Look, a silly thing.
Kicking off today in invite-only beta is Frank’s Star.me. Star.me is a social network meets social game based around positive reinforcement, or the action of giving people Stars. The appeal of this is very basic but poignant. At our core we all want to be liked and given validation. Frank calls the game, “A twist on the manifestation of identity as reflected through others.”
Focusing solely on the exchange of virtual goods or Stars that people can display on their profiles, Star.me is unlike anything else you’ve seen. And off-puttingly positive. When asked who his closest competitor was, Frank said social gaming beast Zynga. While granted some of the game mechanics are similar, Star.me and FarmVille couldn’t be further apart. First of all, Star.me follows Frank’s basic tenet of how to get popular on the Internet, “Dance like an idiot and don’t sell anything.”
I have fond memories of “the show with ze frank”, so I got an invite, but I don’t really know if I’ll ever use it. So I just thought I’d share and look forward to the rest of you also saying “Okay, so what’s the point?”
