Ask HN: Why is HN in such a flap over Flappy Bird? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why is HN in such a flap over Flappy Bird?

9 pointsColinWright15 comments

I don't understand this, so I thought I'd ask directly. The creator of "Flappy Bird" (whatever it is - never heard of it before, and still somewhat perplexed by the fuss) has announced it's being taken down. Suddenly it's submitted several times[0], one of the submissions has 70 points and 50 comments, ...

Why? I really just don't get it. Can someone explain the fascination with this whole thing? I appreciate that I'm really not up with the latest fashions or fads, but I'd like some insight.

[0] https://hn.algolia.com/?q=flappy#!/story/last_24h/0/flappy

Added in edit: Currently #6 on the front page. What are you guys seeing here that I'm missing? What lessons are you learning that are passing me by? Why is it interesting?

Added in further edit: currently #7 +and+ #9 on the front page. Really?

View on HN

Venturing a guess: We're all stuck somewhere between hacker and entrepreneur, and out of nowhere this guy makes a game that explodes. Then, almost as quickly, he pulls it. So we're one part jealous that he was able to do what we're all trying to do (I'd love to make $50k a day), and one part confused as to why he wouldn't want it. I mean, it's counterintuitive to the overwhelmingly popular goal of building something, selling it, and starting over again.

The app is making $50k/day, and the author is taking it down because he doesn't like the press attention. Taking down your app because it's too popular is unusual, and suddenly you won't be able to download one of the most popular games.

It's unusual, OK, I get that, but is it #7 and #9 on HN front page just because everyone is looking at each other going "WTF"? I get that you're all surprised, maybe I would be too if I'd known anything about it. Or cared.

I guess the questions are:

* Why do you care?

* What are you learning from this?

* Why is it worth your time?

Lots of people claim that the only thing that matters is being able to sell your product. But it's clear that our culture is incompatible with some people's personalities. Only certain types of people can have success.

We're going to learn how bad the fallout will really be when a game maker turns his back on a huge audience. Will people forget him, or will the harassment increase?

This is such a big topic of discussion here because sections of the HN audience are self-styled entrepreneurs that are unable to see past the fact he's sacrificing sales (or ad impressions (whatever)).

Why do you care what everyone else cares about?

Does everything have to be a learning experience?

Isn't this thread a waste of time?

Various external forces have prompted me to re-assess some of the things I spend time on. I have spent a reasonable amount of time on HN and I've learned a great deal, but more recently I've felt that I'm seeing the same things over and over again, or things that genuinely have no value to me.

Note that I say "to me" - I'm not judging anyone else - different people have different interests and different goals. But I'm starting to question my time here.

As part of that I'm wondering if maybe I'm just missing the point, and that skimming the front page and skimming the newest page means that I'm missing what really matters. As part of trying to work that out I'm looking at what the HN community thinks is interesting and important. And this thing about Flappy Bird has me baffled.

So to answer your questions:

* it's not so much that I care what HN cares about, I'm just trying to work out if I'm missing something;

* no, not everything has to be a learning experience, but HN isn't especially entertaining or relaxing, so if it's not educational, it's of negative value to me;

* and maybe this thread is a waste of time for you, in which case why did you take the time to contribute to it?

So, just thinking out loud, trying to learn ...

The current flap [sorry] was preceded by this fairly popular item here on HN:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7192265

HN is also a receptive audience for stories about the unexpected costs of success when a product takes off [sorry].

I think much of the audience of HN is surprised that something so rough and unpolished could be so successful. A popular assumption is that you need to professionally use modern technologies to standout and be successful. Flappy Bird shows that in this segment (mobile gaming), it just has to be fun. Nobody really cares if it's rough around the edges, especially when it's free.

I think the open question is whether 'unpolished but delivers the MVP' will "fly" in other markets? I think a takeaway from the whole Flappy Bird saga is that delivering on the MVP is what matters, not necessarily how polished it is. Flappy Bird simply had a lot more latitude to be unpolished due to cost and what it was promising. Experienced developers are left shaking their heads wondering "they hit top of the charts with THAT?"

Because we all wish we'd come up with something that big.

You've never heard of it, but you most people here have.

Flappy Bird is the most popular app (#1 on iOS App Store) in the world right now, and has been for a month. Realize that, and you have your answer.

Flappy bird is so awesome some people reacted a like to much the people that smash there phones just because of flappy bird is just plain old straight up stupid you are not going to win at everything

If HN is fascinated (based on the number of posts coming) with an old poorly-designed script language, why wouldn't it be fascinated with a small but well-designed game?

HN is in such a flap for the exact same reason it got into a flap over Nick D'Aloisio when Yahoo purchased his app.

Hating when young programmers see huge success?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com