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How Virtual Goods Play a Part in Crowdsourcing

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How Virtual Goods Play a Part in Crowdsourcing
By Sammie Schweissguth | April 17, 2012

Virtual goods are big business – business that has shown rapid growth and promises to continue growing rapidly. With the popularity of online communities, social networking sites and online games, the market for virtual goods is huge. Site and game users spend many hours every month playing games and interacting, and virtual goods enhance their experience. Whether it is adding a rare tree to a Facebook farm or buying a new outfit for an avatar on a profile, the purchase of virtual goods costs users anywhere from a few pennies or dollars to hundreds of dollars, depending on the rarity of an item. Crowdsourcing provides a platform in which these virtual goods play a role – a role that has the potential to transform the protected $2.9 billion dollar industry in 2012 and for many years into the future. Virtual goods play a part in crowdsourcing in several ways, all of which have promise for exponential future growth. No one is more in tune with what users want than users themselves, so creating microtasks via crowdsourcing that allows user input into the development and creation of virtual goods for particular games or sites in which users engage is a sure-fire way to deliver virtual goods that both market and sell well. The mobile market for virtual goods is also expected to grow substantially, opening the door for even more collaboration between the development of virtual goods and crowdsourcing.

Once a virtual good exists, many users are happy to plug in their credit card information and spend real cash on virtual goods, such as for a super-special weapon in Facebook’s Mafia Wars, additional colors in the Draw Something app or treats and more for virtual pets; however, many users are more hesitant to hand over real money for virtual goods regardless of how much a game or experience is enhanced. For these users, crowdsourcing offers the potential for a virtual economy where earnings are paid with credits to purchase virtual goods rather than with traditional cash payments. Through advertisements built right into games, apps, game sites or social networking sites, game developers and virtual goods monetization companies can elicit the work of users to complete microtasks for “payments,” which are then used to buy credits or virtual goods. The types of tasks are easily tailored to each entity’s needs and resources. Microtasks could serve to analyze the data collected from users on demographics to better fine tune current and future games and virtual goods to meet the needs and wants of users in specific markets. Similarly, input into the development of new virtual goods is easily obtained through microtasks focused on creation. The possibilities are endless. The types of online games in a position to benefit from crowdsourcing that focuses on virtual goods, whether the work is related to the goods themselves or to research, search relevancy or something else, ranges from single-player, app-style games on social networking sites or mobile devices to multiplayer games involving a few players at once or massive multiplayer games, such as Mafia Wars or World of Warcraft.

Online communities of any type that incorporate virtual goods are equally poised to benefit from crowdsourcing microtasks in exchange for virtual goods. The promise of the future is bright, and the possibilities crowdsourcing presents when combined with virtual goods is even brighter. Crowdsourcing provides a way for a variety of businesses to tap into innovation with solutions tailored to address any business, market or industry that deals in virtual goods.

Summary
Virtual goods are big business–business that has shown rapid growth and promises to continue growing rapidly. With the popularity of online communities,social networking sites and online games, the market for virtual goods is huge. Site and game users spend many hours every month playing games and interacting, and virtual goods enhance their experience. Whether it is adding a rare tree to a Facebook farm or buying a new outfit for an avatar on a profile, the purchase of virtual goods costs users anywhere from a few pennies or dollars to hundreds of dollars, depending on the rarity of an item.

Description
The promise of the future is bright, and the possibilities crowdsourcing presents when combined with virtual goods is even brighter. Crowdsourcing provides a way for a variety of businesses to tap into innovation with solutions tailored to address any business, market or industry that deals in virtual goods.

Tags: Crowdsource, Crowdsourcing, Knowledge, virtual goods

Posted by Luis Enrique Morales

Apr 20, 2012 04:48 am GMT Viewed 855 times

Author: Sammie Schweissguth Source

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