Gaia Online is unique among virtual worlds, beginning as a forum before evolving into a virtual world which boasts over 2.5 million users every month. It can often be a challenge for growing online worlds to balance monetization strategies against the needs of the communities that built them, but Gaia CEO Craig Sherman says he's found a solution whereby both world and advertising strategy can grow in tandem. Sherman says Gaia's evolution hinges on its users' needs and requests -- and when they asked for the ability to battle, Gaia responded by launching a proper MMO, Gaia Battle, alongside its social world. Now, Sherman explains in depth the evolution of Gaia Online from a community website into a full-scale world and game, and how the company's maintained its creativity and relationship with its users even as it's undergone exponential growth from its humble origins. We recently profiled Gaia, and what I found interesting is the site started as a more traditional community site, and then grew into an online world.
blah blah blah
This is way too long and rambles with no juicy inside stuff so PG will cut it short and give readers the link:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19605
No comments:
Post a Comment