My Online Monopoly

One of the best ways to sharpen your child?s mind and provide fun entertainment at the same time is to have plenty of children?s board games on hand. Considering the fact that board games are a challenge for many adults, you can easily picture how much interest they generate in small children. They are a great way for kids and their families to get together and have some fun especially on a cold, rainy day.

Board games for kids are divided into three major categories. The first category refers to board games for preschool kids that are very simple and colorful. The main purpose of these games is to get have preschoolers begin exploring shapes, colors and simple movements. The next category introduces symbols, numbers and letters to children between 4 and 6 years old. For ages 6 and over, games are designed much like those played by adults, i.e., Monopoly, Scrabble, Battleship, etc.

Other popular kid?s games include the classic board game ?Connect Four,? that is much like Tic Tac Toe. It is played vertically, and the goal is to get four checkers in a row first, while preventing your opponent from doing the same. Twister is an action filled, fun game that involves a mat with different colors. Players spin the spinner that gives instructions on what color disc is to be selected on the mat, as well as whether a hand or a foot goes on the spot. By the end of the game, depending on the number of players, everyone is piled up in a twisted ball ? the player still standing wins.

These are all excellent board games with kids who want to have some serious fun with family and friends.

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For most of the 20th century, life used to be rather simple for most people. There was school, college, work, retirement. Along with that you had hobbies like cars, bowling, or gardening. The former was more or a less of a chore, the latter the fun stuff you did in your free time, usually together with local friends from the same neighborhood. This was basically the same as a thousand years ago. For a few lucky people the two areas overlapped and they could do the stuff that they liked as their main job.

Now, in the last 10 years of the 20th century, as well as in the first few years of the 21st, this has been changing rather dramatically. The reason is the rapid technical progress, both in the wide area network and computing power areas. Contemporary hardware can animate very detailed and realistic graphics fluently, and transfer data on the movements and actions of hundreds of objects and characters around the world in milliseconds (although, unfortunately, the speed of light still remains a limiting factor). This has led to an explosion in the availability and quality of online games, with the newest generation like Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft becoming a phenomenon no longer limited to any particular social class, but rather an all-encompassing cultural element in the industrial countries.

Increasingly, parents find that their children spend a lot of time playing some of those games, and more and more people come in contact with them. This leads to people wanting objective information, which is in practice not easy to obtain. Most articles about these games are either written by rather clueless journalists who have never or hardly played the games in question and therefore mainly focus on scandalous negative side effects, or by enthusiastic fans who dive deep into the technicalities and don't mention the real world consequences much. This article tries to bridge the gap - it describes the currently most important types of online games and looks in detail at the social relationships behind them. The authors have been longterm players for years and therefore hope that they can address the issue in considerably greater depth and detail than most journalists (however, you won't find detailed technical facts here since it is not in scope of this article).

There are basically three main types of multiplayer online games:

First-person shooters (FPS) where the player sees everything through a (usually temporary, just for the online session or less) character's eyes and his gun's barrel. This category still remains predominant in total worldwide player numbers (according to Valve, Counterstrike is currently still the most popular online multiplayer game). Some of the other examples include Quake, Unreal Tournament, and Doom3.

Strategy games are the the second main category. Usually similar to FPS games in the round/session-based style of play, in these games the player usually does not have any single entity, but rather commands a number of troops of some kind against other human opponents. There are also various options where one can both play with other humans against the computer etc. Games of this kind include Starcraft, Warcraft III, Age of Empires and many others.

The last group, the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games), is the area which popularity has really exploded in the last few years. Here, the player obtains a permanent character (or entity) or several which can evolve and be equipped with various gear, and undertakes adventures in a large world full with other players. This is probably the most promising group since it resembles the real world most, and it has also been the fastest developing recently. The currently most prominent games in this category are World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI, Guild Wars, Everquest II and Lineage II.

FPS

In first-person shooter games, the basic principle is simple. Shoot or be shot, kill or be killed. Starting with the original Castle of Wolfenstein and Doom, these games have developed to a level of frightening realism mainly for men living out their ancient predatory and fighting instincts (according to some surveys, there are about 10 times as many male as female players in average FPS games). One of the recent milestones in this category, Doom 3 is a game which is psychologically scary even to adult men with the highly detailed and realistic monsters suddenly attacking from dark corners. However, once these games take to the online multiplayer stage, their focus shifts a little. The goal is no longer to scare the pants off the lone player in his dark room, but rather to provide a fun platform for competition between many players of different skill. The most popular online game in this category is still without doubt Counter-Strike - a game which has received much negative fame because of various school shootings done by Counter-Strike players, yet still remains a highly captivating pastime for millions worldwide. It is a fan modification of Half-Life, a Valve game, and a team game in its core: one team is the “terrorists”, the other the “counter-terrorists”, and the play is round-based: at the start of a round, each team member receives an identical (except for clothing) avatar, picks some weapons, and the the two teams clash in combat until either a bomb is placed or everyone of one team is dead (there are also variations like “capture the flag” etc).

