The Heated Debate at VGS

I want to first start off by recognizing Charles Hudson and the extraordinary VGS event he orchestrated last Friday. Panels focused on emerging market opportunities within the virtual goods and economies space. Speakers included some of the most insightful and successful leaders within the industry. It was certainly a packed day complete with knowledgeable exchange amongst speakers and attendees.

The conference ended a bit different though...well...very different. The Virtual Goods Summit this year, needless to say, ended with a big bang and left people throughout the industry questioning the ethics of companies such as OfferPal. The debate between TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington and OfferPal CEO Anu Shukla sparked a great deal of interest and drove an enormous amount of attention to the typically “behind the scenes” ad offer industry which provides an alternative form of monetization for social game companies such as Zynga, Playdom, and many others.

The following article written by Dean Takahashi at Venture Beat summarizes the debate and the discussions surrounding it.

http://venturebeat.com/2009/10/31/video-of-arrington-shukla-fight-highlights-controversy-of-special-offers/

I have also included some interesting data collected and provided by Peanut Labs (I am an Advisor at PL).

http://tiny.cc/PLdata

Peanut Labs Signs Exclusive Agreement with Frogster

Runes of Magic offers surveys for diamonds

by Colin Brennan  Aug 4th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Business models, Culture, News items, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic

Frogster America has recently partnered with Peanut Labs Media to bring Runes of Magic players a new way to earn diamonds without paying money -- surveys! Yes, yes, we know, everyone hates surveys. Yet, you have to admit, everyone hates paying real money for virtual currency more.  The surveys that Runes of Magic will be implementing are going to take between 5 to 10 minutes, will keep the user's identity completely anonymous, will reward diamonds on completion, and will be completely optional. Both sides are working to seamlessly integrate the survey option into the game experience without it becoming a barrier to gameplay or becoming hard to use. As long as this option remains simple to use and non-intrusive, it looks like a nice alternative for players who are looking to pick up some diamonds without having to commit their cash.