicate with players and seek their identification “In the early stage, Taiwanese players saw the upgrade move as a way to change their habits. And changing habits means disturbance. ” deputy operational director of GTW Summer Yu said. “Because we conducted
a series of communication with the players, including why we used beanfun! ’s videos and comics for players to watch, sending EDM to help players solving problems and advertising the advantages of beanfun! on Gamania’s official website. We did all these in hopes of gaining players’ identification and encouraging them to upgrade.” GOO of GHK, Yaling Chang also said, “To Hong Kong players, beanfun! can be seen as a brand new concept. In the initial stage, players may not be able to adapt to it promptly. Our development team continuously worked to simplify the system so that the players may easily alter their using habits.”
GHK COO
Yaling Chang
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GHK beanfun! Operation team
Understand player’s problem, solving the problems as it goes In addition to overcoming consumers’ habits, beanfun! also faced problems such as system instability. “Last year we did have a peak in customer complaints counts,” Many players didn’t run smoothly when activating the game so they were dissatisfied. After continuous communication and understanding where the issues were, now the system is very stable. Many players even put up good words for beanfun! on the message board and recommended other players to join beanfun!”
In addition to providing gifts, operation team of GTW also produced video to teach the players how to use beanfun!
Gifts that Appeal to Players To attract Gamania players to upgrade to beanfun! members, the operation team often come up with various gifts, including 3C products or virtual treasures that appeal to GASH members so that they may start shifting to beanfun! Compared to GTW’s strategy, GHK adopted duo-track approach. Although currently most of GHK’s members come from GASH, the team made a lot of solicitation on GASH. The login site of the new game has been changed to beanfun! which is why the growth in membership grew nearly 6%. After overcoming the initial difficulty, the operation team has gradually received favorable feedbacks. “Currently in Taiwan, the number of beanfun! members is around 1 million. However, under the system upgrade and promotion campaign, the increase of members has picked up the speed. Meanwhile, beanfun! has stricter membership verification which greatly improves the accuracy of member data. Through this information, we’d have a better understanding as to what kind of products the players like. This not only helps Gamania to recommend similar products to players, but gives R&D team a clearer direction in developing the next game.”
beanfun! will provide more advantages for operation What is the future competitive edge of beanfun!? Yu said, “In the past, Gamania can only market one single product at a time but now with beanfun! we can expand the marketing line. Be it strategic alliance or marketing several products at a time, we can gain bigger beneficial result from it.” Chang said, “In the past Hong Kong rarely adopts the concept of integrated service, but lately everyone started to realize that with beanfun! all our services will be integrated. In the future, it will be much more convenience when we provide information or services to the players.”
GTW Deputy Chief Operating Officer
Summer Yu
GTW beanfun! Operation team
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Features
It's Show Time for Beanfun! Planning and Preparation in GUS & GJP Beanfun! has started its operation in Taiwan and Hong Kong, preparation has also been undertaken in Japan and the U.S. How do the operation teams in GJP and GUS view beanfun!? What are their estimated market reactions in the future? Let's hear it from Takai of GJP and David of GUS.
GJP-Marketing Manager, Ayanaka Takai talks about beanfun! Observing game market in Japan, console game segment has been shrinking since last year. Though online game has been growing steadily, the speed and magnitude are comparatively limited. Takai said, “ Currently in Japan, the growth of online game has fallen short, however Web Games and other mobile community games have increased significantly. So can beanfun! succeed in Japan? The most crucial key is to increase the diversity between beanfun! and other competitors. When Gamania can create such function, it would be the perfect timing to enter Japanese market.” He thinks that the biggest advantage for Gamania is that all the digital content (games) and platforms are self created/ developed. Through various game and platform activities provide community service that other game companies cannot provide which from marketing’s perspective, it is a beneficial strategy. Takai added that, “Currently beanfun!’s platform only provides games, therefore the key for its success will be whether the games provided are good and attractive enough. In addition, it is also an important factor whether the digital content can be used and adopted in mobile phones.” Lastly, Takai hopes that beanfun! can become the best game community platform in Japan, becoming the first choice for digital entertainment channel. He said, “I expect beanfun! to provide more games and support more services such as community and information security. In addition, we hope that we can develop technology that can support computer, mobile phones or other communication. By doing so, I believe it can definitely start a new trend in Japan.”