There are numerous reasons for the massive popularity of Counter-Strike. The game rounds are short-term in nature and don't require much time. It is comparatively realistic - weapons existing in reality like the M-16 or AK-47 are used in the game, and even one shot may be enough to kill. Also, it is easily accessible - almost everyone can install and run a Counter-Strike server, and there are many thousands of them in the world online at any given time. Although the basic game does not lead to social interaction deeper than a quick chat, the grouping of people around some specific favorite servers and the wish to play better, which inevitably requires solid teamplay, has led to the phenomenon of so-called “clans”, or dedicated player groups, which usually have their own server where they train. A competitive clan will usually have requirements for people wanting to join - a certain skill level, or some minimum playtime - and most serious clan players play at least several hours a day. Dedicated clans will also sometimes meet in real life to discuss strategies and generally have fun, which is not much different from most other groups of people with similar hobbies, like e.g. stamp collectors or RC model builders. Since many servers are regional, mostly there are same-country and often even same-neighborhood people on the same server, which of course makes meeting in real life easier as well.

The picture is roughly comparable in the other FPS multiplayer games like Quake 4 and Unreal Tournament, with the main difference between that the latter are less realistic and include sci-fi weapons like laser guns and such. They are also typically much faster, with frantic movement (means, being hard to target) being highly important to survival, which is a concept rather different to Counter-Strike where sometimes the top scorers just sit in one place with a sniper rifle. However, a thing common to all FPS, mouse control is highly essential. Skilled FPS players develop extremely good mouse control (conventional mice no longer being good enough for them led to the development of a whole new segment of gaming mice) and have reaction times below 0.1 seconds. The numerous stress peaks and drops, lack of time between rounds, and the frantic gameplay often leads to additional addictions, though - many of the hardcore FPS players are chain smokers, fast-food eaters, coffee addicts, or all of it combined. There are worldwide tournaments held for most of the established FPS, and the current champions are mostly from Europe or the US.

Strategy games

The picture is a bit different with strategy games. Usually they are less frantic and leave much more room for logical thinking (of course, the classic board games like chess or Go also have major online playing facilities nowadays, but they cannot really be called multiplayer games since there is little to none team aspect, it's just one-on-one most of the time). A typical example is Warcraft III, which is the most recent in the Warcraft realtime strategy game series by Blizzard. It is played on the so-called Battlenet, a major online gaming hub by Blizzard, which also serves other strategy games like StarCraft. In Warcraft III it is possible to play both random opponents matched to you approximately by skill, either one on one or in teams of up to 4 on 4, or play others in pre-arranged teams. As in FPS games, there are also clans in Warcraft, which in this case are even explicitly supported by Battlenet. This and the very immediate visibility of someone's skill level (basically, his win/loss ratio) gives rise to much competition between dedicated players for the top ladder (ranking) spots. Unlike geographically uniform games like Counter-Strike with tens of thousands of servers, Warcraft has just a handful of large servers, each for a certain area of the world (e.g. Americas, Europe, Asia). Interestingly enough, most strategy games are dominated by Asian, especially South Korean, players, where online multiplayer games have been a very major part of the culture for years already. The professional South Korean Starcraft and Warcraft tournaments are major events with hundreds of thousands of live spectators, played on an extremely competitive level, and broadcasted on TV, and the top players have practically celebrity status and incomes in the six-figure range and higher.

Since the popular strategy games are usually also just round-based, there is not very much room for social interaction apart from an occasional chat. Strategy players are probably a bit older than FPS players on average, mostly between 16 and 35 in the Western societies.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games

MMORPGs are the final and by far the most complex group in our classification. They are something like little worlds within themselves, often resembling scaled-down copies of the real world, yet different as well. The two leading MMORPGs as of the time of writing are probably World of Warcraft (WoW) and Final Fantasy XI (FFXI) , each with millions of active players worldwide. The distinctive difference between MMORPGs and the other kinds of online multiplayer games is that RPGs are not round-based, and do not have a time limit or any specific goal to achieve. They are just there to be explored along (or sometimes against) other players. The key concept is that each player chooses a single virtual avatar which is at first rather weak (low-level) and starts in some safe basic area of his choice. The current MMORPGs all offer a rich palette of races and locations to start with. Usually, to be able to explore the world, the character must be made stronger, which is typically achieved by killing some kind of virtual monsters repeatedly, at low levels usually alone, later in a group. You can also do “quests” - tasks given to you by an in-game character - for various rewards and with various degrees of difficulty.

Current MMORPGs are very large and highly complex. Even fully exploring their worlds can take years, and trying out all the playstyles and options is almost impossible. There are lots of different strategies for doing quests and winning difficult battles, and organizational and managemental skills become essential in major conflicts where sometimes hundreds of people are involved at once. Those large-scale groups already resemble something like real-world armies, with a defined command structure and squads with some special tasks each. This is something entirely new - nothing of comparable scale and complexity has been there until just several years ago - and the scale is likely to become ever greater.

An impressive fact is the extreme internationality of MMORPGs. A little less obvious with WoW, since it is also Battlenet-based and uses the regional server concept, it is highly apparent with Final Fantasy XI, which does not distinguish any regions - each of its servers has people from the entire Earth. Most players come from Japan (where the game originates from), many from the US and Europe, but it is possible to meet people from too many countries to list here, almost every corner of the world being represented. An interesting side effect is that one comes in contact with numerous cultures and customs and many different languages. Some anecdotal stories from the authors' own experience include a maid coming in to clean an Egyptian player's room at the wrong time, relaxed Moroccan players sipping on a water pipe in an Internet cafe while playing, and a Canadian PhD student surveying the attitudes of gamers for her thesis work.

