Hi, I have a few suggestions for helping you monetize Virtonomics better. I work as a business analyst for a video game company in their monetization department. We specialize in virtual currencies and micro-transactions, much like Virtonomics does. I'm a big fan of Virtonomics, so I am offering these suggestions in the hope that you make more money, and expand a pretty decent Capitalism-esque MMO.
1. Please remove VIRTs from the game. It does not make sense to have 2 definable currency types that do nearly the same thing. Points are used for 100% of in-game transactions, while VIRTs can be converted to points, or cashed. I do not understand, then, why VIRTs are needed. Would it not make more sense to simply use points, and give them away during the various competitions? As a player, I am aggravated that I cannot buy VIRTs to ensure I can stay in contests - paying for them is not a problem. However, it is an unnecessary restriction to game play. This current virtual currency model is too convoluted to ensure the maximum number of users buy into the game.
2. Reduce the amount of VIRTs won in contests/tenders. I have both won VIRTs (Contest for Managers - 18pts, and won other areas of the competition) and paid for points ($5 USD + SuperRewards Offer Platform). I do not think that the system is balanced very well. For example, winning a prize in the Contest for Directors will earn a player between 50-150 VIRTs, or 50-150 points ($50-$150 USD). With so much prize money available, why should someone buy points when they can win them for free? It would make sense to reduce the prize money for tenders and contests by 50-80%. I wouldn't see a problem with winning tenders paying out at a fraction of a point, since there are so many to participate in each day.
3. Reduce the amount of points required for some items. Some of the products in the game are vastly unbalanced. The only way to buy a maximum-size plantation (2,000 points, or $2000 USD) is to win VIRTs. Again, this is not conducive to players purchasing points. You want them to buy into the game, not get it all for free ;-) - Look at games produced by Zynga, Playdom, and Playfish (now Electronic Arts) for examples. These games do allow you to win in-game currency in some respects, but it is always a fraction of what can be purchased for money, or through offer platforms like SuperRewards.
4. Add new money sinks into Virtonomics for power users. I am unsure that your monetization team members have gone to conferences like GDC, or CasualConnect that have panel discussions on virtual currency monetization. However, one of the biggest concepts that is brought up is adding in services for 'power users' - features that only your top users may utilize. Of course, you have some of them with trademarks, HR, and automatic repair. These are great features. However, I do think there are others you could bring into the game like construction managers that would allow users to build multiple buildings with a few clicks (in stead of building each building individually).
5. Move your ads to the top of the screen. I am unsure what your CTR is for your ads, but I would imagine its not very good, given that the in-game ads are in hard-to-see places. Most of your ads seem to be Google AdSense, which pay out via CPC. I would imagine that your not making the kind of money you could with the ads where they're at. It won't be a major inconvenience if you put the ads at the top, forcing us to view the impression, and hopefully click on it at some point ;-)
I think thats it for now. I wanted to vent, because I like the game, and hope it stays open for a long time.
|
