Molyneux unveils Curiosity - Report

Peter making money from those who don't know any better way to spend it? Kind of reminds me of the time I rented Fable 2.

When a picture of whats inside gets posted nobody will care about it anymore. and whats inside is probably different each time it gets open.

i laughed out loud during that second paragraph. ahahha tapping a cube wtf did i just read. man he is losing it

look at it this way, say he does the experiment and makes hundreds of thousands of dollars off of something inherently worthless, then someone cracks open the cube and the reward is a simple message to the effect of:

"hey bros, let's take a moment to step back and think about what you just paid insane amounts of money for. nothing. absolutely nothing. i'm putting all your money back into your individual accounts, but next time let's all just stop and THINK before we buy BS from cash cow games, ya dig?"

i'd call that pretty amazing, and obviously very unique. not naive enough to think that's what he'll actually do, but you want to cement yourself in gaming history? send a message like that right in the middle of this F2P and DLC crisis, where video games are rapidly turning away from creativity and innovation and sprinting down the profiteering path.

He's insane for sure, but this is interesting as hell. His experiment is working already.

I think i'll just look it up on youtube

The most interesting thing about his 'experiment' is that it's working. He didn't give any pictures, barely described how the game worked, and suddenly thousands of people read about it, commented about it and are mad about such a 'stupid money-making scheme', Soon, it'll be all over Facebook, Twitter, and before the game is even released, people will know this 'game' exists. Some people will try it just to have a crack at what it's about, just to see what a 'game' about BREAKING A CUBE is all about. And then some people will be curious as to what's really inside.

Like the article said, it's also about social medias, and I think he's interested in both the 'hype' or criticism it'll generate over the web, and also how many people will download it just through that little information.

Then when someone breaks the cube open, he won't have any proof of what was inside, even if he writes up what he saw all over the web. Then someone will think of recording it or taking pictures, and the message will be sent all over the place.

tl;dr: This isn't a test to see if people are dumb enough to give money for curiosity; it's about how people will discuss it, spread it and share it all over the internet.

And it's working damn well so far.

My guess on what's inside is a short teaser about his other 'two years development' project.

I like the idea but it will be incredibly sad if it's a success. If people actually pay for items, it only shows what we understand of the value of the dollar. And that is, nothing. People are reckless. Molyneux understands this, and thus a project like this will be the ultimate test.

Maybe this is just a troll project, there is nothing inside the cube and they are just seeing how much money one is able to spend in order to get the chance to break the cube, the "extent of curiosity".

Makes sense. Because of it's name "Curiosity", once can assume the psychological side of this goes something like, how many people will buy chisels just to break open and see what's inside? How many people will want it so badly they will buy a virtual diamond chisel? Who will be the one to discover it; the one who taps at it 24/7? Or the one who buys his lifetime supply of money 4 times over in diamond chisels?

I see where he's going with this.

I am already curious.

So, it's an exercise in testing psychology, but there's no reason not to make money along the way.

Another Facebook game with useless asinine in game purchases.

"It's an insane amount of money," Molyneux told the magazine. "[But] this is not a money-making exercise; it is a test about the psychology of monetisation." Yeah...right. Would be fun if the companies behind overpriced DLC would also call that decision a "test about the psychology of monetisation".

"It's an insane amount of money," Molyneux told the magazine. "[But] this is not a money-making exercise; it is a test about the psychology of monetisation." LOL.... "This is not a circle; it is a two-dimensional sphere"

"...it is a test about the psychology of monetisation" into Peter Molyneux's pocket.

I was hoping that Peter would try doing something great again (like with Bullfrog all those years ago) seeing how he has more freedom now....

Guess I was wrong, heh.

Seems kind of a redundant experiment we already know that a small section of the populace are willing to fork out massive amounts of money for items in social media games, most of these people have obsessive disorders and or spending addictions. the experiments already happened it's called everything Zynga ever made. What's the next phase of this experiment supposed to be. Make a game where you pay to win? oh wait that's been done as well. The guy's just losing it.

You know...some stupid person is actually going to buy that thing too. How is this a psychology experiment? Better show some data beyond "5 idiots actually bought the diamond chisel!" I hope this game and everything that man touches crashes and burns...oh wait, fable already did...

I can wait till he starts boasting about his new games and then let's u down like Fable. Sorry Pete, Microsoft canned you for a reason.

This guy is a genius, he's figured out a way to exploit peoples stupidity and make a killing doing so. I love it!

My psychology ( and my wallet ) tells me that this is a monetization test not worth taking.

For some reason this reminds me of the I Am Rich app in the AppStore, if anyone remembers it.... it will truly sucks for that person who spends the $77,000 and do not get the "price" at the end.

Do not get me wrong, the idea of the game seems extremely interesting, and can add a "kind of" co-op, camaraderie, etc element to the game experience among the players... as well as other obscure elements; but the whole buying element of the game (as any other freemium style of game) is what I really dislike about it... specially if they are trying to hide their true intentions (make money), behind this so called "test about the psychology of monetisation".

I personally dislike the cash-cow concept, specially in the gaming industry. In my opinion, this concept have gained strength (unfortunately), due to the laziness and lack of patience (not trying to offend anyone) of some gamers.

"It's an insane amount of money," Molyneux told the magazine. "[But] this is not a money-making exercise; it is a test about the psychology of monetisation."