Another positive thing about MMORPGs is that they encourage making friends and teamplay very much. It may be possible to do a lot alone (although not in all RPGs), but a well-matched group can do much more. Therefore, social skills like making contacts and keeping them are substantial in MMORPGs. Since the player is hidden behind his avatar, the threshold to approach someone you don't know is a lot lower than in real life, which makes them a good playground for shy people. The authors know of several real-life relationships that initially started with the players liking each other in the game and then finding out they liked each other in real life as well. Of course, the chance for a mess-up is much higher here as well - after all in real life it's unlikely you date someone who looks cute for a while, only to find out he's a chain smoking guy in his 30s. However, still, interestingly enough, MMORPGs are relatively much more popular with women when compared to FPS or strategy games. That is probably because there's a lot of social interaction within them - you make friends who you see and adventure together a lot, and there's a lot of talking and personal information being exchanged - something almost entirely missing from most other multiplayer games.

The clan idea from FPS and strategy games is even much more emphasized in MMORPGs. Guilds in WoW and linkshells in FFXI are major social entities, with their members meeting each other daily for years. The real-life meetings of large guilds or linkshells are worldwide events, with people coming together from many different places. Linkshell friendships sometimes last for years. On the downside, this means that one can get hurt as well in the game - a fact that many people unfamiliar with the whole phenomenon often fail to understand. “It's just a game”, they say. On the one hand, they're right. Yet on the other hand, if it is possible to make new friends through these games, who become real-life friends as well, one should realize that it is quite possible to get friendships broken by them as well, for instance when being disappointed by people one had trusted. This is also something almost unique to MMORPGs - there has never been so much reality in a virtual world before. Talking of that, one should mention another peculiar aspect of those games - the equipment hunting. As the avatars are the same (or similar) for everyone, the gear or equipment that a player has basically measures his social status, much like a car or money in real life. Players with very rare, “godly” gear, are admired and envied by many people with regular equipment. Since that is something most people like, and, as mentioned, the thresholds for doing things are so much lower than in real life, many nasty things have been done in order to obtain gear. Again, here the RPGs are almost like a mirror of real life, condensing down the more hidden similar issues there to a more compact and visible form. In a way, it is a pretty interesting experience and can teach one a lot about people. It just becomes clear much faster who is worth what. A related trait of these games is the emerging RMT (Real Money Trade) industry, which basically thrives on selling virtual game money and items for real money, and for some games has reached revenues comparable to the per capita gross national products of European countries. Here one can see the blurring of the distinction between work and playing - many people don't play for fun anymore. They earn money by “camping” (sitting at the same spot all day) special monsters and selling the dropped items. It turns out it is possible to earn sizable amounts with that - more than a regular hard job in some countries would pay.

To summarize, online multiplayer games are a very large and ever increasing phenomenon. Very addictive, and easily able to occupy a player for years, they are perhaps becoming the major modern escape-from-reality tool of the next generation. Certainly, they have their drawbacks, and not too few. However, if seen as an alternative to TV, MMORPGs are definitely more worthwhile, in the authors' humble opinion.

The authors are experienced gamers and alongside with their work as co-founders of a web design and development company (http://www.s-kaze.com) still enjoy an occasional round of play.

Monopoly is a zero sum game based on competition. Since the money supply cannot increase, the players can win only by taking money from other players. The fundamental belief behind Monopoly is lack of money. This means that the only way to get more money is to take it away from others.

This zero sum competitive game reflects the economic realities of the Great Depression. While thousands stood in breadlines, a handful made fortunes. For one to player to win, the others must lose.

The rules of the Monopoly prohibit partnership. You cannot create joint ventures. You cannot loan money to another player. You cannot borrow money from another player.

The psychological effect of playing this highly competitive game is that you are a solo player doing whatever you can to force the other players to go bankrupt. The last thing you want to do is to help someone else stay in the game because that person might go on to drive you out of the game.

As an economic model for creating wealth, Monopoly teaches that competition is the way of the world. It reinforces social models based on competition, and the idea that success is a lonely climb over the heads of others.

The belief that success means competition reinforces a whole array of social models and beliefs about the “survival of the fittest” and the “law of the jungle” where only the strong prevail. You can see the same belief behind the American mythology of the self-made man who pulls himself up by his bootstraps.

Even Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs” is a model of the individual striving to succeed as an individual. It is all part of the belief that success goes to the individual who wins the competition.

This kind of imagery is deeply embedded in our consciousness about what it takes to make money and what it takes to succeed in business. Monopoly simply reinforces the fundamental belief that the road to success is paved with the bodies of your competitors.

As a success model, what is the effect of a game based on competition for a limited money supply? You don’t have to look any further than the statistic that 96% of the population will reach 65 without enough money to be financially self-sufficient. Instead of congratulating the 4% who somehow manage to create financial freedom for themselves in this economic system, you need to ask, “What is wrong with the game? Why do so many lose?”

The short answer is that our economic models teach competition for limited resources as the foundation of wealth. The model itself demands that almost everyone must end the game broke.

What happens when you attempt to create wealth in business according to Monopoly Money Rules? It’s a highly competitive game and a lonely struggle. You use your own money and do it alone. Will you succeed? Maybe. You might be one of the lucky few who manage to do it all yourself. More likely, you will end up as one of the casualties of those who tried to start a business but never made enough money to succeed.

As a model for creating wealth, Monopoly is stuck in the mindset and money beliefs of the Great Depression. In the Monopoly game, the winner amasses money but does nothing to create money through transactions.

