GDC10 Notes: The Evolution of Habbo Hotel’s Virtual Economy

Session Title: The Evolution of Habbo Hotel’s Virtual Economy by Sulka Haro (Lead Designer, Sulake)

Overview of Habbo Hotel

• Age range is 12–17, with $74 million in revenue

How Games Fulfill Maslow’s Hierarchy

It struck me the other day how well Maslow’s hierarchy of needs maps directly to many social game mechanics.

How to Price Your Virtual Currency (Dataset Across 57 Social Games, SNS and MMO/Virtual Worlds)

GDC10 Notes: Sid Meier on Why Everything You Know is Wrong

Friday morning’s keynote was from none other than Sid Meier himself, co-founder of Firaxis and the creator of the Civ series.

Breaking Stalemates on Product Design Questions

Why Startups Should Care About PR

The Real Value of PR for Startups

One of the common questions that startups ask is whether or not they should bother with hiring a PR agency. PR agencies are fairly expensive for small businesses to work with, often…

Roundup: Ongoing Gamification Debate

Gamification as a buzz word seems to be picking up steam and there’s a lot of conversations going on about the topic these days. After my recent post defining gamification and giving examples of it, I’ve pulled together a roundup and quick summary of the topics.

Whirlwind year and new blog name

It’s been almost 6 months since I’ve posted an update. Yes, I fell off the blogging wagon once wedding planning kicked into high gear. It’s been a whirlwind year with first Mochi Media’s acquisition, running the second year of Flash Gaming Summit, and nearest to my heart…