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GOO of GUS, David talks about beanfun! Regarding beanfun! ’ s initial planning in the U.S market, David said, “We plan to launch beanfun! in the end of June. In the beginning we will still focus on ‘integrating players’ single accounts’ however we will also introduce players to beanfun! through ‘ HERO:108 ’ . Because beanfun! doesn ’ t have too many functions at the moment, we must wait till version 2.0 to better understand how players perceive beanfun! and thus gain a clearer observation and adjust accordingly.” In terms of local competitors, currently NEXON is also actively constructing their game community platform. David said, “ In the initial stage, maybe we are not much different from NEXON, we use games and community functions to attract players to our platform. However, if we could introduce music, movies, comics and animation to the platform, we will be more than just a game community platform. We will become a digital entertainment channel and by then, we will have more competitive edge in terms of our content.” When asked about the biggest problem the team may face after beanfun!’s launch in the U.S, David thinks that he is more worried about whether beanfun! will contain more ‘ localized ’ content. “ If the content is not localized enough, it would be harder to cater to American players.” Lastly David wishes beanfun! ’ s function can be established step by step. “ There are many great concepts, but the most important thing is how to realize these concepts. I believe that the more well-rounded and integrated beanfun! develops to be, the more likely Gamania has the chance to succeed in the U.S. ”
GJP-Marketing Manager
Ayanaka Takai
GUS COO
David Wong
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GAMANIA
Features Shaping the Brand Image of beanfun! Beanfun! is a new brand created by Gamania. How do we promptly introduce it to the consumers? Of course we need to work on the PR planning of the brand, adding the story concept and creating virtual characters. This way the consumers can easily understand the spirit beanfun! is trying to convey, “Play beanfun! Grow your fun world!”
Starting from Core Function, Planning the Brand To successfully introduce a brand, you must start from the nature of the brand and keep everything to the minimum which is the simple yet valuable core function. Beanfun! is like the magic bean in “Jack and the Beanstalk”, taking the players to fun places ahead. Players all over the world, our old or new members can gather in beanfun! and explore every possibility of fun!
Future
In beanfun! everything is infinite and so does your world!
Music, animation, all the fun things imaginable is here. Expand your horizon!
Field
Friends
Integrate game communities, expand your friend pool! More games, more fun!
Fun
GHQ Branding Director Ahbin Chen
beanfun! 4 Fs of beanfun!
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"Grow your fun World" became the most important communication concept for beanfun! Players can enjoy all Gamania games and find strategies. In the future, you can even make friends through communities such as music, animation or online shopping in beanfun! In short, beanfun! can be seen as the starting point of fun, once the players enter, their views of fun may be stretched into infinity! Therefor e, in terms of brand communication, beanfun! accentuates its unique characters so
the consumers may feel its spirit just by one look. The virtual characters were designed based on the concept of “have fun together”. Through the visual presentation, consumers may be attracted by +man’s movement. +man always bounce around lively and they become stronger, crazier and more fun when joined by other partners. +man captures beanfun! ’ s spirit of infinite fun with its bouncy, hopping movements and colorful look.
The beanfun! figurine, +man (tentative) is still under development. It is the secret weapon that Gamania uses to communicate with players.
Different colors represent different players playing different games in a different world. You may find all the fun you seek in beanfun!
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GAMANIA
Features
Feature Interview With CIO beanfun! Once you enter beanful! You'll never consider leaving! For the past one or two years, through the success of Facebook and Twitter, we witnessed the trend and power of internet community. Actually before these two social community platforms became prevalent, Gamania has already conceived a concept of internet community platform, or even a digital entertainment channel. Karl said, “Back then the concept was simple: we want to create a platform that can keep all Gamania players.�
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Why did Gamania have to construct beanfun!? Karl said, “ The main reason was because Gamania wanted to create a place to keep our players. ” Although Gamania has produced many games and these games have their respective communities and alliances, they were each on their own. They are born when the game releases in the market and die when the game ends. Once the game ceases its operation, it’s harder to gather these players.
Constructing a Mutual Platform above Every Game Karl said, “We established a ‘Dolphin Project’ in 2006. This is our way of thinking how to construct a social community platform above every game so that we can interact with the players even when they are not playing. They can create their own contents, memories and leave those in the platform.” However Karl also confessed that the R&D took a lot longer than he expected. The result didn’t surface until recent years. During these two or three years, there is no doubt that social community platform has thrived substantially. This shows that Gamania has no other way but to run beanfun!
