How Online Games Are Being Used to Support Journalism

Online games are a continuously flourishing medium that makes up one of the world’s largest markets. Newsrooms have seen the potential of tapping into that market and are utilizing online games to attract more readers. Publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post have already been integrating games with great success. They incorporate games into their websites that are easy enough to appeal to a broad audience but captivating enough to keep users on the site longer or entice them to return to the website or app.

The impact is undeniable: the Times' games have exceeded 10 million downloads and reached 8 billion total uses. As these games attract more visitors than any other part of the website, this tactic has become an invaluable strategy for publications, regardless of their size.

Specific Ways That Publications Use Online Games to Attract Users

News publications know they have a lot to learn from the gaming industry. Video games are adept at keeping players engaged by helping them get better at something that feels meaningful. Social interaction through online games gives users even more of an incentive to come back to the games, and therefore the news publications. Both video games and the online games produced by these publications also use achievements and rewards to promote consistent use. This includes rewards, trophies, challenges, and leveling up, along with feedback loops that keep players engaged. Additionally, offering games that allow for personalization and customization, where players can choose their paths and influence outcomes, enhances the experience.

To maintain user engagement, games often provide regular updates, ensuring fresh content and enticing players to return for new challenges. All in all, one of the most important differentiators between a game that is a success or failure is the level of accessibility and ease of use. This aspect is crucial for attracting a broad audience, as players are deterred by games that are frustrating or too complex for the average person to pick up and enjoy. Games need to have tutorials and will always benefit from having varying levels of difficulty.

How Online Games Keep Visitors Coming Back

The Hooked Model shows how a user interacts with the product through four steps. The first step involves the trigger that reels the user into the product, the second involves an action to satisfy the trigger, the third involves having a variable reward for the action, and the fourth involves a kind of investment that enhances the product's value for the user in the end. This process describes the methods that these publications use with their online games to get users to build habits in the process. Using habit-forming technology (online games in this case) creates associations with “internal triggers”, causing users to keep logging onto the publications without the need for marketing. Publications that understand the mechanics of habit-formation use it as a tool to increase engagement and ultimately help users create beneficial routines.

To sustain the increased user traffic from online games, newsrooms must develop a business strategy that effectively integrates their content with these games. Newsrooms can offer different subscriptions and bundles that offer access to their games, but it may benefit them more to simply offer them for free. In this case, they can rely on advertisements to bring in revenue as opposed to making the users pay for the games themselves. It is better to go this route and not risk deterring users altogether. In the end, traffic can reliably be bought with games. The more traffic a publication gets, the more successful they will be, so integrating online games into their sites and apps is a no-brainer.