Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Google’s new trivia game demands that you search



Google’s new trivia game defies conventional rules by requiring players to perform search queries to find the answer to a daily question.

It’s called A Google a Day and beyond being a game that will attract web savvy pub quiz aficionados, it may serve multiple purposes for the search engine giant.

Probably the most obvious reason for creating a game like this is that it reveals new data on how users are searching for ultra specific pieces of information, and in ways that were previously only discovered by deduction of whatever data was available. Having users seek out predetermined results (using the search tool on agoogleaday.com, which doesn’t contain real-time results that might reveal the answer and ruin the game) allows Google to reverse engineer how they’re currently tracking and evaluating data.




Daily questions (example pictured above) will apparently be more difficult to solve as it gets closer to the end of the week, according to a post on Google’s official blog by User Experience Researcher Dan Russell. Answers will be revealed the following day as well as what search methods were employed to find that answer.

While A Google A Day is more puzzle-based than an actual mini game, it’s still the company’s first serious step into the space, and it looks likely to be a perfect breeding ground for social success as well as advertising revenue potential.

Source: Venturebeat.com

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