Attract Players through Social Community However, what different approach would beanfun! take when it comes to managing social community? Karl said that some functions and methods may be similar to existing social community websites, but it is the ‘game’ community that Gamania runs. In other words, beanfun! does not care if players know each other in the real world because its interaction comes from the game. Beanfun! added a lot more interactions outside of games. “For example, we both play Lineage, but I didn’t know you also play Maple Story. When we have a platform that is built above these games, I’d know what you played in Maple Story. Maybe you’d have some experience or accomplishment you’d like to share with all. This is when the platform increases its attraction. Players stay in beanfun! for more reasons
than just the products. When the product is gone, players will remain but only be transferred to other products or services.”
Use the Platform to Provide More Services In addition to create strong attraction through communities and keep the players, Karl also thinks that it is through beanfun! that Gamania is able to provide players better and more convenience services. “First, we have our own platform then we can integrate those games and help the players to manage all of their games through one single account. In addition, we also have platform to provide players with all kinds of information and services such as game secrete tactics or strategies, blog service, online shopping etc, all of which are services Gamania wasn’t able to do before the platform/channel. Meanwhile, we can also develop Gamania’s cash flow system. In the future if beanfun! contains other digital content such as music or films, we would have a convenient system ready for the users.”
Realize “Play anytime. Play Everywhere” After hearing what Karl said, the future beanfun! can indeed provide players with more convenient and entertaining content. However, in terms of operation, what would beanfun! help Gamania the most? Karl said, “Strategy-wise, we will expand our battles from product line to platform. In the past we may attract players with one game, but now we can integrate all games and services through one platform and attract more consumers. Once they enter beanfun!, they wouldn’t want to leave.” Karl also hopes that in the future beanfun! can become a more forceful digital entertainment channel. After accumulating mass amount of members, Gamania will have the leverage to create a more diverse digital entertainment for its players and to realize its ultimate vision, “Play anytime. Play everywhere”.
GHQ CIO Karl Hsu
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Special
15th Anniversary of Gamania!
Senior Gamanians have something to say! How many steadfast and devoted employees will a 15-year-old company has? 5? 10? 10 years? 15 years? To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Gamania, we interviewed senior Gamanians who have worked here for over 10 years. These people have ridden through thick and thin with Gamania. Although it was very much like a roller coaster ride, these people chose to stick to the end. After all these years of staying in Gamania, what do they want to share to fellow Gamanians?
GTW-Administration Service,
Randy Shih
Randy entered Gamania with hope and ambition, from serving players to Gamanians, he has always been a loyal and dependable employee. Have a good SERVICE!
GTW-Service Development,
Joyce Huang
Gamania is more than just a company, it's a place where dreams come true. This is REAL!
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9.9
GHQ-Audit,
Raymond Wu 8 years ago, Gamania published “ Peeling Off Gamania” and thanks to that, I met my wife and together we made a happy family. I ’ m forever grateful to Gamania! I hope that Gamania can continue to play the next 100 years, and many more to come!
year-old
Gamania Representative
GTW-Customer Service,
Chao Feng
GHQ-Market Research,
Caoshun Wu
I like the vibrant and joyous work environment in Gamania. We have always been a bunch impulsive people who dare to play and show what we’ve got, pushing the limit and fearlessly chasing our dreams. Gamanians are a great bunch. Let’s enjoy the crazy fun and march into the future together!
Gamania experienced its first setback when it tried to launch in overseas market in 2003. Everyone was discouraged and the morale was low, however we got up at where we fell. This is the proof that Gamanians are resilient and dare to face challenges. Gamania is our home and I hope that everyone can do his/her best to contribute.
GTW-General Procurement,
Tommy Hsu
To grow with the company and build a family together is something I feel very proud of. As Gamania marches into international stage and becomes globalized, I hope that our colleagues can try to change and grow with the company!
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GAMANIA
Special
10 year-old
Gamania Representative
GTW-Education Administration,
Jun Chen
What I want to say to Gamanians is, “ Have a good GAME!” Because over these 15 years, during numerous occasions, no matter how frustrated and discouraged I am, whenever I hear Albert shouts out this slogan, I’d instantly feel revigorated. So Gamanians, Have a good GAME!
