Virtual Worlds Mgmt 101

+ Virtual Worlds Mgmt 101 Joi Podgorny & Izzy Neis

+ Introductions Joi Podgorny is Director of Community Engagement for Smart Bomb Interactive, where she architects and oversees all aspects of community management and audience research for National Geographic Animal Jam, an online virtual world for kids where they can become the Twitter: @joipod animals they love and learn http://joipodgorny.com about the natural world while having fun.

+ Introductions Izzy Neis is Vice President of User Engagement for Everloop, creators of a safe social media platform for kids. Before Everloop, Izzy was in charge of user engagement at Gazillion Entertainment, a virtual world/ MMORPG company that produced games for licenses including Marvel, DreamWorks, Twitter: @izzyneis and Lego. http://izzyneis.com

+ What is a Virtual World?

+ What is a Virtual World?  Definitions:  Is a virtual chat room with multiple opportunities for interaction and play  Allow for customizable and unique play that allows identity and social exploration while engaging with brands

+ What is a Virtual World? 9 Successful Points Social Questing Leveling Interactivity Casual Combat Exploration gaming Guilds Customization Story

+ Virtual Worlds… ARE: ARE NOT:  Great engagement for kids  The “Field of Dreams”  Still strong industry buzz  Easy to build and operate words  Quickand/or cheap to  Very popular with kids make revenue under 13 years old  Guaranteed to succeed  Funto design and conceptualize  100% certifiably safe

+ Game Play & Engagement: ‘Tween Play Patterns  Justlike on the playground, children build up social story and social purpose to help relate to the world around. Regardless of the planned play, if the environment allows for interactive play, youth will find ways to engage.  Often the set up of the visual environment can help lead the play - like a virtual "room" designed to looks like a restaurant with tables covered in plates, a cash register, etc.  The following are play patterns typically seen in sandbox experiences like virtual worlds or MMORPGs.

+ Game Play & Engagement: Play Patterns – Group Play  Family/ House (mommy, daddy, baby/babies, sister, brother, dog, cat, etc)  School (Teacher, class)  War (one faction against either another or many, this rarely is violent, it’s more about the excitement and drama leading up to the idea of war and then running away and recouping)  Restaurant (waiter, waitress, host, cash register)  Store (owner, employees, customers, probably a robber)

+ Game Play & Engagement: Play Patterns Small Groups Individual  Love Triangles  Impersonation of staff/celebrity  Boyfriend/girlfriend  Boba Fett child  Best friend drama  Emo/goth child (no one loves me)  Exclusive clubs (matching outfits clubs, can’t-come-in-here clubs,  Bully/Troll (wants to be top dog) exclusion-of-one-person clubs, reg vs noob clubs)  “I’m Hiding” or “You can’t see me”  Wedding (solo “pay attention to me” play)  Band (rock, etc)  Silent lurkers

+ Game Play & Engagement: Play Patterns – Occupations  Ninja  Secret Agent  Robber  King/Queen  Pirate  Bounty Hunter  Cowboy  Super Hero  fantastical or local –  Wrestler Fireman, Police, Life Guard  Monster  Village Idiot/Class Clown  Vampire, Zombie, Werewolf  Silly/contrite, acts dumb on purpose  Witch/Wizard/Magician

+ Shall we play a bit? (Always say yes to this question)

+ Game Play & Engagement: Play Patterns – Danger Zones Ok, Until it isn’t… Expected Behavior  Doctor  Tattle tales / finger pointers  Marriage  Romance  Kidnapper  Bullies  Impersonation causes havoc  Personally Identifiable Information (PII) requesters  Abuse (when aggressive talk stops being about the role-  Random reporters play drama, and starts getting “real”)  Hyper sensitive

+ Game Play & Engagement: Player Types Gamer/ Puzzler Explorer Customizer Collector/ Learner Consumer Fighter Communicator

