This week on the Virtual Currency Report we cover in-game Virtual Goods, Testing Platform for Online Game Developers, why 99c for micro-transactions is a problem, Google Checkout Glitchs, Gift Stores in Facebook, Voice Mashups for World of Warcraft, How Virtual Gifts Generate Revenue, BillMyParents New Payment Options, $5 million Funding for Virtual Currency Developers, Who made 1 Billion in Transactions, and why Virtual Worlds May Act Like Developing Economies. Let’s get started.
Turbine Selects PlaySpan as In-game Virtual Goods Provider
Turbine and PlaySpan, a monetization solutions specialist for virtual worlds, are to develop a virtual goods marketplace for Dungeons and Dragons Online, a free-to-play (FTP) massively multiplayer online roleplaying game
PlaySpan’s microtransaction platform powers the new DDO Store that was recently introduced into the game. PlaySpan’s microtransaction platform enables gamers to stay in the game while shopping for wearables, weapons, potions, hirelings, and other helpful items in the integrated marketplace.
www.turbine.com & http://corp.playspan.com
Multivariate Testing Platform for Online Game Developers
Offerpal Media, the leader in virtual currency monetization, launched its self-serve Multivariate Testing platform.
This is designed to help online game developers increase revenues from their virtual goods and services, the platform provides a way to test, measure and optimize critical monetization variables including exchange rates, price points, user interface options and more.
The platform is available for free as part of Offerpal Media’s virtual currency payment platform.
1. The first release allows developers to test their exchange rate, or rate at which real dollars convert to virtual currencies.
2. Given the number of variables that go into determining the optimum exchange rate, it is often difficult, if not impossible, to identify through simple trial and error.
3. Experience shows that an exchange rate that is too low, for instance, might not create enough perceived value, while an overly high exchange rate could lead to an inflated economy.
4. The testing platform should provide a framework for testing variations in a developer’s exchange rate and optimizing the results accordingly.
“Finding the right exchange rate is one of the most crucial factors in monetizing games,” said Markus Weichselbaum, CEO of TheBroth, developers behind Facebook games Barn Buddy, Kickmania and PuzzleBee.
He adds that the platform takes the guesswork out of exchange rate testing by allowing you to pinpoint the exact rate that generates the highest Revenue Per User without inflating the economy.
Why 99c for micro-transactions is a problem
Jon Jordan (PocketGamer.biz) reports that “When it comes to micro-transactions, no one knows more about the market than Korean mobile publishers. All Korean mobile games – whether free-to-play or paid purchase – use the system to enable gamers to buy virtual items.
Indeed, many games generate more revenue from their micro-transactions that the initial purchase.
In an interview with Gamevil USA’s CEO Kyu C. Lee, he notes that “Western consumers will adopt micro-transactions. It was easier to educate Korean and Asian mobile gamers since micro-transactions were already extremely popular in terms of PC games. But if you consider all the free-to-play and social games launched in the West these days, it’s just a matter of time. This is a global trend.”
http://www.pocketgamer.biz/r/PG.Biz/Gamevil+news/feature.asp?c=15602
BillMyParents New Payment Options
BillMyParents is going live with AdventureQuest Worlds and gPotato. This launch with two significant youth gaming partners marks the beginning of the company`s multi-phased plan to quickly build a user base across multiple markets and establish BillMyParentsas the leading youth payment system.
The BillMyParents payment system works as follows:
1 Once a player has made their selection, BillMyParents sends an email notification to their parent, requesting approval of the purchase and completion of the transaction.
2 The parent then has the option to deny their child`s request or to use a built-in chat function to ask for more information before making a final decision.
3 To complete the transaction, the parent enters their payment information.
The whole process can be completed within minutes without the teen ever gaining access to sensitive credit card details or other personal information.
Google Checkout Glitch Raises Doubts about Online Payments
DigitalTransactions report that Google Inc. has fixed a weeks-old problem with its Google Checkout online-payments system that prevented merchants from processing recurring transactions, such as subscription fees.
While Google says the glitch affected “only a small number of merchants, other observers say this and outages experienced by other alternative payment services—such as PayPal Inc.—raise questions about their reliability in comparison to traditional card processors.”
The problem affected what Google calls “Google-handled” recurring payments, or those that have been set up by the merchant to be processed automatically, for example, on a monthly basis.