GTW-Cash Flow & Channel Operation,
Simon Lu
I’ve worked in Gamania for 10 years, but every year I feel like it’s the first year in the company. I think that’s because every year we have a new goal that seem like mission impossible but every year we accomplished that impossible mission! Only the maniacs can write and create history. We will venture into the world together because we are a bunch of maniacs who write the global history!
GHQ-HR Emily
Chan
I thank god that I get to be working in Gamania. Although we’ve been through some pretty difficult times, all I’m left with are good memories. I believe Gamania can stand as hard as a rock and move towards next 15th anniversary. My dream is to work until I retire in Gamania!
GTW-Finance, Kat
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Chen
In the past when I tried to introduce others about my company, I used to spend much time explaining … but now, even when I do regular health check, the doctor would say, “Hey, I know your company! ” After the company becomes more globalized, I hope that more people in the
GHQ-Project Planning, Jasie
Hung
The biggest change I’ve made in Gamania is that I’ve learned to challenge my own limit. Gamania ’ s 15th anniversary calls for everyone to gather strengths and create the next more splendid 15 years!
GTW-Game Marketing, Sujen
Chang
The reason why I like Gamania the most is because I get to work with so many adorable people. I’d also like to thank those who threw challenges at me and those who help me through them. You are the reason for these wonderful 10 years I have. I can’t say enough thank you, please continue to support employee no. 01990015!
GTW-Accounting, Burt
Hsu
15th anniversary is a small step for Gamania, we have a long way to go. Go Gamania!
RED-division 2, Development,
Cake Chen
I’ll always remember my first day at work 10 years ago, I was extremely anxious and nervous. A lady sitting behind the desk saw me and knew I was feeling uncomfortable. After she learned I was there for work, she said the most unforgettable thing, “Welcome to our team!” I’m not sure how many newbies will hear this warm greeting upon reporting to duty. I think I was very lucky. I want to retell this to everyone (especially Gamanian newbies), “Welcome to Gamania!”
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GAMANIA
Special
11
year-old
Gamania Representative
SDG-Operation,
Steve Tsay
Friends often tell me, “ You work at Gamania? Nice!” That makes me feel good, I’m so proud of Gamania! Over these years, Gamania has been through ups and downs. Now we ‘re heading towards our new goal which is to march into the world and become no. 1. Let’s work together to pursue our dream!
GTW-Taiwan Operation,
Summer Yu
When I first joined the company there were around 20-30 people. Back then, it was more like a club, everyone was having fun playing. After 10 years, everyone has grown up and Gamania has become an international company. Now our overseas of fices are gearing up to run beanfun! Like I wrote on my msn, “ Let ’ s beanfun!” I believe beanfun! is our key to the world!
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15 year-old
Gamania Representative
GHQ-CEO, Albert
Liu
Greetings, Gamanians. Gamania has marked its 15th year. 15 years is quite a long time for any company. I started my own business when I was 25. For the past 15 years, Gamania took up majority of my time in life. I can honestly say running this company is like running my own life. Gamania has been through a lot of ups and downs and was once failed to the bottom. But with the efforts all of you made, we made it through and came to this prosperous time. 15 years after, now we foresee a bigger vision, hoping Gamania to become the biggest digital entertainment company in the world. Everyone will make significant contribution for this goal I often say, what makes a company great is its history. I ’m very glad and thrilled that I can work with everyone here and great Gamania ’ s next 15 years, even 100 years. Let’s do our best in laying a solid foundation and contributing to our vision and dreams of shaping Gamania to be a centurial enterprise. Gamania, Have a good GAME!
