Most people's social media experience consists of the time they spent on myspace, the time they spend on facebook, and the limited interaction that they have on twitter with people they probably already know. The one thing that these 3 social media sites have created is a "follow back" phenomena. Myspace and Facebook was automatic; you and I became friends, and you can see all of my information and I yours. Twitter lends itself to an attitude of "well, if he isn't going to follow me, I'm not going to follow him." There are tens of sites dedicated to finding out who doesn't follow you so that you can "dump" them.
In addition to the stock simulation, Empire Ave added a social aspect to the game as well; there are communities, you can post "shout outs" on people's wall, and send messages to their inbox. These are all actions that are reminiscent of the social networks we're used to, so it's easy to see how "The Ave" could be confused for a facebook companion. Here's the thing: It's NOT a social network. It's a stock simulation, and the social aspects that surround it are bad for the game; it would have more fidelity without them.
The real stock market is not a "follow back" scenario. If I buy proctor and gamble, they're not going to come down and buy 10 grand worth of signs from me.In fact, I'm pretty sure that's illegal on quite a few different levels. Instead, when I buy their stock, I buy based solely on one premise:
At that moment, while I'm purchasing their stock, they are the single best place that I can put my money.
In this game, the more money you have, the more you can invest; make wise investments and you've got more money to invest in more wise investments, and soon you're snowballing your way to riches, and supporting those that are working their butts off creating those wise investments. If I put that money into someone who isn't the place that has the best return, I'm investing with emotion, a strategy that is wrapped in failure a thousand times over. If you're dividend's ROI is .65% and I buy you instead of someone who has a ROI of 1.45%, I've done myself, my investors, and further on down the line I've artificaillay inflated your stock with unearned value, undermining the game itself.
I know people don't invest nearly as much time as I do in social media, and there are only so many Chris Voss' and Chris Pirillo's who can be active 24/7 with their superhuman abilities to not sleep. That's where the gap in dividend and share price comes from- the more active you are, the higher they both will be. You are not going to have a 200(e) share price with the 5 posts you make to facebook daily and 3 posts you make to twitter every other day; It takes a lot of work. I have an unusually high 500+ tweets sent this week; Chris Voss has TWO THOUSAND. I'm realistic enough to know that the chances of me leapfrogging over Mr V are very slim.
It's painful to be dumped. In real life, on twitter, or in Empire Ave. I've had people leave me shout outs asking why I didn't buy their stock back, or angry messages asking why I dumped their stock, and my response is the same every time- "I'm not saying goodbye forever, I just found an investment that can make my shareholders more money. If things pick up, I'll be back!"
Empire Avenue isn't a social network. I'm not looking to add to the 75 tweets, 25 facebook posts and myriad other actions that are involved in providing a good dividend for my investors every day; I'm looking to play the game for what it is. If you're looking for a way to connect with all of the people you might like (and how you tell that based on share price is beyond me,) buy one share of them and befriend them on all of the social networks that are listed right on their portfolio. That way, the amount of impact that their taking a week off of social media could make won't make nary a dent in your portfolio. Keep that one share in everyone, or once you've met and connected with your fill on the other social networks, close your account; that way when someone who is actually playing the simulation for what it was meant to be doesn't buy you back, you won't be nearly as let down.
No matter what happens on The Ave, just try to remember...
It's not personal, it's just business.
I hope all your days are green, and all your Divs are monsters.
Kevin Bergin
(e)KevinB
Nothing we do is rational. "It's just business" is one of the biggest rationalization myths going.
ReplyDeleteOn the surface, investing looks to be as close to rational as we get, but Wall Street and EA are based on assumptions and illusions we agree to call real.
So the social play in the game is a great way to keep the mass of players into that part of the game.. In fact, I hold that the networking is far more important that the winning score.
And THAT is just business :)
I couldn't agree more. If my investing in the real world stock market brought me close to people who introduced me to members of my local country club, and membership in that country club brought me closer to purchasers of my services, or even people that I considered friends, that would be a tremendous benefit; however it would be considered foolish to think that networking is the reason that people invest, especially when there are myriad options that require less time, effort and input.
ReplyDeleteAnything that adds networking is wonderful, and maybe there's two games being played on EA; One that is purely a simulation, and one that has the potential to affect real life.
Spot on, the similarities with the stock market break down because the money supply is growing topsy too. There's rampant inflation in the system but it's hidden. It devalues the game a bit over time though.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about that here : http://www.societal-web.com/blog/2011/06/inflation-will-run-rampant-an-eav-warning/
You are so right about the impact of the feelings created in a social sphere by commercial actions, but that teaches us some lessons about how UN-social investing really is, it's transactional, and financially driven for personal gain, whereas social is relationship based and emotionally driven for mutual benefit. Quite different drivers, both right in the right place. Empire Avenue creates a strange mixture of the two.