Mark Cuban, the forward-thinking owner of HDNet and the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, is looking to Farmville-style games as a way to boost his team's fanbase and increase his network's productivity.
Cuban, on his blog, put out a call for developers of social games who can build "consumer and corporate applications. I'm not looking for knockoffs of existing games/apps."
As that translates to his NBA team, Cuban told Forbes he's interested in a social game that's good enough to turn people who play it into fans of the team, if they're not already. For HDNet, Cuban thinks that "productivity games" can "solve a very big problem most companies have at various levels: boredom.
"I think social games will extend very quickly into the business space," Cuban told Forbes. "People in a lot of positions get bored to tears or lose interest in what they are doing. Social gaming can add some fun and competition to mundane clerical and other tasks."
Cuban says his post generated about 200 responses from companies and indviduals, some with good ideas. While bigger players in social gaming have reached out, heavy hitters like Zynga are not among them.
Dallas Mavericks May Get The ‘FarmVille' Treatment As Mark Cuban Looks To Social Games [Forbes, thanks Oliver C.]