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Title:

Virtual Goods and Achievements to Keep Users Happy

Your vote:
Yes No
Organizer:
Nikhil Bobb, Yahoo! Brickhouse
Description:
Why do users keep on coming back for seemingly worthless virtual gifts and achievements? Wildly successful communities valued in the billions ranging from Club Penguin to Cyworld thrive because of their artificial incentive structures. Using incentives well can confer prestige on your users and keep them satisfied with your product.
Questions
Answered:
  1. How can I use incentives to keep my users coming back?
  2. Are virtual incentives applicable to serious web sites?
  3. What type of incentives are suitable for my online community?
  4. How can I make money from virtual goods?
  5. How can I use virtual incentives to make my product more video game like?
  6. How can I help users syndicate their achievements/incentives? badges, profiles etc.
  7. What UI elements make virtual items fun?
  8. Why are good virtual incentives better than monetary incentives such as credit card points?
  9. How can I differentiate the value of different achievments and virtual goods?
  10. Can virtual achievements be used effectively for older audiences?
Level:
Intermediate
Category:
Community / Social Networks
Type:
Panel
Event:
SXSW Interactive 2009
Natalie Villalobos
on 8/8/08
Do the damn thing Nikki!
Nikhil Bobb
on 13/8/08
Some of the people I've talked to about being on this panel: Tony Pham (Slide), Kevin Cheng (ok/cancel), Jamie Wilkinson, Eliana Sur, Ernie Hsiung (Ning), Tom Coates (Yahoo), and Gordon Luk(upcoming). They've all built user incentive systems in different ways using some combination of marketing, fame, and rewards for their users. Should be a really fun, interesting talk!!
Jakob Heuser
on 21/8/08
I'm looking forward to this talk. Gaia's been pretty focused on virtual goods as a method of achievement on the site, and we've had great success with it over the last 4 years. I think there's a lot of value in learning how other companies have approached the achievements process and highlighting user status within the community.
Deirdre Molloy
on 27/8/08
Great topic, I'll be looking out for this one in the schedule :)
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