The Great Depression ended more than sixty years ago. It’s time for a new game with a new understanding of money. The fact is, you’ll make more money in transactions than you will in takeovers. Mr. Monopoly had it wrong when he thought that winning meant driving competitors out of business. Yes, I know. The business world is still full of “black knights” and hostile takeovers. And sometimes the worst people seem to win.

When you take off the Depression era Mr. Monopoly glasses, you can see a new vision of money and business. Money is not currency. Money is an idea, and the only limits to money are the limits of your vision. With this vision, you’ll see that you will make more money in transactions than takeovers. In this era, the most enlightened business people understand that you will make more money in joint ventures with others than you will by competing against them.

Copyright 2006 Debt or Alive, Inc

Kalinda Rose Stevenson, Ph.D.Author of “No Money Limits For Real Estate Investors: Are Monoply Money Rules Putting A Lid On Your Real Estate Success?”Discover The Real Estate Money Secret Hidden in the Monopoly Game.http://www.nomoneylimits.com/nml-monopoly-ebook.htmkalinda@nomoneylimits.com

Monopoly, Risk and Clue have roots buried deep in the sands of ancient Mesopotamia.

British archeologist Charles Leonard Woolley unearthed the earliest known board game in the late 1920?s. He was excavating a burial tomb in Ur, what is now southern Iraq. The game, buried with other treasure, had been interred nearly 4,500 years earlier. The Royal Game of Ur is the earliest known board game. Not only did Woolley find the game board and game pieces, he also found instructions for playing the game. They were engraved in cuneiform texts located at the site. The Royal Game of Ur, or the ?game of 20 squares? was a race game with two players racing to the end of the board. Since that time similar game boards have been found throughout the ancient world, from Egypt to India. The game Woolley found can still be played today, just as the ancient Sumerians enjoyed it.

Board games have been popular in nearly every known civilization. Many civilizations were playing board games before they developed any form of written language.

Board games come in two basic types. The first uses strategy to win the game. The object is to block or capture opposing game pieces or to capture larger portions of the game board. Monopoly and checkers are both examples of the strategy game. Strategy alone does not insure victory.

Chance plays a significant role in most board games, but not all. Some of the most respectable board games, chess for example, focus on skill with very little luck involved.

Purists feel that luck is an undesirable element. They feel the games should be based entirely on strategy and skill. Others feel the element of chance gives these games more complexity with many more possible strategies. These people feel the element of luck makes these games more exciting. On the other hand, games that are completely games of chance, where no or few decisions are made, quickly become boring to most adults. Many children?s board games are games of luck with few decisions to be made.

The second types of board games are race games. Two or more players move pieces in a race from one point on the board to another. Backgammon is an example of a race game. Again, the element of chance is an essential ingredient in these games.

Luck is introduced into the game in a number of ways. One of the popular ways is by using dice. The dice can determine how many units a play can move, how forces fare in battle or which resources a player gains. Another common method of introducing change is by using a deck of special cards. In yet other games spinners or other such devices are used to determine the play.

A third type of board games is a combination both of the above types. These games employ strategies to conduct a race.

Board Games Pre-date Reading And Writing

Board games have been popular for centuries. The game of 20 squares was played from Egypt to India more than 4,000 years ago. Nearly 3,000 years ago a game that resembles backgammon was developed in the same region. Games using stone marbles were developed in Egypt nearly 1,000 years later.

A board game is a game played with a pre-marked surface and counters or pieces that are moved across the board. Methods of chance are often used, usually dice or cards, to determine the movement of the pieces or counters across the surface of the board.

We are not really sure why early board games were developed. Some argue these games were a device for conducting religious services. Others claim they were employed to teach strategies of war. Today?s board games are recreational and considered good family entertainment.

Board games became popular in the U.S. in the early 1900s. As the population moved off the farm, people had more time and more money to pursue leisure activities. Board games were a family recreation easily played in the home. Chess, checkers and backgammon became tremendously popular.

The most popular board game of all time is Monopoly. In 1904 Elizabeth Maggie patented ?The Landlord?s Game? an early version of Monopoly. It was based upon economic principles and was designed to teach real estate ownership and management.

In 1933, Clarence Darrow copyrighted a version of ?The Landlord?s Game.? He called it ?Monopoly.? He went to the game company, Parker Brothers, for help producing the game. They turned him down because they said it would never sell. He began selling Monopoly for the 1934 Christmas season. He was overwhelmed with orders. Parker Brothers agreed to produce the game the following year. Monopoly is now printed in 15 languages and sold worldwide.

Favorite old board games have recently been redeveloped for a whole new generation. These classics have been developed as electronic games. Most popular board games have now been successfully adapted as electronic games. These games are played on game consoles and on personal computers.

Board games have come along way since the days of ancient Sumerians when they were played around campfires of camel trains. Astronauts millions of miles above the earth have played board games. Now, with the Internet, players half a world apart can come together in cyberspace and enjoy the challenge of board games.

About the author: Royce Armstrong is a successful freelance writer with a business and banking background who believes consumers should get the best value for their money when shopping for leading board games such as monopoly , yahtzee and scrabble.

When you watch live action on movie screens, you get excited. Combined with sound effects the action can be a real thrill. Some actions that we watch takes the breath away. How about Action games on computers?

Some of the makers of action games make great animations and may include a story line. Stories always attract us. Tell a story and everybody will listen. The action games on computers use this very well to produce games that can take your breath away thinking of the imagination and artistry applied by the maker.

