New Social Game Rewards Players with Real Cash for Spending Virtual Money
Online game challenges players to spend virtual cash quickly
While game companies like Zynga is charging players real money for virtual items in Facebook games like Farmville and Cafe World, Apps Genius Corp (www.appsgenius.com) has a different take on things. The developer and publisher of social games and software applications has launched a new social game, My Mad Millions for Facebook. The game challenges players to spend an entire $300 million virtual inheritance by indulging in the excesses of the rich and famous. Users are rewarded with varying points for accomplishing their digital spending sprees and twice a month, the top 20 percent of active users will reap the rewards offline by sharing in 50 percent of Apps Genius’ game revenue.
My Mad Millions players assume the role of a millionaire jet-setter who needs to spend an entire $300 million virtual inheritance and end up penniless. In addition to investing in the in-game stock market, which is integrated with real stock-market data, users are also presented with a number of options to divest themselves of their entire fortune, including: renting mansions, boats and jets or buying clothes and accessories; making bad bets on real-life sporting events, or gambling at the in-game casino on poker and horse racing; hiring their friends in-game to be part of their entourage and paying them salaries or buying them gifts; and challenging other players in the battle arena to one-on-one games of rock paper scissors, dice, war, or a coin toss.
Regular play works in the users’ favor. Not only does it serve to keep their bank balance low, but the more users play My Mad Millions, the more points they earn in-game which can be redeemed offline. Each day, the game calculates the top 20 percent most active users and awards them Black Diamond Titanium Reward Cards which are redeemable for a share of 50 percent of the game’s revenue twice a month. Apps Genius uses a propriety algorithm to measures players’ gaming behavior, usage and social interactivity and split up the revenue share with these power users.
My Mad Millions players can also redeem targeted coupons, promotions, and third-party offers through the game as an affiliate partner that increase their virtual currency, energy, and game level, providing them with a richer gaming experience.
"Instead of spending $20 of real money on virtual tractors, we decided to develop a game where players could not only live a fantasy, but they could earn real money while doing so,” said Adam Kotkin, CEO of Apps Genius. “My Mad Millions lets users live an extravagant lifestyle with none of the buyer's remorse.”
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About the Author
John Gaudiosi
Editor-in-Chief
John Gaudiosi has been covering videogames for the past 20 years for outlets like The Washington Post, CNET, Wired Magazine and CBS.com. He has focused on the convergence of entertainment and videogames for outlets like Video Business, Home Media Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gamerlive.TV and is also a freelance game columnist for Reuters and writes for outlets like Forbes.com, NVISION, Official PlayStation Magazine, EGM Now, Geek Monthly, PrimaGames.com, and Yahoo! Games. John also serves as the video game expert for NBC in Washington D.C. and has produced videogame documentaries for The History Channel and Starz Entertainment. John was named one of the Top 50 Game Journalists in the world by Next-Gen.biz in 2007. He is the co-author of Scholastic Books' How to Get into Videogames, Prima Publishing's Madden: Twenty Years of Videogame Football and Electronic Arts: The Official History.
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