Vili Lehdonvirta, member of Live Gamer’s advisory board and economic sociologist at the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology was recently featured in Newsweek. In an article titled “Why Behavioral Economics Love Online Games” David Lyons explores the booming business of virtual goods in online games like Pet Society, Farmville, Mafia Wars, Eve Online, and much more.

One interesting piece of data that Kristian Segerstrale, CEO of Playfish shares is that the company sells 90 million items a day through its 12 different games.

Lead economist of CCP, Eyjólfur Gudmagnusson is also quoted in the piece regarding his role in Eve’s Online economy. Both Vili Lehdonvirta and Eyjólfur Gudmagnusson recently shared the floor at GDC (Game Developers Conference) during Live Gamer’s VCON 2010 on the panel The New ARPPU Playbook, Cont’t. Dev-onomics: Economics 101 for Game Designers.

View Newsweek Article

Learn more about VCON 2010 presented by Live Gamer

Morning Session Spotlight

10:30am-11:15am –Nanu Nanu! How to bring social functionality into traditional game design…and actually make it work

How can traditional game design utilize social functionality…and actually do it well?

Moderated by David Cole (President | DFC Intelligence)
Amy Jo Kim (CEO | Shufflebrain)
Kai Huang (Founder | Guitar Hero )
Dennis Fong (CEO | Raptr ),
Dan Fiden (GM, San Francisco Studio | Playfish)
Mike Verdu (SVP, Games | Zynga )

Afternoon Session Spotlight

3:40pm-4:25pm – It’s not fair!” said the T-Rex: How monetizing games-as-a-service will save you from extinction

How will games-as-a-service, virtual goods, and micro-transactions will save game companies from extinction AND increase their bottom-line?

Atul Bagga ( VP Equity Research | ThinkEquity)
Brandon Beck ( CEO | Riot Games)
Howard Marks (CEO | Acclaim)
Susan Wu (CEO | Ohai)
John Cahill (CEO | Meez)

Join Bill Grosso, Live Gamer’s CTO as he discusses practical ways to optimize your virtual economy using common merchandising techniques, including many found at your local Safeway!

12-12:30 – North Hall Room 123

Visit the official VCON website

The event is free with your GDC admission, Register Now!

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V-Con 2010: How Games-as-a-Service & Virtual Items Have Changed the Playbook Forever

produced by Live Gamer

03.10.10 // 10:00am – 5:15pm // West Mezz Room 270/272

@ Game Developers Conference // San Francisco, CA

V-Con is a 1-day exploration into how Games-as-a-Service and Virtual Items have changed the playbook forever. Led by the game industry’s most sought-after CEOs, founders, visionaries, and executives, we’ll discuss the industry’s undisputed transition to this new business model, as well as its ramifications on development, product management, operations, and strategy.

We hope to see you there! Stay tuned – exciting speaker announcements, keynotes, and the official agenda coming soon!

The event is FREE with the purchase of your GDC ticket.

Register Now

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