So.... let's talk Miitomo

I've been "playing" Miitomo for about a week now. I decided to go ahead and download it because it's a historical event for Nintendo, being their first entry into the mobile app industry. I pretty much knew what I was getting into, though. It's not really a game per se, but more of a random question and answers app with Mii avatars. It's funny at times. It's definitely cute and adorable. But, it illustrates Nintendo's problem when it comes to capitalizing on potential.

There is a lot of potential in Miitomo and I really hope Nintendo evolves this app and turns it into an actual game. One thing I would like to see is more customization. I would go visit one of my Miitomo friends and I would see that their rooms are completely different than mine. I would like that TV! I would like that clock! I'm sure someone would like my globe. The Miitomo Drop panchinko machines are a fun little distraction but I want to see that aspect of the game evolved as well. I don't just want to see more pachinko machines, but I want to see other kinds of games and some that involve actual skill and not just luck.

Even the social aspect of the app needs work. For it being a social app, you can't even send direct messages to friends. Why can't I just go over to a friend's house and say a simple hello? Instead, a random question is generated and why aren't we allowed to create our questions? The appeal of this game is really all about your interactions with people and I've heard some really entertaining answers by people who wanted to be creative. Why not let us be creative with the questions part as well?

The real major problem with Miitomo, however, is that it's "free to start", Nintendo's semantics for free to play. The currency in the game is Miitomo coins and you can only earn a few hundred per day by answering questions and listening to answers, and of course your daily sign in bonuses. "But the game is designed to make money!" Yes, all games are designed to make money, but I've had some serious fun with other apps that are actual games you can play, and there wasn't any cap on how much game currency you could earn in one day.

This is a problem, because Nintendo has a large assortment of clothing to select from and the stock changes daily. Obviously, you're capped on earning coins so you're enticed to spend real money on coins, but at the same time this practice highly discourages people from playing who have no intention of dropping a single cent like me. For a game where the entertainment value is pretty much based on people's engagement and creativity, not being incentivized for taking the time to listen and answer questions harms the overall experience for others. I sign in in the morning, answer a few questions, listen to a few answers until I'm not given coins anymore, and then that's pretty much it.

Then, there are the game tickets. You're awarded tickets when you interact with people and change your clothing, but they come in very infrequently. I accept and send out a lot of friend requests just to drive up my social level and get these tickets. So now, I have over 400 friends but just about every one of them won't be getting their answers heard by me or receiving answers from me. I suppose I could just keep a tight knit group of 20 or so friends, but then again, there's the coin capping thing.... regardless of the size of my friend's list, the activity level won't be that high. Also, I think having the ability to drop off gifts of clothing or coins or game tickets would go really far with seeding the game's social growth.

I do have to acknowledge and praise Nintendo for one thing in Miitomo, though, and that's nothing is censored. Yes, if you type a swear or something offensive, you will hear your Mii say it, and it's actually pretty funny... the first couple of times you hear someone answer "What's your favorite food" with "pussy". You can't even report someone for something really offensive, but you can block them. I've already had to block one friend for going too far in the extreme with his vulgarity, and I love vulgar humor.

I can really see Miitomo growing, to become something truly special, not just a random question generator, but something along the lines of Mii Plaza on the 3DS for cellphones. Then again, I remind myself who published this app, and I don't think I'll ever see that happening.

What doesn't surprise me is how difficult it is to add friends. Being Nintendo I should not be surprised.

Well, it's pretty easy to add friends from Facebook or Twitter, but if you're not paying attention to who they are when the requests come in, you'll forget because their real names disappear when you add them. And well, it's not like you can just give a person your Mii name and have them search you and add it that way because of all the common names. There isn't even other information to help differentiate all the James and Davids., etc. from each other. What they should have done was let you search by Nintendo ID, but even then, some people play Miitomo without having an ID.

That assumes you have Facebook friends who are on this app. Seriously, is Nintendo that terrified of allowing people to socialize easily? There should be a way to add friends by searching for common interests, games played. locations, etc.,

The difficulty of adding friends have had it fall off the map when it comes to apps.

Maybe when they allow regular back and forth it comes back but for now it's kind of a failed experiment.

On a side note: If we want to talk about how laughable Nintendo is when it comes to social interaction, check out the caveats when it comes to Miiverse. There are warnings on the top of the page(s) telling how it is against Nintendo law to post friend codes. For 2016 that is a complete embarrassment let lone the use of friend codes.

Installed it.

Tried it for about 20 minutes (10 of which were spent trying to get it to accept my code) and uninstalled it.

Big meh (then again, I don't like "social" games).

Once you have a few friends, it becomes easy to add more. Or easier I should say. They need a "accept all" or "request all" button. Having to wait for a refresh after every add, then click "OK" is so 2007. That said, I'm with you guys. For whatever reason, the big N just never has quite grasped the concept of managing friends lists. Strange to me after all these iterations of online play they haven't figured out just to copy what everyone else is doing.

Yeah, and the app also seems to REALLY hate service that isn't for bars or higher. 6-7 seconds every time I accept a friend request is downright unforgivable.

Yup. It even has some message that spalshes when you're waiting that mentions that. I've got over a hundred friends I could add but it would take me days to do it. Sucks too because when I refresh my twitter/fb friends I cant tell who has been added because it's mixed in with my "suggested friends." Or at least I think they are.

It is really fun.......

I don't have it, but my Twitter has blown up with Miitomo. Tons of people just posing their Miis in images. I didn't even know it asked questions.