Numedeon announced yesterday a change in the business model of its premiere property, Whyville.
"We've had a subscription system for two years. We've consolidated that into a new system we call Pearls," explained CEO Jim Bower.
"The obvious reason to do this is that we think that the economic viability of virtual worlds, you need to have multiple different ways to get income. We are and remain primarily sponsorship and advertising based. In addition, having income that derives from the site itself remains a more stable and predictable source of income. "
As with everything in Whyville, stresses Bower, there's also an educational component.
The system is built on micro transactions and virtual goods to replace the traditional subscription model, but it bears elements of subscriptions on its own.
That interest in supporting a favored product may be part of it, but Whyville is also making the Pearls attractive with new, exclusive features. The Pearls announcement dovetailed with the launch of WhyPets, which let users buy, care for, and train pets in the virtual world. Eventually users will be able to gift, win, and earn WhyPets in various ways, but for now they're limited to Pearl purchases.
The company says that while other kids worlds have offered pets before, WhyPets are unique in the way that they learn and react to the way they're treated and trained.
"There is a sort of AI base to it. They both sort of respond to kindness from their owners and others. They have a range of behavior from friendly to a little unfriendly. They don't bite, but they can be more or less cooperative based on the kindness they receive and whether they're fed regularly and things like that," said Bower. "We're about to launch tomorrow a feature for pets where they will be able to sniff out and dig hidden treasure on the site, Clams or projectiles or other sorts of items that you can send your pets out to root around and find. That's something the pet is more willing to do if you have a better relationship with your pet."
The focus on micro transactions, new items, and pets that acquire even more virtual goods seems like a strong emphasis on collecting and managing properties in the virtual world. Bower says that the acquisition of items and aggregation of resources is a motivator for anyone, especially kids, and that it's paying off in Whyville.
"Whyville has very high engagement numbers—the highest in kids virtual worlds according to Comscore.
The average login last month was 34 minutes," he said. "Anything that motivates them to be on the site is a fcator, and having them come on and spend time to train their pets builds stickiness. It's a factor for engagement, that's what we specialize in. It's anecdotal at this point, but I think it's having that effect."
