Skip to Content

Booyah releases Booyah Society, an app/game that tracks "life achievements"

by Mike Schramm Jul 27th 2009 at 4:15PM


Booyah is a company I've had my eye on for a while -- they're a couple of veterans from Blizzard Entertainment (makers of the popular Diablo and World of Warcraft games, two of my favorites) who have been teasing a big-time iPhone app. Just today, they've finally showed their cards, and have released Booyah Society, a 3D, interactive, social network-connected "achievement system for life." If that sounds like an idea that's pretty floaty, you probably heard it right.

Basically it's a game system that more or less overlays on what you're already posting to Facebook and Twitter. If you do anything from conquering a new videogame to doing a new exercise to visiting a new restaurant, you can earn achievements and points for an ingame avatar and scoreboard. In essence, they're aiming to take the things we already tell each other we're doing, and put this game/scoring system on top of that. There are plans to use the iPhone's hardware to do some self-reporting (GPS to track where you've been), but for now, everything's basically on the honor system.

Will it work? Who knows. The app is available for free right now, and they're planning to include microtransactions in the future to let you buy things to dress up your avatar with, as well as looking at partnerships with other businesses (i.e., you can get a certain achievement by going to Wendy's and ordering some fries). Very interesting -- as with most social app ideas, this one seems like it'll make or break it based on who chooses to play it faithfully. They've got quite a pedigree with the Blizzard background, and built-in audiences with Facebook and Twitter integration, but whether or not people will find themselves invested in tracking these achievements and scoring points for their avatars, only time will tell.


View Tags

Related Stories

Categories

Gaming Software Developer iPhone App Store

Booyah is a company I've had my eye on for a while -- they're a couple of veterans from Blizzard Entertainment (makers of the popular...
 

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum

27 Comments

Filter by:
DMG

I confused this isnt actually on the app store yet, I thought you were announcing the release?

July 29 2010 at 12:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Nirgal

I think it's actually a cool idea in theory (I have no iPhone so haven't checked out this app). Others have written about applying the achievement systems in Wow and other games to real life in order to increase motivation and productivity. See http://is.gd/1Ryrk , http://is.gd/1RyuE , http://is.gd/1RyJE , etc.

I don't know if that's the sort of thing Booyah is shooting for; I hope it is, though.

July 28 2009 at 4:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ron

If you only use this program as a journal it's a cool app and it's free! I can see a lot of potential in Booyah and I'm game to give it a go. Also, the newsfeed for facebook works great. I wish you guys the best.

July 28 2009 at 8:39 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Justin

Lexy, thanks for the clarification. The fact that the "BOOYAH!" text is optional is great - I'll check out the app today.

July 28 2009 at 7:47 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mike

Watching a t.v. show is an achievement? Pretty low standards.

It would be more interesting if your friends rated your achievements; then the rise in rank would be an actual award as Peter suggested.

July 28 2009 at 2:40 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to mike's comment
BooyahGuy

Hi Peter and p96,

Thanks for your feedback. At Booyah, we care deeply about the single user experience and we will continue to explore different forms of achievement in future releases. This version of Booyah Society is just the first step in a much larger vision. We really want to work with the community and hear its feedback and see where the app might grow. We would love to hear more of your thoughts on achievements and validation. Please send any of your thoughts or feedback to feedback@booyah.com. Thanks!
-Lexy

July 29 2009 at 5:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Peter

You know what is the fundamental problem with Booyah (after trying out the beta and now the official version)... The apps is actually very pointless... the achievement points does not bring you anything useful... and who actually want to just keep improving your avatar? What they need to do is to tie the achievement points with real life rewards (maybe from their sponsors)... ie: a sponsors like McD can advertise on Booyah... and once you have made a certain achievement level on Booyah... you can redeem free Big Mac or something from a participating McD... so there got to be more rewards to keep people hook... with just a childish achievement points that doesn't actually brings any real life benefit, I can not see Booyah being a success.

July 28 2009 at 1:25 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dave

I don't get all the negative comments. It's a great little app. I prefer the 3D user interface to the Twitter and Facebook apps. If one is gonna tweet or update FB, why not do it through BooYah? The achievements are nice little nuggets.
I suggest you take an objective look at the app. If there are things you dislike, provide some constructive feedback.

July 27 2009 at 10:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Giant

Looks like an interesting app..curious to see if it takes off or fades off

July 27 2009 at 10:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jerk

They totally stole the achievement icons from TF2.

July 27 2009 at 10:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Justin

If every single time you use the app to post an activity, it appends "BOOYAH!" to the end, that's… kinda spammy. Hashtags or just links (ala foursquare) would have been much better, methinks.

July 27 2009 at 9:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Justin's comment
BooyahGuy

Hi Justin,

Thank you very much for your feedback. To clarify, the "Booyah" actually only shows up on your post after you hit the Booyah Button, which is completely optional. Not all post have the "Booyah" after your tag. If you have any other comments, questions, or feedback about the app please send an email to feedback@booyah.com. We would love to hear from you. I hope you have a great night!

-Lexy

July 27 2009 at 10:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Buy an ad here

Hot Apps on TUAW

Tweets

© 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.