Adventures, space fights, planes colliding in mid air, think of any action and you will find it used in a game. Most of these games are free online. Action games give great thrill and despite called for teenagers they are for the family to enjoy them together. Action games test the response of the player and sharpen the judgment. Such games are not pure fun. They can help as training tools if used properly.

Other free online games that are currently becoming very popular are- Arcade Games, Board Games, Card Games, Casino Games, Strategy Games, Sports Games, Shooting Games and, Puzzle Games. Most of the online games are free. Look for a good website and play the games. They are a fabulous way of enjoyment. As I said in the heading these games can become addictive. Take small doses and life will be a joy.

The author, C.D.Mohatta writes for http://www.ecarduniverse.com/ which has free ecards on holidays, birthday, love, friendship, family, expressions, celebrations and all events and occasions. He also writes fun quizzes and fun tests at http://www.funquizcards.com/ on topics like love, personality, dating, relationships, friendship, movies, tv, music, business, etc. One more site associated with the author is http://www.yourfungames.com/ - it has lots of free flash games which anyone can play online.

The modern day lifestyle is giving in to smaller nuclear families, with both parents working to make ends meet more comfortably. Even if one of the parent is non-working, the need to get away for sometime is pervasive and understandably so. The good old days are also gone when children used to play in group as families used to be joint and/ or had many children. Now parents are increasingly having a single child only. Under the circumstances, online computer games offer immense help as an effective baby sitter who not only makes a child sit at one place, but also enhances his/ her mental faculties and reflexes.

The computer games invariably render the young children technology savvy as they get interested into computers because of the games to start with. This sort of transforms a class lesson into a road to entertainment that is traveled with keen interest and sincerity. The familiarity with computers gradually developed into thorough knowledge and eventually attained a unique comfort level with computer technology and topics of relevance. It is always a matter of initiative with children. The first few steps into a subject render them confident and comfortable in the subject forever!

Online games relieve the parents to worry about the fellow children who can play with their child. The single child families are specifically benefitted as they do not have to rely on another child from neighborhood or otherwise, to join in and enrich the play for their child. They do not have to engage a baby sitter either, whose duties are generally to look after the safety of the child as he/ she does not sit at one place. Online games simply enchant the young minds and make them sit at one place? before the monitor screen of a computer !

The web is teeming with a wide variety of computer games, ranging from action and adventure to puzzles and word games… the online games offer ample variety for children to enthuse them into playing these games with initial assistance, wherever necessary. The board games are pretty enjoyable for children, who feel particulary attracted to bright and colorful animations provided by these games on interactive basis. The domino effect in these games is particularly enchanting for young children.

What?s more the good news does not end with replacement of a fussy and expensive baby sitter for your child, the good news extends beyond and above. Online computer games allow your child to learn subconsciously and refine ones motor skills, hand ? eye coordination, reflexes, logical thinking and various other skills. Thus, in no uncertain words, the computer games allow pleasure and fun along with sharpened intelligence. The distraction provided by computer games take his/ her mind off from the fact that he/ she does not have any body else to play. The computer becomes his/ her steady friend.

Besides enhanced intelligence and exercise for eyes, the online games instil in your child a sense of understanding of what competition means. Because the online games do not present a direct challenge to his/ her ego, which often happens in group games when a child loses or wins, the online games help your child to accept win and lose in the same spirit. He/ she earns patiences and perseverance over time. Further, the child learns a very invaluable lesson of life? hardwork! The child learns that to achieve everything you want, you need to work hard. Moreover, with Human Resource Development people recognizing proficiency in playing computer games as an added advantage and a plus point in the profile, your child is better off with online flash and shockwave games in all respects.

Article author - Jonathan White, owner of SimplySearch4it: Free Online Games , Funny Pictures , Funny & Extreme Videos

An Introduction

The McDonald’s Monopoly sweepstakes game is based on the wildly popular board game Monopoly invented in the early 1900s by Charles Darrow. The purpose of the McDonald’s Monopoly game is to attract customers to its nation-wide chain of fast food restaurants.

How To Play

To play the game, simply collect stamp pieces on the back of the packages at McDonald’s. If the piece is an ?Instant-Win? piece, you are able to collect the prize instantly. If it is a ?Collect & Win? prize, then you must match the stamp with the corresponding property on the Monopoly game board. To obtain a game board, you can visit any McDonald’s restaurant.

It used to be that Park Place and Boardwalk were the grand prize, however, it has been changed to the four railroads this year.

Best Buy Bucks

This year, Best Buy has been an active participant in the McDonald’s Monopoly promotions. If you collected a stamp for Best Buy Bucks in denominations of $1 or $3, you are able to use it at certain Best Buy stores.

Big Scandal

Although McDonald’s was not directly involved itself, an employee of its partner for the McDonald’s Monopoly game Simon Marketing was. In 2001, Jerome Jacobsen, along with the other ones involved, were arrested for fraud operations from 1995-2001. Jerome Jacobsen had taken out the rare stamps with expensive prizes. He gave them to his family and friends to claim the prize since he was not able to being an employee of Simon Marketing and all. They would then split the share from there which was believed to be around $13 million. The FBI was tipped off by one of the people involved.

Winners

According to McDonald’s promotions page, there have been a total of 108,232,706 winners and counting.

