1. general notes
1.1. smilebox
1.1.1. online scrapbooking
1.1.2. sell templates, $30/year premium service
1.2. VGoods are a form of non-verbal communication
1.2.1. viximo provides vgoods to e.g. dating sites
1.3. consumer feedback
1.3.1. Meez
1.3.1.1. body types added because of this
1.4. what do your users want to do?
1.4.1. be themselves
1.4.2. be a fantasy character
1.4.3. something else, both, or?
1.5. user demographics
1.5.1. Meez has a lot of females
1.5.2. in Ultimate, females led creation activities
1.5.3. IMVU
1.5.3.1. 60% female, 40% male
1.5.3.2. females lead creation activities
1.5.3.3. geographic
1.5.3.3.1. primarily English language product
1.5.3.3.2. 40% of revenues come from international
1.6. important to support buying for not just yourself
1.6.1. gifting
1.6.2. support group activities
1.6.2.1. e.g. Puzzle Pirates
1.6.2.1.1. buy ship
1.6.2.1.2. buy badge for every crew member
1.7. tools to support UGC
1.7.1. Lee Clancy
1.7.1.1. ownership
1.7.1.1.1. every product is derived from another product, ultimatey from a core product created by IMVU
1.7.1.2. process of getting products to the world
1.7.1.2.1. good preview tools
1.8. Meez partnership with big concert promoter
1.8.1. people get together around shared interest (e.g. Emo music)
1.8.2. a mansion with artists that go on tours
1.8.2.1. links to Itunes
1.8.2.2. branded content to the site
1.8.3. premium branded vgoods business is still small in US
1.8.3.1. more about promotion than selling those VGoods
1.9. subscription is not conflicting with microtransactions
1.9.1. subscription = bunch credits for microtransactions & VIP features
1.10. fraud
1.10.1. community management
1.10.1.1. banning etc
1.10.2. financial
1.10.2.1. if you allow cashout, your fraud goes immediately up
1.10.2.2. games that give pay outs, might have hacks
1.10.2.3. have great reporting tools
1.10.2.3.1. triggers etc
1.10.2.4. on-going battle
2. economy
2.1. pricing
2.1.1. Sean Ryan
2.1.1.1. look at what others do
2.1.1.1.1. e.g. Korea
2.1.1.2. teen, mainstream audience
2.1.1.3. have tested $0,25 - 4
2.1.1.3.1. there's some price elasticity
2.1.1.4. power users buy anything you have
2.1.1.4.1. VIP programs alianate some users, and powerup some others
2.1.1.5. manual pricing
2.1.1.5.1. typically $0,5 - 2,5
2.1.2. Lee Clancy
2.1.2.1. profit based pricing
2.1.2.1.1. recently introduced
2.1.2.1.2. UGC creators control their margins
2.1.2.2. 90% of IMVU's revenues is VGoods
2.1.2.2.1. also VIP subscription
2.2. combo of VGoods and ads is great business model
2.3. impact of real world economic downturn
2.3.1. potential for revenues is a big driver for VGoods growth
2.4. $1,5 bn VGoods revenue worldwide
2.5. VGoods make it possible to drive revenue from international traffic
2.5.1. lots of payment gateways needed
2.6. faucet/drain economies
2.6.1. monitor & tweak to get it right
2.6.2. currency resellers are important part to provide liquidity to the market
3. panel participants
3.1. Amy Jo Kim
3.1.1. shufflebrain
3.2. Lee Clancy
3.2.1. IMVU
3.3. Brian Bellefour
3.3.1. Viximo
3.4. Sean Ryan
3.4.1. Meez
4. how to decide what goes into virtual items inventory
4.1. demographics
4.2. statistics of purchases
4.2.1. who buy what
4.3. scarcity
4.3.1. Viximo's process is manual
4.4. Lee Clancy
4.4.1. IMVU has
4.4.1.1. help for content creators
4.4.1.1.1. tutorials
4.4.1.2. 4000 items added per day
4.4.1.3. 20 million items in total?
4.5. Sean Ryan
4.5.1. calendar
4.5.1.1. key events like Halloween
4.5.2. what does the advertiser want to see
4.5.2.1. movies
4.5.2.2. brands
4.5.3. features that are coming out in the product
4.5.4. user's ideas
4.5.4.1. what is currently in fashion
5. challenges of UGC
5.1. Amy Jo Kim
5.1.1. quality
5.1.2. appropriateness
5.1.2.1. copyright
5.1.2.2. porn
5.1.2.3. etc
5.1.2.4. users flagging
5.1.2.5. management issue
5.1.2.5.1. legal
5.1.2.5.2. social
5.1.2.5.3. culture of what is wanted in this world
5.1.2.6. ratings
5.1.2.6.1. get rid of what violates your TOS
5.1.2.6.2. highlight what is good
5.1.3. there.com had both UGC and branded content
5.1.3.1. UGC was much more popular
5.1.4. branded goods can be good for identity/role play
5.2. Lee Clancy
5.2.1. Top UGC creators can become brands themselves
5.2.2. need to be very, very clear on policies
5.2.2.1. what's acceptable and what's not
5.2.3. peer review system helps to alleviate load
5.3. Sean Ryan
5.3.1. 1/3 of revenue = actual items
5.3.2. 1/3 of revenue = functionality (e.g. floating in a room)
5.3.3. 1/3 of revenue = access (e.g. front row seat)
5.3.4. as you are 20 pixels high, those items really need to stand out to be visible
5.3.5. it's really about status
5.3.5.1. & personalization
5.4. Brian Bellefour
5.4.1. content creators very different from mainstream users
5.4.2. management of UGC is challenging