You've been there. I've been there. We all have. It's okay. You go onto Facebook late one night, maybe after a long day at work, maybe after a stressful day at school. You happen to see that a friend of yours got a high score in a game that you've never really paid attention to. So you decide, "Why not?" and give it a go. Or you see that a friend of yours is constantly posting via some game with cartoony looking animals or some such. You wonder what the appeal is, and decide to try it on a whim. The next thing you know, no matter how you got there, you're addicted to a Facebook game. Join the club.
Although most of my friends wouldn't believe it, I originally loathed most Facebook games. I particularly didn't like those farming games. What was the appeal? What's the big deal? And what do you mean, you spend real money on this? For a pink cow or a sheep with clovers on its head? Is this for real? Then one day, I fell as prey to this online gaming world. Little did I know that I was feeding into a huge money making machine.
With the help of Facebook's recently filed IPO, it was disclosed that Zynga, the company responsible for bringing us many of those -Ville games, Mafia Wars, and Words With Friends, generated 12% of Facebook's revenue. It doesn't seem like a lot of money at first glance, but how does $445 million sound? AppData reports that there are 235 million monthly active users. That's over two thirds of the United States' population. And that's a whole lot of money for virtual goods.
What drives people to spend so much money on virtual goods, things that have no actual value? Honestly, there are several different reasons: 1. The appeal of such a limited item - The person just bought something not many other people have. This puts a premium on it. 2. Competition with their friends - You have a virtual city. Your friend has a virtual city. How jealous will he be when he sees that you just bought that cool building that he doesn't have? (Definite appeal!) 3. Unhealthy spending habits - Yeah, this is a real thing. Just as there are real life shopaholics, there are real life online gaming addicts. Unfortunately, they exist and can easily fall prey to the 24 hour availability.
Online gaming itself may be fun. But the business of online gaming is a very real, high-stakes industry that can generate millions of dollars for both the gaming company and Facebook. Think about that, the next time that you buy that cute cow or that limited edition weapon for your Mafia.
Eileen McGovern is an SEO specialist for fishbat, an online marketing firm. Image courtesy of Arvind Balaraman.