MonopolyStamp.com - A place to trade McDonalds Monopoly Stamps.

Introduction

A marketing plan might sound something awfully hard to do for a game developer, but to briefly put it: the marketing plan is your flightplan on how to get your game to your players. The contents of a marketing plan can be divided into several sections. A strategic plan or the company's business plan will describe the company's strategic objectives. The marketing plan will focus on those major objectives, and how to reach those goals.

You don't have to have tens of pages long marketing plan that you will never use. It's much better to have a short plan that you use. Use your computer's desktop wallpaper or a one page printed plan where you put the marketing plan: goals, actions and notes. Then use and refine the plan.

Contents of a Marketing Plan

These sections of a marketing plan are listed below.

[1] Goals
[2] Distribution
[3] Product
[4] Promotion
[5] Website
[6] Demo
[7] Measurement
[8] Maintenance
[9] Refinement

1. Goals - Make Sure You Know Where You Are Heading

Goals define where you are going. In an indie marketing plan, you can start by choosing the goal for the desired income. Then, you continue by adding the goals for sales, downloads, conversion rate, and the price for your product. Let's assume your goal is to make $50.000. The pricing of a game may depend on several variables. You might look at what others are using and settle for $19.95. Or you might try a bargain price and go with $9.95. Some people have used $29.95. Depending on your game, the company's profile, target market, you might price your game differently. It's worth noting that you might want to adjust the price later. Maybe you realize that $9.95 is too low and go with $15.95 and still get the same number of sales. But for starters, let's assume you use $19.95 as the price of your game.

The eCommerce provider gets about 10% of each sale, so the actual profit for you per game would be about $18. To make $50.000 you would need about 2800 sales. If you assume that one out of hundred players purchase your game, then game's conversion rate would be 1.0%. The rule of thumb could be that very targeted games receive higher conversion rates, up to 2%, 3% or even 5% while more generic games, or games with severe competition may receive a .1% - .5% conversion rate. That means about 1-5 sales per 1000 downloads. Let's assume you try to get your game's quality to such a level that you receive a 1.0% conversion rate. Now as you do some math you can see that to reach 2800 sales you would need 280.000 downloads for your game.

A goal wouldn't be a goal without an exact date. Have an exact date for the goal. Split the goal in smaller divisions: months, quarters or years - or something that suits you best.

Example marketing plan goals for Edoiki game

The goals for Edoiki are:

* Direct Sales goal: $50.000 (after eCommerce provider expenses)

* Other Sales goal: $50.000 (after publisher/distributor expenses)

* Total Sales: $100.000

Exact direct sales details:

* Initial price: $19.95

* Conversion rate goal: 1.0%

* Downloads goal: 280.000

* Units goal: 2.800

* Deadline: By the end of 2007

The quarterly download &amp sales goals for direct distribution:

* Q3-Q4/2006 - 600 units, 60.000 downloads

* Q1-Q2/2007 - 1100 units, 110.000 downloads

* Q3-Q4/2007 - 1100 units, 110.000 downloads

2. Distribution - Select the Right Channels For Your Game

There are several options for distributing your game. Indie and casual games tend to follow these main distribution channels:

* Direct website store

* Retail stores

* Portals

* Content delivery systems

* Publisher channels

Depending on your company's strategy, your marketing plan might use more than one distribution methods. An easy choice for direct selling would be to set up a website and concentrate on optimizing your website.

If you have a casual game, you might consider casual game portals. Different portals have different requirements for games. Here are some of the most common portals: Big Fish Games, EA's Pogo, Gamehouse, GameXtazy, GameZone, Playfirst, Real Arcade, Shockwave, Trygames, Yahoo Games. Include the portals you want to target in your marketing plan and check the top 10 bestsellers from each portal. After you have gone through the list, you have a better understanding on what kind of games portals want and how you can improve your product to meet their guidelines. Indies typically sell through portals or through their own website, but retail stores can be a valuable choice to consider. It is possible to contact retailers directly but in some cases, it can be very difficult or practically impossible. However, you can make it so that it's easy for them to contact you. Set up your company website in such way that distributors can easily get touch with you. Arrange the distribution options by country or by some other region. If you want to contact some publishers, then go on and make a deal. There are publishers that can deal with the retail stores.

Besides retail stores and portals, there's always the publisher opportunity. There are many indie game publishers that can get a deal for you: some of the popular ones are Garage Games, Indiepath and PopCap. All these companies provide different terms, and your marketing plan can change depending on the deals you make. If you commit yourself to creating an exclusive deal with some of the publishers, then you might not be allowed to sell the game through your website, thus making direct selling options unavailable. Besides pure publishers, there are also content delivery systems available. Valve's Steam is perhaps the biggest example and could be appealing to indies.

Your marketing plan should tell you which channels you are going to use, and which ones you'll ignore.

Edoiki distribution channels

Edoiki will be sold directly through Edoiki website. Besides the direct websites we'll approach Mumbo Jumbo/United Developers and Tri Synergy to discuss retail channels. There are other retail opportunities: Dreamcatcher/The Adventure Company, Cylon Interactive, Merscom, MWR connected - some of them will be considered in the future, while some of them will be ignored.

We will also contact a few publishers for a non-exclusive deals. The first ones to target are Shrapnelgames, JoWood and Matrix Games. Edoiki will omit the casual game portals, as the game is targeting a different audience.

We'll also approach Valve and discuss the distributing opportunity via Steam.

