''I Am Playr'' was a
first person association football video game with
social network
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...
elements. It was available on the social–networking website
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
. Jointly developed by We R Interactive and Big Balls Productions, the gamer plays as a professional footballer in a first-person perspective taking in events both on and off the
football pitch that featured
full motion video
Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information duri ...
cutscenes.
Gameplay
The main gameplay is in
first-person, with the player deciding the actions of the character on and off the football pitch who plays for the fictional football team "River Park F.C.".
In-match gameplay consists of scrolling text before switching to the first-person perspective as the player character gets chances on goal.
Between games there is the opportunity to gain match fitness points by completing training exercises.
The season starts with the player character signing for River Park F.C., before moving on to the training ground to practise shooting skills. The in-game football show "Goal Mouth" also appears from time to time with
Lee Dixon
Lee Michael Dixon (born 17 March 1964) is an English retired professional footballer and pundit who played as a right-back for Arsenal. Dixon was also capped 22 times for England.
A childhood Manchester City fan, Dixon began his footballing ca ...
and
Andy Townsend appearing as
pundits. Virtual in-game items can improve the performance of the main character, in particular the three main statistics of accuracy, power and curl.
Revenue is generated by players purchasing equipment in the game, and from brand sponsorship.
Several professional footballers make a
cameo appearance
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...
in the game, including former
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
striker
Striker or The Strikers may refer to:
People
*A participant in a strike action
*A participant in a hunger strike
*Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant
*Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America
People wi ...
Teddy Sheringham
Edward Paul "Teddy" Sheringham, MBE (born 2 April 1966) is an English football manager and former player. He played as a forward, mostly as a second striker, in a 24-year professional career.
Sheringham began his career at Millwall, where he ...
,
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
's
Aaron Lennon and
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
's
Theo Walcott.
In December new features were added including free kick practice with
Gary McAllister
Gary McAllister MBE (born 25 December 1964) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player.
McAllister played primarily as a midfielder in a career spanning over nineteen years. He started his career at local side Motherwell b ...
and appearances from
Mark Noble
Mark James Noble (born 8 May 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder and is well remembered for his time at English club West Ham United, spending eighteen years with the club. Apart from two sh ...
. In 2016 the game had been deleted.
Development
We R Interactive was originally backed by film producer
Eric Fellner of
Working Title Films and
Fru Hazlitt of
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
.
''I Am Playr'' was revealed for the first time in November 2010, being billed as "the first–ever point–of–view football game".
It is the company's first product.
We R Interactive worked together with the film company Big Balls Productions and Boss Reece for the interactive video elements of the game,
[ the beta version of which took nine months to design and build.] Co-founder of We R Interactive, Dave Rose said of the video elements, "Film gives us the ability to build characters and bring a more visceral feel to the interactive experience". During the closed beta, initial sponsors were found in the forms of Nike, Inc. and Red Bull
Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...
, with Ginsters also being in-game sponsors on the fictional football team's kit
Kit may refer to:
Places
*Kitt, Indiana, US, formerly Kit
* Kit, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province
* Kit Hill, Cornwall, England
People
* Kit (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Kit (surname)
Animals
* Young animals:
...
, even though they sponsor Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...
's shirts in real life. Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...
were added as an additional sponsor in May 2011, with their branding featured in in-game matches on sponsorship boards, and the Alfa Romeo MiTo
The Alfa Romeo MiTo (Type 955) is a front-wheel drive, three-door supermini designed by Centro Stile Alfa Romeo and presented in 2008 at Castello Sforzesco in Milan with an international introduction at the British Motor Show in 2008. The MiTo ...
being featured as a new gaming element. Bookies Betfred were also involved allowing players to bet on Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
matches, and money won from bets was added to the player's cash.
In May 2011 a series of investors put a collective £3.1 ($5) million, including former England international
The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affiliat ...
footballer Lee Dixon
Lee Michael Dixon (born 17 March 1964) is an English retired professional footballer and pundit who played as a right-back for Arsenal. Dixon was also capped 22 times for England.
A childhood Manchester City fan, Dixon began his footballing ca ...
. Dixon had also been added to the game's storylines, where he said of his role, "I’m excited to be adding my own real-life football experience – both on and off the pitch – to the game’s storylines."
An affiliate marketing scheme has been created called "I Am Scout", where football bloggers and sites can sign up to access promotional items and content. A logging system of recording the goals scored by players signed up through those sites had entered the "scouts" in a leaderboard with the winner going on a trip to watch Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
play.
Reception
Reviewing the beta version in April 2011, Chris Derrer of PopFodder.com described ''I Am Playr'' as "horrendously addictive" and closed the review by recommending players to "Play it, love it, obsess over it. We have." However Alexander Bevier of Joystick Division had concerns about the novelty of the full motion video "wear ngthin".
References
{{Reflist, 30em
2011 video games
Association football video games
Browser games
Facebook games
First-person adventure games
Flash games
Single-player video games
Fiction about social media