I was a little amused today at the response of many Google+ users when it was announced that Google would be adding a game component to the platform. “Oh, no!!!!” “There goes the neighborhood” and “That’s why I frackin’ left Facebook” all seemed to be the common refrain. And I must admit, I was right there with most of the responders. I mean, I’ve never even played Angry Birds or Mafia Wars, but if I got one more notification that Downtown Johnny needed my help to shake down a D.A., I was gonna scream. Milk your cow??? Are you kidding me???
And I think that the powers-that-be at Google are fully aware that a large component of the current users of Google+ are here for just that same reason -- to escape from some of the noise and clutter and chaos of the other place. While it started out friendly and fun, of late it had just become too much of a middle eastern bazzaar or downtown Atlanta sidestreet during the 96 Olympics. I fully think that Vic, Bradley, and the rest of the Google-trust are going to be very careful and judicious with how they maintain games as an unobtrusive part of the Google+ platform. Still, the outcry from the Plutopians -- the palpable gnashing of teeth -- was startling.
Which led me to consider: Jeesh, people, relax...just how do you think the lights are going to stay on for this party, huh?? I mean, the very same day that games was announced, the Google Docs team announced that they just raised the max file size from 1GB to 10GB in Google Docs. I wonder how many servers Sergey and Larry needed to buy to make sure that the Cloud was going to be able to handle that little entitlement for their million or so Docs users. And Docs is FREE! So, for that matter, is Google+.
I mean, could you imagine if Starbucks rolled out all those comfy stores with their catchy indie music and never had the expectation that people would, oh, have to buy coffee and stuff in order to justify the existence of those sofas and Norwegian wood ottomans? Oh, sure, come on in....hang out for as long as you like! Commerce -- the transaction of goods and services -- is ultimately what pays the bills, whether we like it or not. So if there is a dime or two to be made from having Games somewhere on the Google+ platform, then it should come as not outlandish surprise that Google is going to try to leverage that potential revenue stream. Same with advertising; it’s going to be there. Everyone is just in a mad panic that it not be there on Google+ like a constant jackhammer while they’re trying to talk or read. But we have to remember, it will ultimately be revenues from games and ads that provide the luxurious, beautiful, and user-friendly soap boxes for the rest of us to wittily dazzle our universe of circles. Hell, even the Four Seasons Maui has a game room. In this case, though, I’m going to go out on a limb and trust Google with keeping the Game Room really nice -- and perhaps way in the back behind the ice machines.
And I think that the powers-that-be at Google are fully aware that a large component of the current users of Google+ are here for just that same reason -- to escape from some of the noise and clutter and chaos of the other place. While it started out friendly and fun, of late it had just become too much of a middle eastern bazzaar or downtown Atlanta sidestreet during the 96 Olympics. I fully think that Vic, Bradley, and the rest of the Google-trust are going to be very careful and judicious with how they maintain games as an unobtrusive part of the Google+ platform. Still, the outcry from the Plutopians -- the palpable gnashing of teeth -- was startling.
Which led me to consider: Jeesh, people, relax...just how do you think the lights are going to stay on for this party, huh?? I mean, the very same day that games was announced, the Google Docs team announced that they just raised the max file size from 1GB to 10GB in Google Docs. I wonder how many servers Sergey and Larry needed to buy to make sure that the Cloud was going to be able to handle that little entitlement for their million or so Docs users. And Docs is FREE! So, for that matter, is Google+.
I mean, could you imagine if Starbucks rolled out all those comfy stores with their catchy indie music and never had the expectation that people would, oh, have to buy coffee and stuff in order to justify the existence of those sofas and Norwegian wood ottomans? Oh, sure, come on in....hang out for as long as you like! Commerce -- the transaction of goods and services -- is ultimately what pays the bills, whether we like it or not. So if there is a dime or two to be made from having Games somewhere on the Google+ platform, then it should come as not outlandish surprise that Google is going to try to leverage that potential revenue stream. Same with advertising; it’s going to be there. Everyone is just in a mad panic that it not be there on Google+ like a constant jackhammer while they’re trying to talk or read. But we have to remember, it will ultimately be revenues from games and ads that provide the luxurious, beautiful, and user-friendly soap boxes for the rest of us to wittily dazzle our universe of circles. Hell, even the Four Seasons Maui has a game room. In this case, though, I’m going to go out on a limb and trust Google with keeping the Game Room really nice -- and perhaps way in the back behind the ice machines.
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