Gaming Social Network Launches Revamped Site
The game-oriented social network GamerDNA launched an enhanced version of its site today, promising it not only delivers gamers to the kinds titles they’d enjoy, but also other gamers they’d enjoy playing with.
GamerDNA, profiled by Kotaku in january and one of the first sites to meld social media with video gaming, will comb its members’ gaming habits and chatter to steer them toward games and gamer communities who enjoy them. It presently has more than 300,000 members.
“Gamers are faced with an overwhelming amount of information and content,” Jon Radoff, the CEO of GamerDNA, said in a statement. “GamerDNA’s new system takes information from conversations and actual game-play trends to help gamers find the information they really care about.”
GamerDNA, which has more than 340,000 members, culls trends from its users online playing histories, on services such as XFire, Steam, Xbox Live or, now, the PlayStation Network, recently added. Based on the games they play, for how long, and what they play them in relation to, the site can refine its picture of what someone’s interested in a much, much sophisticated way, says company spokesman Sam Houston.
For a community in which many have formed hard preferences, and may believe they already know the games they want, GamerDNA’s proposition is a little more subtle. The site’s proprietary algorithm will serve up new or different screen shots, reviews, blog posts, conversations, and videos each time a user visits, says company spokesman Sam Houston.
The site will maintain its capabilities for broadcasting one’s playing history to friends via Facebook, Twitter and other networks, but “We’re not trying to replace Xbox Live, or Steam as a new instant message client, or way to see what friends are playing right now,” Houston said. “At the most, we think that’s a piece of the pie. So you can see what your friends are playing on Steam, Xfire, Xbox Live, but we’re also focusing a lot more on the relevancy aspect: Games and content and providing great ways to share content and have conversations about it.”
Naturally, such a tremendous amount of user data, and potential to serve users such a customised palette of new or just-released games, would be valuable to publishers or retailers. But the site’s new system is does not come with any new marketing partnerships, Houston said. GamerDNA will continue to serve users advertising in the manner it has in the past.
GamerDNA [site]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
@ChaoticInfinityX: Me three! I used GamerDNA for a bit but it was really clunky and frustrating. Playfire is much nicer. :)
@octalass: Even if it is/was the case, that there are only 10,000 games in existence worth playing... that doesn't negate the fact that most gamers only buy a handful of games or more each year and buying the "right" game for them is important.
Last Christmas season is a prime example of a time when there were just too many games coming out. Every week it was something new to check out that was really compelling - if not several games a week that were really interesting.
GamerDNA is meant to help you with that problem, to help you find cool games or community content based on your interests...not based on review scores or advertising sales.
@Wolfrider31: With this relaunch, gamerDNA should be much easier to navigate and the site is more stable. You should check it out! :)
[www.playfire.com] - We started this up last week or so as an extension of the Steam group.
Y'all free to join
@Archaotic: Yeah, i haven't bothered adding every single game i've owned or played into my playfire account. I just add them if they come to mind or if i've bought them or played them within the week.
I've tried to use GamerDNA on a number of occasions and just get frustrated. The site's a nightmare to navigate and is always timing out on me.
I hate that every time I want to add a starred review, add a game, etc I need to leave the page I'm on, fill out a form and come back. I have HUNDREDS of games - let me add them with a single click when I see them on the site. Let me rate them wherever I see them without leaving the page I'm on. The site would be fine if it was more like Facebook with it's incredible ease of use and ability to quickly update a ton of information at once.
@ChaoticInfinityX: Yeah, I have a Playfire account...the problem is, I've already transcribed my ENTIRE 550+ game collection (save for the games I've picked up today) onto my IGN list...and that took me a LONG time. I dunno if I could ever muster the courage or free time to do it again.
Frustratingly, I can't access said IGN list now to add my new games, for some reason. :[
@Archaotic: Playfire.com's been working at the same thing for a while too. They used to have something working, but it required you to log into Playstation's EU site and make an account there. The EU site had a far more advanced trophy readout than we had prior to the last US site update.
Seems playfire tried adjusting to the new US site change, but there are some complications, so they only offer manual trophy input at the moment.
@bloog: That's the site I use too.
Here's another one:
[www.playfire.com]
bloog
Gamers are faced with an overwhelming amount of information and content
No, not really.
This isn't like Netflix where there are hundreds of thousands of movies to look at. Hell, there aren't more than 10,000 games worth playing.
Just go to Metacritic and look from the top to the bottom.
@BelmontHeir: never heard of that one, might have to look it up.
I wish more devlopers who use steam would intergrate more of its games with the social side like valve did with L4D, TF2, DoD its a lot more convient and lets friends easily connect to each other.
Huh, they updated GamerDNA to scour the PSN for information now, it seems. It definitely wasn't notifying people when I got trophies before. Cool. I guess that makes them the only "gamer network" site that actually gives a shit about the PS3, then.
@BelmontHeir: Yep. I'm a member of all three sites, but I definitely visit The Backloggery the most. I don't remember the last time I was on either of the other two at all, actually.
@Hamster Of The North: Raptr is pretty cool, but as a gamer I've found Backloggery.com to be the most fun, efficient, and interactive gaming site on the web. It has an active and welcoming community, and it's great way to motivate yourself to play all your unplayed games.
It may not be as flashy as other sites and it doesn't automatically track your stats like Raptr, but it tops them all for its sheer "get off your ass and play the games you own" factor.
@Fadecy: Rival Schools for PSN/XBLA PLZ: Raptr seems a solid model, also it apparently comes from the guy who made xfire, so thats a step in the right direction.
I personally prefer Raptr.com to this site. I don't really know why...
@deanbmmv: wtf playfire wasn't started last week i've been a member for over a year, dipshit, stop trying to claim glory for others work.
Xinkai
@octalass: That's true but also, if you're a film student/maker you'll end up knowing about at least 75% of the films from the world that aren't shorts. Sometimes it takes time but word of mouth between colleagues usually does. I don't really know if any group needs a specialized socializing network because groups socialize outside the netwrok and get their info from outside. This would be good for those who are not heavy gamers but are interested in games.
WhatTheFrag
@Archaotic: Ideally, one of these sites will create an RSS import and other sites will begin RSS feeding of the lists. Then, a change somewhere can affect the change everywhere... in my dreams :-\
@Xinkai: lol. it's a link to the kotakuites group on playfire...
Xinkai Fail.