[glhaynes]

Completely regardless of "social responsibility" or "over-sensitivity" or anything like that: what effect does that name have on sales/downloads? I wouldn't think it'd be good.

And, yes, that's "unfair" since it's a play on Whack-A-Mole (which I've never heard complained about)... are moles more OK to whack than kitties? Still, that's the way the world works, and I wouldn't have used that name for my own game for that reason alone.

[alex_c]

Well, for what it's worth, this thread was the first "complaint" about the name. I expected that to happen on YouTube first, but it was actually HN - go figure.

It's really tough to separate the name from all other factors influencing downloads, but I haven't seen any evidence it's hurting.

I think the name is pretty effective, for a few reasons: the most common reaction when I tell people the name, by far, is genuine laughter. I'll take that over polite interest any day. The name is descriptive, anyone who knows what Whack-a-Mole is can make an educated guess about this game (although it's probably cuter than they would expect). And yes, it is a tiny bit naughty - no one ACTUALLY wants to whack a kitten! - which is what makes it memorable, without crossing into offensive or controversial for controversy's sake (at least for the vast majority of people).

Do you have suggestions for other names? I can't think of anything good - "Tap-a-Kitten" or "Tap-a-Kitty" sound a lot more bland and unremarkable. Lots of R-rated names I can think of, but that's the last thing I want to get into in this thread :p

[glhaynes]

Here's my only suggestion: rename it "Whac-A-Kitten". Drop the "k", throw in a couple of hyphens.

Might not be enough for the most vigorous of offense-takers (nothing ever will be in this arena), but it at least partially mitigates that visual symbol "whack". And is a more direct reference to its progenitor, anyway. It 'feels' more like a carnival game to me than "WhackAKitty" does.

Edit: maybe also change "Kitten" to "Kitty"? I'm not sure why that sounds a bit more palatable to me - maybe because "kitten" only ever means a juvenile cat whereas "kitty" can mean several other things? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty

[Rubyred]

Whacking any kind of animal is not cool.

But I wonder, with all the creative possibilities in the universe, why would someone design a game around abusing kittens?

[alanfalcon]

Watch the video. It's based on a Youtube clip of someone gently prodding adorable little kittens back into a box with a very soft mallet. No abuse here, and a valid enough inspiration for a quick game.

[tzs]

> But I wonder, with all the creative possibilities in the universe, why would someone design a game around abusing kittens?

They didn't. Maybe you should actually look at the game sometime.

[TheAmazingIdiot]

I guess even in the startup communities, making money is paramount to ethics.

Or to answer your question: To make money.