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GAMANIA
圖片來源：http://www.ea.com.tw/Products/Prod
Column
The Ghastly "Dante's Inferno” About Writer
Mika
Internet Marketing Observer, Mika
Source：http://www.ea.com.tw/Products/Products_Info.aspx?ID=893
Mika has been working in the field of marketing for more than 10 years, managing from brand strategy, product concept to market launch. He cares about the traditional marketing models and also pays attentions to the changes of Web 2.0, Social Media, and etc… Blog:http://jabamay.blogspot.com/
“A good teacher takes you to heaven, EA Taiwan wants to take you to hell.” The newly released
game, Dante’s Inferno with its much shock-effect marketing strategy, wants you to experience the essence of the game. Dante ’ s Inferno is an actionadventure game with a 3rd person point of view. It takes the players to 9 circles of hell for a shocking and bizarre journey: from limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud to treachery. The game is an adaptation of Dante’s master piece, “Divine Comedy”, not too many people are familiar with its content. In light of this, EA came up with a 9-month campaign, a theme a month, to introduce the game to the players. However, the activities
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were not all well-received. Some of them even caused backlashes due to its outrageous content. In the beginning, EA held a fake protest (Anti-EA) campaign. The protesters held signs written, “ U s e y o u r P L AY s t a t i o n i n exchange for PRAYstation ” , “ EA=ELECTronic Anti-Christ ” and protested outside the EA. They even set up a website, wearesavedgroup.org to invite other online users to protest against EA. Of course, it was soon debunked as a bogus protest. To express the theme of “Lust”,
EA asked online users to photograph show girls in Comic Con 2009, the composition: as wild and daring as possible. The winner can go for a ride with two show girls in the limousine and spend a sultry night together, but with paparazzi tagging in the back. If you think the first two themes are frightening, the third theme, “ Gluttony ” really upped the ante. A rotten thigh with maggots crawling on top directly sent to bloggers ’ homes. (Actually it was a cake simulation)
ducts_Info.aspx?ID=893
Source ： http://wkilab. com/dantes_awards/ o ver v iew / ini tia lb ox / greedboxinside/
If you have 200 U.S dollars fallen from the sky, how would you spend it?
Source：http://wkilab.com/
Source：http://wkilab.com/
Amazing simulation: A cake in the shape of an amputated Arm.
EA Community Day: Fake Protest
After 3 controversial activities, finally in the 4th month, “Greed” some positive feedbacks were heard. EA produced a box with a USD200 check inside and sent to game website and let them decide how to handle it. Some cashed it and spent it all, some burned it like a piece of waste paper. The purpose of this activity is to test the human nature. When facing morality, would you choose to scrimp or squander? Another interesting activity is the 6th circle in hell, “ Heresy ” , EA made a fake game “ Mass: We Pray ” via Wii and posted a film online. In this game, the Wii Remote was switched to a cross, the Balance Board was switched to a kneeling board.
They launched the slogan, “You don’t need to go to the church until Sunday, do the mass at home ” , the simulation was so real that it actually fooled quite a number of Christians. All the way to the 9th circle, “ Treachery ” , guess how EA played this card? It established a website, hawkpanther.com and hired a handsome guy to teach you how to steal your friend ’ s girlfriend, fiancée or wife in bodacious language. When the website was launched, it caused a huge sensation on twitter. EA designed an interactive program on Facebook fan website, “Go to Hell”. Be it your ex-girlfriend, club you hate or fans page, so long as you dislike it, you
Source ： http://apps.facebook.com/ gotohell/
Facebook Game: Send someone to hell if you don’t like him/her
can send it to hell. You can choose to punish or forgive these people. The program provides pictures of activities in hell everyday and lists charts so you can see how many of your friends are still in hell, waiting for your salvation. After a series of 9-month campaign, an “ anticipation habit” was cultured from such preparation. To be honest, after reviewing these activities, I feel that some of those were quite out of line but some of them were creative and worth learning a point or two from it. Take a circle you like and make an effort to understand a fraction of a very profound master piece. It ’ s always nice to learn something, isn’t it?
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GAMANIA
Column
The Meaning Behind the Launch of 3D Animation About Writer
Jo-Jo
Convener of Shuffle Alliance University Lecturer Jo-Jo has been an ACG fan for more than 35 years and has profound study on Otaku community. She dedicates herself to promoting Otaku spirit, as the leader of Shuffle Alliance, she helped launching books such as Animation Comic Game, Japanese Animation Case Studies and Animation Comics 2000.
Avatar has ignited the 3D war!