3. Product - Have Something to Sell

Offer a high-quality product that people want to purchase. If the conversion rate is very low, then it might suggest that your product simply doesn't offer enough quality. Ask what players and other developers think about your product and refine the product until you start hearing that the only problem with your game is that “it's too addictive”. Remember: the low conversion rate doesn't necessarily indicate a bad product. Ask people: if you hear comments that say that your product is fine but the website or the demo are poor, then forget polishing the product and move on to the next step in the marketing plan.

Make sure your product offering is in sync with your distribution strategy. If you are aiming for the portals, make sure your game appeals the portals and their players. If you are using retailers to get hardcore gamers to play your game, you need to design your product for the retail store customers.

4. Promotion - Make People Aware of Your Game

The next step in the marketing plan is to choose how to get people information about your product. You need to make people aware of your game and either guide them to your website for more information, or to get them to download the game through various sources. How you make the offer depends on the market segments your company has targeted. There are different types of players, games and needs. “Casual gamers” have different playing habits than “hardcore gamers”. 6-year old kids play differently compared to 15- or 30-year old players. Females and males have different needs and wants for games. In Japan , they favor different kinds of games than in Germany. It's your job to define the market segments, and decide which segment (or segments) you choose to target your marketing.

There are several ways to segment the consumer market. The four common marketing segmentation variable types are: geographic (most likely world region or country, but also cities), demographic (age, gender, education, religion, occupation, income, family size), psychographic (social class, lifestyle, personality) and behavioral (casual to heavy user, attitude towards service, loyalty towards company, awareness stage, attitude towards product, genre, favorite games). Also the technical aspects (speed of Internet connection, age of computer) could be included in the segmentation.

After you have chosen the segments, you position your marketing message. Positioning is arranging your whole market offering in a way that it distinguishes your product. If you position yourself as offering the lowest price for young strategy gamers then the market message is much different than if you try to get offer high-quality, non-violent games for very religious players.

After you have selected your target segments, you need to reach those audiences in different ways. Here's a list of promotion efforts you might want to consider: major download sites, advertising, press releases, PAD services, magazine reviews, website reviews, news sites, other major websites, blogs, contests, nominations, affiliates, articles, forums, conferences, banner ads, text link ads, link exchanges and newsletters. There are also very creative options such as advertising banner in your own car back window or leaving demo CDs in busses - so use your imagination.

Depending on your distribution channel options, the promotion could be totally handled by the parties you are dealing with. If you sign a publishing deal, then you can expect the publisher to take care of the promotion.

Edoiki promotion efforts

Edoiki aims to please board gamers and non-casual gamers, players that are addicted to the online multiplayer game experience, and look for games where they can challenge their friends. These gamers don't necessarily have a favorite genre, their main goals is to play with friends - as long as the game is good. They are over 20 and mostly male. Their income level is more than $10,000 yearly and they can spend $20 or $30 easily for entertainment now and then. Our players own a high-speed internet connection (256 KB or better) or at least a fast IDSN connection. Our players have at least basic understanding of the English language, they are interested in Japanese/Chinese mythology and know something about Eastern cultures.

Edoiki will use several promotion methods: Google Adwords targeted directly to board games, banner ads on multiplayer and similar online sites, multiplayer gaming forums, press releases, newsletter announcements, major review sites, article writing, community forums, PAD services, blogs, entering the Independent Games Festival.

5. The Website - Get Players to Download Your Game Demo

The indie game marketing plan lists what you will do for your website. Your website's main purpose is to get people to download the demo of your game. That means your plan should include the steps you will take to enhance the website's marketing capabilities. If your site gets visitors that visit only the first page and leave without downloading, then you need to refine your website. The other reason for your website to exist is to get people to purchase your game. Make sure user can access to purchase page within one or two mouse clicks.

Edoiki website

Edoiki website will use a virtual private server to handle traffic and make sure the system is online every hour of day. The website will present screenshots, player forums, contact information, company information and present clear and easily distinguishable download and purchase buttons. The website won't use Javascript or font that would make it hard to use the site. The headline of the site will be tested and the game requirements, features and any other game-related hints &amp tips will be listed. The site graphics will be polished by the game artist.

The website traffic will be estimated and website specific goals (the rate of downloads) will be refined to meet the download goals after initial number of downloads are received.

6. The Demo - Get Players To Purchase Your Game

Your game demo has only one single goal: to close the deal, to get the player to purchase the game. It's very important to have a good demo version of your game that fills its purpose. If the conversion rate - the rate of people who purchase the game after testing it - is low, then you might need to adjust your demo. Concentrate on following issues:

[1] Demo feature limitations: does the demo have limited features (like less units, levels, powers etc.) compared to the full version? Are you sure you are telling the player what he will get if he buys? Add nag screens to both beginning and the end of the demo. Use those screens to explain the limitations and benefits of purchasing the game.

[2] Demo time limitations: time limitation combined with feature limitations can be advantageous: offer 15 demo launches or 60 minutes of gameplay, or a 30-day period. Or try something in between.

[3] Guide the player to make the purchase: is it easy (within one or two mouse clicks) for player to purchase your game or enter to your game's purchase page? If not, adjust the demo.

