good afternoon,

my name is jeffery and i'm 34 living in metro detroit. i've never been a "gamer," up until 8 months ago when a friend insisted i buy an xbox 360. since that day i've been on it at least 10 hours a day, 7 days a week (yes, i know!). i'm an internet marketer and day after day i would study myself as to why a "non-gamer" could be so addicted to this machine. microsoft are excellent marketers.

i'm telling you this because when i watched and re-watched the 2012 ted talk 3 times last night i was extremely excited to play this game and to get all my family and new xbox friends to play. i could just see all the possibilities for it, but as i've just registered my enthusiasm has plummeted. i would just like to take a non-judgemental second and tell you why.

it seems to me that the reason we invest so many hours a week playing online games is not for the games themselves, but for the social competition. it about comparing yourself (whether that be the leaderboards or xp score or amount of completion of said game) with others. in other words, it's about that "big long goal" that you choose. your game doesn't seem to offer that. there is no incentive to essentially "play by yourself" and therefore i cannot contact my social circle to say, "please play this game that you will be isolated in, but it's good for you." it's essentially offering a piece of spinach to them. "no thanks. no interesting goal there."

the fact that's it's good for you is not the main factor. it is a game. games are to provide enjoyment. the best, longest lasting results for fun i find involve the social competition aspect. i could be wrong, but based on my year living on xbox i could even include the word "addicted." if i were sandboxed on xbox i'm quite certain my gaming career would have lasted around 45 minutes total. it would become boring quickly, hence what i'm starting to feel about superbetter.

so my suggestion for you guys, though i understand probably very costly, would be at a minimum to create a friends/worldwide leaderboard. i might also suggest that when logged in you can compare yourself to everyone in your social group. this will motivate. though i've spent a total of 3 minutes on the website i would also suggest almost un-ending levels, with each higher one becoming harder to attain (challenges count for less each level).

just keep it "supersimple:"

hundreds of challenges you guys write
cut out all the alter-ego/write your own stuff
years worth of level increasing

i think it would become a ritual for regular people who wouldn't have to think too hard about it, but would be invested in continuing (because their best friend has a higher level).

i'd love to see this as a game everyone plays, not just people who have clear problems they'd like to work on. i'd love it to be a facebook sensation while also intergrated on xbox and phone apps. it's a winning idea to be sure, but i think it needs some major tweaks.

thank you for enduring my complaining.

-jeffery