Ever since the 3D movie Avatar re-wrote the global record of blockbuster, there has been a wave of making 3D movies in global film industry. They believe 3D version is the guarantee of a blockbuster and the TV manufacturers also released news about their latest product: 3D TV which is seen as the savior of the doom of household appliances. The interesting fact was that no one bank on the director of Avatar, James Cameron when he announced that he would make Avatar a 3D movie. Even at the night before the premier of the movie, the audiences all over the world were still questioning, “Who will pay the money to see these blue guys in the theater?” Yet after the release, it became an instant hit and subsequently, everyone saw 3D as the key to its success. However the problem
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is, though the presentation of 3D Avatar is amazing, the 3D technology is so common that the audiences don’t see why it is so special before Avatar. Some even think it is very troublesome to wear glasses while watching the movie. It will be arbitrary to assume that 3D technology is the key of the success of Avatar. What sells is Avatar, not 3D technology. In other words, it only sells when it is applied to an amazing film like Avatar. Such success is hard
to replicate when replaced with other films. In fact, 3D movie had its glory decades ago but such history has long been forgotten. The reason for that is quite simple - it didn’t sell! Therefore, 3D technology is not the make or break factor of a movie. It is about whether the content of the movie is suitable for 3D application and whether such realistic presentation is necessary. The animation industry set their eyes on 3D technology way
Source：http://www.south.org.tw/、http://big5.china.com/
Will it become a trend to watch movie with 3D glasses in the future?
before Avatar. From 2009, there have been more than 10 3D animation films released to the market every year. Nonetheless, the reason for adopting 3D technology is not because it is an advanced technology but to give the audience “a good reason to go to the theater”. With the increase of blue ray DVD, the parents started to do their math. It is much cheaper to buy a blue ray DVD than go to the movie theater since the quality of blue ray DVD is excellent and the kids can watch it over and over again at home. As the adults make their smug calculations, the animation producers also come up with their counter-scheme. “Since the audiences think
there is no difference between watching animation at home and in the theater then let’ s make the animation that you can ’ t watch at home. ” They started to apply 3D technology on the animations but launched DVDs without 3D effects so as to make the audiences regret about not going to the theater to see the 3D version. Therefore most animation movies will be made into a 3D version even if the content of animation does not require such technology. It is not about the demand but the marketing strategy. Yet such strategy is frequently interpreted as “ this is the current trend so 3D is a must.” The film makers started to make 3D version for all
their movies and the distasteful 3D movies inundated the cinema. The audiences soon got tired of them and finally stopped paying to see these 3D movies. Do not assume any 3D movies may become a hit, start to think about why 3D should be adopted and whether it is probable to do it before actually making the decision. Think about the reason for launching 3D animation before making the final decision!
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GAMANIA
Column
《 The Big Issue 》
The Most Support Worthy Street Magazine gamaniabrandcenter Design Observation A blog jointly written by the members of Gamania brand center where you can find the opinions and observations on brands, marketing, and designs from designers, executives, musicians, exhibiter, creators and even aliens. G!Voice reposted the diverse and copious content to the magazine so that Gamanians can communicate and exchange thoughts with them via internet. Website: gamaniabrandcenter.blogspot.com
《The Big Issue》Debut issue in Taiwan
I believe many people have read the magazine, “ The Big Issue” (TBI). If you haven’t read or heard about it, we hope that after you finish this article, you’d have some ideas about TBI and are willing to buy this non-profit magazine.
“The Big Issue” does not
only distribute in Taiwan. It is a magazine originated from London, England in 1991. 18 years since its first inception, now it has spread to 9 countries including England, Japan and Australia. The unique part about this magazine is that it is sold via “street vendors”, hoping to help
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the homeless to take hold of their lives and fit into the society again. Now this magazine has made its way to Taiwan and this is the first time Taiwan combined both business mode and the care for the disadvantaged and printed the publication from the social outreach approach. But how does TBI help the street
Source：www.facebook.com/bigissue.tw、blog.roodo.com/johnnyschannel
You may find this “street magazine” around MRT stations.
people through the magazine? First, they will provide street people with 10 free magazines to sell for NT100 each. After they sell all the magazines, they will have NT1000 as capital to buy more magazines from TBI. The cost for the 2nd round purchase is NT50 per magazine which means they can earn NT50 for each sold copy. Through this circulation, street people may make a living with dignity and get rid of the life style that is based on begging. Many think that such “ meaningful” magazine must bear boring content, but in fact, that ’ s not the case. Judging from the content of debut issue,
Many housewives and seniors also voluntarily helped the distribution of The Big Issue.
The Big Issue often host activities on Facebook to mobilize web users to help street people.
the magazine targets topics that young people (aged 2535) may be interested in, from global issue, environment, 3C technology, culture, art, design to fashion. No excessive pretentious, difficult subjects, just easy reading materials and information that meet young people’s demands: gulping down the soft issues that are happening around the world. Although there is room for improvement in terms of its editing, its founding spirit is something that worth our support. In the meantime, we hope that a magazine like this will continue to attract more readers so that it has the leverage to do more good
with its resources. By doing so, we not only get to read a good magazine, but make our share of contribution to the society.
