Whatever Happened to the Trivia Game?

What has happened?

The trivia game is a game genre that has been sacrificed to the RPG and teen driven comic character games that are the mass market today. Having studied the market I realised that one of the most socially utilised and accepted game genres was in real danger of neglect. The arrival of Big Bucks Trivia and other trivia game based sites will hopefully change that and regenerate on a Global scale the trivia game. The cash skill game market is growing at an exponential rate and the traditional trivia type game is being left out.

Online Trivia Technology

There was very little thought given towards the development of a new product of trivia game. Over a number of years I oversaw the development of a Trivia site which would contain the best components of what the market had seen previously. I wanted to see a game that was engaging, had unique game mechanics and most importantly fair to everybody that plays.

The technology exists for MMOG pay to play live cash tournaments for the Trivia audience. The obvious questions are "will they be secure?" and "will they be fair?" Sophisticated security and auditing applications have removed a great deal of risk from both the game operator and the user. The game mechanic is the driver in terms of creating the differential for the user. What is new that will bring lovers of Trivia back to the game? I believe that a multi linked MMOG pay to play tournament is the answer.

Changing the Face of Online Games

Normally to enter a television production trivia show, one had to dial a premium charge telephone number. This alone could run into hundreds of dollars. Then, if you were lucky enough to be selected at random, you may just get to the studio for a taping. All this did not guarantee your participation in the game and consumed a great deal of time. The growth of file swapping, think "YouTube" has now made it possible for Mister or Miss Public to become a media star (see below). Communalisation of websites has not yet permeated the casual game market, and does not look as though this will happen in the short term. The holders of the casual game websites offer nothing new, the same porridge under a different label. There appears to be a real fear to be innovative by these websites.

This where a website like Big Bucks Trivia is attempting to break new ground, not only in terms of the style of the game but welcoming the user to become a part of the game.

Be an Online Trivia Host

YouTube has bought the user face to the website. This aspect of "community" has instilled a trust factor in communications across the internet. Rather than be a faceless auto responder the website can now offer real people to interact with. At Big Bucks Trivia, which has a unique approach in the pay to play market, the user can submit an application to host the games sessions even without having played a game. To give the community the opportunity to show what they can do. Hosting a game session may be the big break they were seeking to enter the media. The opportunity is a very real and obviously novel option.

The Future of Online Trivia Games

This is the future of what the best of breed trivia type games should offer, live sessions against the World, not against a software application that gears the benefit to the game operator. The calls for rewards, financial or otherwise, have in the past fallen on deaf ears. Cash skill games are king at the moment. There are real people making very tidy sums of money, not only at the online poker sites, but at the growing number of cash skill games.

Trivia game developers in particular have lagged in entering this market. The matter of concern for game developers and publishers was "how can we make money?", and, "if it's not a download game we can't make it". A very short sighted outlook indeed. If you look at the Big Bucks Trivia game for example, for a relatively small payment gains entry to the game session and in time the cumulative jackpot can run into the millions. Everyone has a reward. Further, upon reading the game rules, there is no possibility that a player can invoke artificial assistance to cheat other players!

Contestants can host game sessions...this is a real community game. The past has not been kind to a game that has had millions upon millions of people of all ages enjoy a simple structure for years on end. The revival has commenced and is stirring.

Peter Cakarnis is a founding Director of Intelligent Entertainment Pty Ltd and has spent the past six years researching the games market. Intelligent Entertainment Pty Ltd has developed games for the mobile phone market and has now turned its focus to the internet casual games market. There has been international interest from ipTV, cable and web casters on the game formats that are being developed. [http://www.bigbuckstrivia.com]