+ Messaging Opportunities: In- World  Transition Screens (room to room, room to game)  Entry Pop Up  Community arenas/boards for clubs, guilds, and/or special rank  Online broadcasts (pop up for all live players)  Competitions (camp flag wars / etc)  Newspapers (art, articles, ads)  NPC Characters / Heralds (script)  In Game Bulletin Boards, arrow signs, & Posters (environmental)

+ Messaging Opportunities: In- World  Casual gaming mid-game “commercial break” content  Town crier (board, NPC, game master, location, etc)  Friending processes  Fan Galleries (Art, Prose)  Canned Chat  In-world Decorations  Accessories/Home items  Printables with viral info and branding

+ Messaging Opportunities: In- World  Uniqueenvironment elements (train tickets for trains, mail boxes with clickable content, promotional rooms/games, etc)  Postcards/canned email messages  Quests (Themed, limited time, goal-driven)  Polls  Feedback points that ask open ended ?’s

+ Messaging Opportunities: To Chat or not to Chat…  Chat can be executed in three fashions:  Unfiltered chat (allows for any text based word/phrase/etc to be typed and shared within a public space, in real-time)  Unfiltered chat is not recommended for a target demographic under 18 years of age, and has legal ramifications if you allow youth under 13 years of age to chat unfiltered (as part of COPPA legislation).  Filtered chat (restricts certain words and phrases based on a black list of barred content and a white list of allowed content)  Pre-written chat messages (sometimes referred to as canned chat) that the user picks from a list of content approved by the site and provided for the users social benefit.

+ More Play! 

+ Messaging Opportunities: Website Communication  Parent Center  Fiction / Fan Fiction  Splash Page  Widgets of info (or info tickers)  Blog  Character profiles / Group  Forum pages  Login News Feed  Sneak Peeks, Mystery content, hidden content  Downloadables/Printables  Knowledge base  Voting/elections/karma points  Subscription/Payment pages  Lore Pedia

+ Messaging Opportunities: External Channels  Adult Facing (Twitter, Facebook)  Video (Youtube, Vimeo)  Child facing (Everloop, Kidzui)  Digital Ads  Auto-emails generated form actions on the site  Opt-in Newsletter  Street Teams

+ Business Models Micro- Subscriptions transactions Freemium

+ SOUNDS GREAT! Sign us up! Let us tell you about the fine print first…

+ Virtual Worlds are Difficult to Begin  Misconceptions and pipe dreams abound  Marketplace is flooded – with mostly failures  Technology is VERY early, buggy and constantly evolving  Expertise is a commodity and costs accordingly  Outsourcing is ideal for scaling ability  But comes with it’s own headaches

+ Virtual Worlds are Difficult to Maintain  IF you start to gain traction in the marketplace, then your costs start to compound quickly:  Community Staffing  IT/Facilities  Software/Tools  Sys Admins/Servers  New content cycles  Marketing  Analytics  You have to make sure your revenue goals match

+ Issues that need to be considered COPPA/ FTC/ Safety CARU Public Parents Relations

+ Virtual World Staffing  Online Community  Other Teams to consider: Manager/Director  IT Team  Customer Service (CS)  Operations Manager  Quality Assurance  Billing Lead  Business Analytics  CS Lead  Moderation Manager  Content Teams  Moderation Lead  Development  Forum/Blog Lead  Production  Facilitation/SocMed/  Program Content Engagement Manager  Marketing Team

+ Community Team Staffing Considerations Before hiring After Hiring  Discipline Guidelines  Privacy Training  Interviews  Shadowing  Scenarios  Guidelines review  Writing Tests  Filter updates  Background Checks  Software iterations  Quality Assurance

+ Community Team Scaling Launch Game, Volumes Increase, Workflows Articulated Game Grows, Volumes Increase, Revenues Justify Hiring

+ Joi Podgorny joipodgorny@gmail.com @joipod Izzy Neis alwaysreaching@gmail.com @izzyneis

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Virtual Worlds Mgmt 101

by Joi Podgorny on Sep 01, 2011

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Virtual Worlds Mgmt 101 — Presentation Transcript