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GAMANIA
Events
Gamania Hall of Fame Presents! A bunch of Gamanians gathered on the 17th floor in GHQ Taipei on April 23rd, 2010. You can’t help but wonder, what did they come here for, were they here to play games or exercise? Wrong. They were here to witness the founding of Gamania Hall of Fame. What is Gamania Hall of Fame all about? Please read on our feature report!
Gamanians are not Greek to the phrase, “Hall of Fame”. Starting in May 2009, the group launched Best PM Award, G!Voice also created the “ Hall of Fame ” section, reporting the Best PM Team every month. There have been 10 winners since, representing Gamania has successfully launched 10 outstanding games so far. Of course, our R&D team also performed exceptionally well, Playcoo bagged 4 R&D Platinum Awards with “Lucent Heart” and Seedo took its first with “Bright Shadow”. In addition to best performance award, Gamania has evaluated accomplished staff since 2003. Some of the staff has later become key players in the company. This year, colleagues from our overseas branches and subsidiaries joined the evaluation to compete for this honor. Gamania is a company that values history and legacy, therefore it has determined to establish a “real” hall of fame so that everyone may come by anytime and see or worship these Gama heroes.
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To welcome the birth of such important indicator, our CEO, Albert was invited to witness this grand event. During the merry moment of the opening, Albert shared with everyone his feeling, “ The company has marched into its 15th year, a slightly aged company. When you reach certain age, you may feel that: everything you’ve done or happened to you eventually becomes your history. It is true for Gamania. This year marks the first 15th and there will be the next and many other 15 years in the future. People who pour in their efforts and hearts into improving or changing the company have significant impacts to the company ’s history. Based on such reason, from now on, we need to commend and praise these people and the products they create. Make them the role models for Gamanians. As the CEO of the company, I truly hope that everyone has the chance to be listed in Gamania Hall of Fame!”
“Hope everyone will get a chance to be on this board!” said Albert.
CEO Albert, Branding Director Ahbin and GTW COO Vincent took pictures with Gama Stars.
Winner of Gama Staff 2008—Jason Pan, GTW BU 4 Every subject in hall of fame is actually things that everyone has chances to explore. To me, the physical Hall of Fame serves as a reminder that “invigorates me to pursue the goal!” It’s truly an honor to win such title. I will bring families and friends for visit sometime. Finally I want to say, “The Best PM Team ” wait for me!
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GAMANIA
Events GAMANIA×PURE DESIGN
Gama Gift for Dragon Boat Festival 2010 Different from the dragon boat festival gifts in previous years, Gamania collaborated with PURE DESIGN this year and turned our “product-level” corporate gift to Touch of Design with high quality. We believe our corporate partners will sense our transformation and maturity upon receiving this gift.
Item: CHIMAKI Dumpling Shape Change Purse Size: 10cm Material: Leather
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Step1
Open your leather dumpling
Step2
Pour your change towards the Gamania logo end
Step3
Stick out your perfect fingers and take out the coins
Simple geometric design, creating more fun and interesting ideas in life. At the mean time, it is also a nice little thing to strike up a conversation with your work partners and bond with them.
Designer Introduction
Brand Introduction
A Deigner Sojourn in Japan: Masa Tung Tung graduated from Shi Chien University, went for further study in Japan for 4 years and graduated from Bunka Fashion College majoring in Bag Design. As an award winner designer, she has received Japanese corporate product award, MELX and grand jury prize at Taito Fashion Zakka Fair. She created Pure Design in Japan 2009, focusing on the leather piece design in Japan and Taiwan. She was the first Taiwanese designer to feature in Japanese professional leather magazine, “ Leather of Japan ” . In 2010, she worked again with clothing designer, Kang Chia-Wei and designed accessories and bags for his brand for 2010 ASIAN DESIGNERS COLLECITON in Tokyo.