7. Measurement - Be Aware of What's Going On

The only way to make sure you are flying in the right direction is to constantly check where you are heading: be sure to measure impacts of different modifications. If you decide to change the price, promotion or demo, be sure to measure the effects. Conduct an A/B split test for your game price: try both a $20 and a $30 price to see which one works better. Offer a money back guarantee and measure how it impacts sales. Do you get more sales with different demo limitations? Test it. Do the sales increase if you offer a better tutorial in game? Does it help to have nag screens in the beginning and in the end of the demo?

Be aware of where you are flying.

8. Maintenance - Make Sure The Passengers Are Happy

Your marketing plan involves maintenance: how are you going to deal with the customers and build such a relationship with your current customers that they come back and purchase from you again. Customer support could include FAQ lists, support databases, and automated emails. Your marketing plan should describe how you will maintain the relationship with your customers. Will you use support forums or outsource your customer support? Will you use customer relationship management (CRM) tools? Will there be an online chat available for those who purchase? Will you use blogs or newsletters to inform the players about your product updates?

Your marketing plan will tell you how you will deal with the relationship: it will tell you whether you let your publisher or portals handle customer support, or use all or some of the methods discussed earlier.

9. Refinement - Adjust Your Flight Plan

The last step in the marketing plan is to refine the plan. Go to step 1 and adjust your goals. If you think your conversion rate is dropping to .5% feel free to double the goal for download number. As you double your download number goal you know that you need to focus on more promotion rather than optimizing the demo, website or product. On the other hand, if you choose to refine the conversion rate, then you know that you should focus on the quality of your game, demo or website rather than promotion.

Conclusions

The indie game marketing plan describes the goals derived from a company's strategic objectives. The main idea for the marketing plan is to describe the goals, decide the actions necessary to reach those goals, measure and eventually refine the plan as the production progresses.

Author is the game producer at Polycount Productions and writes daily game production resource http://www.gameproducer.net'>GameProducer.net.

Let’s talk about the present we don’t read so much as we did once. We prefer the PC instead of a quiet night by the fireplace with our friends, talking about the latest gossips or even playing a board game. When was the last time you played a game based on a real board game? You might answer me right back that you just had a game of Scrabble or Risk .

Now ask yourself, when did you last play a board game based on a PC game, hard thing to answer, isn?t it? That is because there were not any attempts to do this transfer from the virtual area to the real one ? pawns, dice. But why did I bring up this issue you may ask? The answer is simple: I just wanted to underline the importance of a board game, through its accessibility and social character.

Playing the Monopoly board game is an easy thing to do: you take your board game and the rest of the set, gather a bunch of friends and start a hell of a game. It is a real game, you do not have to worry about your PC?s system, the speed of the game for multi players on the Internet or about losing time for searching player’s on the LAN. The reason that makes us choose a real board game as Monopoly is the social one.

It does not matter how advanced a PC game has become, because spending time and having fun with your friends is much more appealing, no matter how much you try to deny it. It is all about the pleasure of playing Monopoly, interacting with your friends & family, spending quality time together & creating memories.

Playing Monopoly can also be a perfect way to build learning skills with your children. Parents become more and more interested in the purchase of educational games for their children as playing is a very important trait for a child. Learning through a game is a reality & Monopoly is a modern game, educational and interesting which can also teach our children the basics of business life. They can buy properties & they can negotiate taxes.

All of these features can develop the qualities of a future business career in your child. Just by playing Monopoly they can learn important social skills such as communication, sharing, patience & enjoying interaction with each other .

Playing Monopoly is a captivating adventure as the longest Monopoly game ever played was 1,680 hours long, can you believe that? that’s equivalent to 70 whole days. Well, that’s Monopoly for you!

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Now days so many kids are playing games on the computer, and others are entranced by television, and you may be wondering as a parent if board games are still a good option for kids. Yes, they definitely are, and playing educational board games with your kids is a great idea. In today s world, many families are growing further and further apart everyone doing their own thing. Board games can help to bring your family all together again for some fun, and not only that, but they are also very educational as well. If you are ready to get your family interacting with each other, then board games are a great idea.

You can use board games to teach your kids a variety of things in life. One example is the game called Settlers of Canaan, which is a Bible based board game. This type of a game is great for teaching your kids more about the Bible and helping them to see that the Bible is more than just a book they hear about in church. Also, for younger children you can use board games to teach them language skills or simple math skills as well.

Another game that you may have never considered, is the game of Chess. This can be a great game to play with your kids. Your kids will learn about how to come up with strategies and it also will teach them how to think logically and creatively as well. If you child seems curious about the game, then why not go ahead and teach them how to play and have some fun.

Believe it or not, computer games can be educational for your children as well, as long as the parents are involved. Be sure that you do not just give your child an educational computer game and then send them on their way, which is easy to do. Often you will find that using board games instead of computer games is a much better way to provide your kids with educational fun while interacting together as well. When you play board games together as a family, isolation will no longer be the problem it used to be, and no doubt you will all have a great time.

While you may think that board games are outdated and boring, they have actually come quite a ways in the past few years. There are many great board games out there that are fun and educational as well. These games help to make learning fun, and will provide entertainment for the entire family as well. If you pick the right board games, you can actually teach your kids various fundamentals like math, language, and even values without them knowing it.

Making memories together is important, and one way that you can do this is to start playing board games together as a family. No doubt they will memories that you all will cherish in the future.

Picking up skills can be fun, and games can be educational. Give your kids the best of both worlds, come visit 123KidsGames.com - Educational Kids Games and discover the best, most fun way to grow and learn. For educational Board games Visit Educational Board Games