[MUD-Dev] [BIZ] The Web's New Currency

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad <olag@ifi.uio.no>]

"Michael Tresca" <talien at toast.net> writes:
> From:

>   http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/32440.html

> It has an interesting application to online games in general.

Dunno, we've had ok solutions for small payments in Norway. A web
based one and SMS. Doubt it is a big success in the online sector.

One general problem: I don't want to be hazzled with buying
something I don't value unless I am terribly bored. If I do value
it, I'll pay with my credit card, USD 5 and up. I don't want to
create an account for something I value less than USD 5, teens
might.

I think micropayments will only succeed if they already are required
for other activities in your target population (so they are used to
it and have the account set up).

> Cologne, Germany, has nearly two million customers and 2,500
> clients, including British Telecommunications' Click and Buy, and
> it is bringing in more than $1 million a month in revenues, says
> founder and chairman Norbert Stangl (see "First Out of the Gate,"
> this page). Its most successful kinds of low-price content: news,
> research articles, and financial reports.

That's like.... 50 cents per customer per month...

To be honest I think we will see the opposite move in the gaming
industry. If the market matures, then I suspect the big publishers
will make their entire suite of entertainment available for a
monthly fee, establishing a monopoly with a huge barrier to
entry. Sony seems to be doing some of this already? (Indies better
have unique content.)

--
Ola - http://folk.uio.no/olag/
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