Google Checkout’s rates for payment processing were lower than PayPal’s until this spring, when the service increased its pricing and removed free processing to users of Google’s Adwords service.
http://www.digitaltransactions.net/newsstory.cfm?newsid=2321
Gift Stores in Facebook newsfeeds
AdAge report that “as Facebook wades deeper into the e-commerce space with its payments system, a gift store that sells real items and retail stores on brand pages, it was only a matter of time before someone figured out a way to enable shopping in what is arguably the site’s most valuable real-estate: the newsfeed.
It gives an example of how it might works:
1 You create a gift registry on Target.com or Macys.com, and by hitting a button you can share your registry with all your friends on Facebook.
2 They’ll see the notification in their newsfeed — “Karen has shared her gift registry” — and, without leaving the newsfeed, Karen’s friends can purchase off the registry.
3 Users could also compile wish lists on retailer sites (or e-commerce-enabled brand pages) that they share with their Facebook newsfeed.
4 Their friends will then have the option to pool their money to purchase items from that wishlist together.
A recent study by Ripple6 and The E-tailing group suggests 43% make purchases as a result of their social-networking surfing.
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=138946
Voice Mashups for Facebook & World of Warcraft
Vivox have setup Vivox Labs, an initiative designed to capture and incubate new ideas around using Web Voice to create voice and web mashups.
The first two innovations to come out are Vivox Web Voice for Facebook, a way for friends and groups to talk on Facebook; and Puggable.com, a website for World of Warcraft players creating pick-up groups (PUGs) with voice chat, character data and boss tactics.
Vivox enables massive conversations to take place in online games, virtual worlds and communities. Now it’s bringing its voice capabilities to social web application developers and users with Web Voice.
Vivox Web Voice
1 Vivox Web Voice for Facebook combines the Vivox Network with the social environment of Facebook, making connecting with friends easier.
2 Users can have virtual reunions, play games or conduct meetings.
3. In addition to the core app, Vivox is working with developers to integrate custom voice capabilities into their applications.
Puggable
Puggable is a website that supports pick up groups (PUGs) commonly formed in MMOs. Gamers often have to find similar geared players in certain roles to achieve game objectives.
Presently focused on the World of Warcraft community, Puggable assembles both character and instance data from the game so that players can easily build a complementary team.
Once the PUG is set, they can use Vivox voice right from their browser, making it easy and intuitive for players to communicate while playing together.
Virtual Gifts Generate Revenue for Social Networks
The mobile social network QEEP is now making virtual gifts available on mobile phones. It’s called “Mobile Virtual Gifting” and lets users buy and send small gifts as pictures to their friends.
The gifts can be paid for with q-points, the new QEEP currency, and cost anywhere from 2 US cents to 5 US dollars each. There are many different gifts to choose from; everything from a rose to a boquet of flowers, to a bottle of champagne.
In 2008 over 60 million gifts were bought and sent by Facebook users which can be considered a great success.
Qeep is produced and distributed by BLUE LION mobile GmbH, a privately held company founded in 2006 by former executives of T-Mobile International and Nintendo.
$5 million Funding for Virtual Currency Developers
Jambool Inc., a virtual currency provider, has raised $5 million in financing led by Madrona Venture Group.
Jambool has recently formed partnerships with RealGames, the games division of RealNetworks Inc. and distribution partners like Super Rewards.
“Virtual currency is critical to our go-forward strategy, so we considered every available option,” said Garrett Link, general manager of social games for RealGames
The platform enables developers to create and manage their own white-labeled virtual currency, to provide an in-game payments experience to users.
ILD Teleservices Reports Billion Transactions Mark
Alternative payment provider ILD Teleservices announced that this July it achieved 1,000,000,000 transactions.
ILD provides Bill to Phone payment alternative that lets you purchase products and services online or over the phone by directly charging your phone bill, without disclosing personal financial data to each business.
Virtual Worlds May Act Like Developing Economies
Suzanne Wu asks, “How would a massive multiplayer game respond to an economic collapse?”
While prior research has looked at economic behavior on the individual level in virtual worlds, a new study is the first to calculate big-picture economic markers such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and inflation in an online setting.
“Our concern was whether the economic behaviors within a virtual world function in the same way that they would in the real world — where, it should be noted, currency is also largely representational,” said Dmitri Williams, assistant professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication.
Williams, co-author Edward Castronova (Indiana University) and a team including three other USC researchers were given unprecedented access to 314 million actual transactions from Sony Online Entertainment’s large-scale online role-playing game “EverQuest II.”
In the August issue of the journal New Media & Society, the researchers showed that while economic behavior in “EverQuest II” on the societal level follows what one would expect to see in the real world, the fluctuations are much more dramatic than normal.
http://uscnews.usc.edu/university/virtual_worlds_may_act_like_developing_economies.html
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