The purest inspiration comes from life Design is not only imagination, it's observation! PURE DESIGN Transcend time, pure design, blend in your simple life! Website：www.pure-design.jp
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GAMANIA
Events
Feature Report ASPACE l o c a 17 l e 是橘子人的展覽空 for Gamania 間，以交流橘子內部文化為志 internal culture exchange 向，提供橘內人一個釋放無限 and for expressing ultimate 創意與狂想的場域。每個月舉 creativities and crazy ideas, 辦展覽、活動，不定時邀請藝 SPACE 17 is the exhibition 術家、設計師等創意工作者來 space for Gamanians. Each 交流會談。未來，計畫分享更 month, we curate exhibitions a多的創意概念，挖掘橘子裡更 nd featured events. 有趣的人事物。 Creative talents, such as artists and designers are also invited to have speeches from time to time. In the future, we are planning to share more creative concepts as well as to discover more interesting people and what is happening inside Gamania.
"It's my HERO" Animation Exhibition: Gama fans, you can't miss it! As you walk in SPACE 17, you would soon discover that the whole exhibition is like a playground full of colors and joy. The theme of SPACE 17 for this time is to bring the merry animation world to people. The Gamania creative center has been established for ten years. What have they been through during the making of animation? What are their animation works? Gamanians who love animation and want to know about it sure can’t miss this incredible exhibition in SPACE 17!
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After six years of hard work, from the participation of 2003 Taiwan Digital Content Award, recognition in overseas market in 2005, to officially broadcasted on the cartoon channels in the UK, U.S.A, Germany, and Italy this March , original animation created by Gamania, HERO:108 has finally stepped onto the global stage. In order to give a clearer picture of how the creative center work and to understand these creations, SPACE 17 has featured a series of animation exhibitions focused on HERO: 108 in May. The content of the exhibition can be divided into three sections:
character, story, and the world, which faithfully documented every idea and concept that came up in the creative center during the production process. There is also the milestone of awards won by creative center. Many sketches of the characters and figurines shown in the animation can be found in the exhibition as well. Interested in knowing what the original idea of HERO: 108 is? You will have all your questions answered in this exhibition. In the exhibition, G!Voice also found a footnote left for the animation, written by the director of creative center, Mr. Kuo, Jing-Chou (Kuo
Ba), “ the process of teamwork is way exhausting than a solo work but it is worth everything when the moment we see the virtual character comes to life. � From his statement, G!Voice also believes that Gamanians who come to see this exhibition will see more than the extraordinary pieces of works by creative center but their persistence in creating quality animation all these years.
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GAMANIA
Events
In addition to HERO: 108, there are more in the creative center…. Gamanians should have heard about HERO:108 and Mig Said yet the good stuff in creative center is more than that. Thruogh G!Voice’ s report, you will find out about other great works by Gamania.
No.7
It ’ s always a mess in a kid ’ s room, and our main character, little M is not an exception. He loves to disport his toys, puts them back together, and when he gets bored with them, he just throws them away. Until one day, he meets the blue giant, Seven who is missing the heart. The two start a journey to find the heart.
2 Piggys To…
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Pig brothers from the underworld opened a restaurant in Monster land in order to pay the debt to Piggy Bank. They accept special orders from residents of monster country and they use amazing cuisines to solve all the weird problems for the monsters. They have to come up to the earth in disguise to find and catch their ingredients.
Who’s there?
In an isolated island lived a group of decent folks making their livings off the ocean. They make clothes with fish skins and build dirigible with fish bone. It never occur to them that there are other species on earth until the unforeseen machine fishes invaded and destroyed their land.
What A Hell!
Rotten flowers smell the greatest? Teacher ’s head can explode? Nine-life cat, Feifei had a car accident on his way to school. He was happy cause he thought that there should be no school since he is dead now. Little did he know that there is a Hell Primary School! Quirky characters, unexpected plot, and a campus like amusement park will lead you to experience the darkest absurd humor.
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Š 2010 Gamania Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Gamania Brand Center
http://brand.gamania.com/gvoice
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E》 RE IC ATU VO F E G! IAL . 4 《 EC N O P
《HERO：108》Reissue Version
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GAMANIA
Special
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After rounds of fierce battles, the heroes finally knocked out King Chameleon! Song and his partners established their base in Mt. Liang using the remaining giant turtleback. Getting ready to retrieve the human territory occupied by High Roller and Animal Army and re-establish amity! During their first challenge, the heroes face the Hare Tribe that seem cute and vulnerable but are actually capricious! Find out what happens next, please stay tune on the TV animation of Water & Fire 108 this July!
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GAMANIA
Special
Š 2010 Gamania Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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