Of course it's not about the money! It's an experiment to see how much money you can get out of people by providing them with basically nothing! The money going into his pocket is just a nice extra bonus. It's all for science!

"According to Molyneux, the cube will eventually fall open after an undisclosed number of taps. What lies inside Molyneux described as 'truly amazing' and 'absolutely unique.'"

Unless whatever is inside of the cube will actually get up and jump out of your monitor it will not be truly amazing and absolutely unique.

What would be 'truly amazing' and 'absolutely unique' though would be Peter Molyneux releasing an actual decent game and not something overshadowed by all the insane and amazingly pointless stupid ideas he tries to come up with thinking it will make him some kind of game developing genius.

Molyneux unveils Big Mouth and Empty Promises - Report

Idk who'd want to tap Molyneux's cubes anyway...

What lies inside Molyneux described as "truly amazing" and "absolutely unique."

What's inside is another cube. Get tapping folks.

...........

I really like this guy, I've never played any Fable game but I think I might pick up Fable 2.

"[But] this is not a money-making exercise; it is a test about the psychology of monetisation."

...Bulls**t...but if he really means it he would give the money back afterwards.

What could possibly be inside there to justify spending $77,000 on a virtual chisel?? this is so f***ing ridiculous, i wouldnt be surprised if out of it came a middle finger with "I cant believe you fell for it you loser" written underneath.

Just wait until some fool spends the money and within an hour of them finding out it will be shared online for all to know.

He hasn't done a decent game since Populous, his ego and direction in gaming is so fubar'd.

I'm so sick of this guy. I'm sure he sits in his office all day and smells his own farts. Some idiot will spend the money too, given how many people purchase the $100 ring in Team Fortress 2(which does absolutely nothing). I don't give the gaming audience at large any credit, as I'm sure they'll willingly be lab rats for someone's social experiment, working the maze for that piece of cheese in the middle... but if this blows up in his face I might have to think twice about that.

By "psychology of social media users" he means how many of your dummies will actually pony up several thousand dollars to see what's in the box. And given how skewed net worth is in the world today (e.g. a small proportion of people with more wealth than they could ever use) I'm sure that there is someone who can and will spend $77 grand on a whim. And Molyneux will have made hundreds of thousands off a peek-a-boo app. Hopefully he'll at least use the money to fund a real game.

Um what.

Rather use 77K on a place with the fixings than spend it on a game that is not worth it.

I can't believe some people believe in all his lies.

All I can say is, wow....

This is playing right inot the "gambler" type of addiction that some people suffer from.

There WILl be people that spend money on this, jsut so they can try and be the "one" person who finds out what's inside the cube.

I like Peter M and I think people give him too much crap for his "fable" promises (would an Acorn > Tree REALLY ADD ANYTHING TO THE GAME? NO) , but he's one of designers out there that still try new/different things and don't just build fps fps fps over and over. HE brought us Populus, Dungeon Keeper, Black and White, Fable, all of which were vastly different and even brought out some new genres, even Fable does things other rpgs still don't do (physically changing your character not only based on good/bad choices but how you build them).

However this "Curiosity" thing, while a good idea for a psychological study in of itself, the fact that it's being built toward "micro transactions" and even having a top of the line one-time only super expensive thing just seems.....wrong to me.

The game seems geared toward people who can easily be addicted to things (same way you see gamblers at slots, putting in those quarters, hoping to get the "big one." and taking them all for the money.

Only a single person can "win" the game, see what's inside. A lot of people will spend money on this only to get nothing in return, except hititng a cube over and over and over.

There are people out there with mental disorders that can do this stuff and it hurts them, It just seems morally wrong to me to build a game and do something geared toward this with so much money behind it.

This is disgusting.

I can see kids abusing their credit cards already.

Great. When this thing cracks open the gobbledy gooker will pop out and dance with Mean Gene Okerlund.

I hate this guy so much that it's not even funny...

It sounds incredibly stupid, but as a psychological experiment it sounds really cool.

Utterly insane. I love it.

My bet is that there's nothing inside the box. That would be fucking epic. Imagine the amount of rage.

I was going to say I feel bad for him, but WTF? I assume he worked with the foremost phycholigists and sociologists of the time to make this cool. Otherwise, really? You honestly think people will level up a character to take a swing at a cube every now and then? We can play Nintendo on our cell phones! What could be in the cube that is so interesting? Is it to just make people frustrated and teach them a lesson about patience and overspend...oh. Wait, no that can't be it.

Why wouldn't you just let people with more friends on facebook get better pickaxes or chisels or whatever? Or how about the redditors with the top posts? Question mark?

Dear Peter,

Start being more vague. No more "this is a revolution". Just better if you say "this probably isn't a revolution, but then again, you wouldn't know."

The Nightmare Box.

Who the hell has the money to pay $77000 on a VIDEO GAME? Why would they even spend it?

Cube breaks open...

"Congratulation -Thanks for p(l)aying" :P

But seriously.... I couldn't give a 'tap' ;)

well per the defenition i will not be playing this game ever i need my money.

Monetize

1. To liquidate.

2. To print money in order to cover a debt. A government may monetize its deficit in order to finance its operations. Monetizing in this sense causes inflation.

3. To convert into cash. One may monetize an asset by selling it or monetize a venture by producing revenue.

If he needed funding for his new studio, he could have just done a kickstarter. This seriously sounds like something Molydeux would come up with.