I posted about
Gaia CEO Craig Sherman's appearance at the Virtual Goods Summit here before - well now the videos are out! You can take a look at them
here. If you're not so interesting in virtual goods of other online communities, take a look at the second video 'Why Virtual Goods Matter'.
Some interesting quotes:
Craig
...but the core experience on the site, at its heart is like going to a MySpace or a FaceBook - you start by making a profile and then from there you can make a blog, and you can make a friendslist and you can post and do all the things you would do in the world of social networking, but that's the basis. From there you go build you.
I'm not so sure that I agree with this description of Gaia, possibly because I was here before profiles and journals and see the 'core' of Gaia to be the community built around the forums and expressing yourself through your avatar (although he does go on to address this aspect after the above quote). While Gaia shares or has borrowed aspects of other social networking websites such as MySpace or FaceBook, I don't think that those aspects can be considered the 'core' of Gaia and don't accurately describe what it is about.
Craig
...we call ourselves the fastest growing online hangout for teens
I suppose it's true, but it makes me a bit sad T-T This shows that Gaia is straying further from it's niche and is aiming for the mainstream, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but being part of the original niche that Gaia was built on and gained so much popularity through it's a bit depressing.
Craig
We have three people who's full time job it is to open up envelopes with single dollar bills and quarters in them
He really seems to like this story O_o I agree with the guy sitting next to him who said 'you really need to get prepaid cards'.
Craig on items on Ebay
We had one item that sold [on Ebay] for $6000
Was a halo, of course
xd But still, that's a lot of money! I'd sell my older items if there weren't rules against it >_>
Craig on why they discourage people selling items on Ebay
Our core principle on our site is that whether you're born in Atherton or born in the Bronx, you can get rich on Gaia.
I think that's a reasonable model. Even if it does prevent me from getting rich in the real world from being rick on Gaia >_>
-
I'm a bit disappointed that there was no mention of Gaia's advertising model and how virtual goods tie in with this (ie. sponsored items, quests and games) because I'd be really interested in what Sherman has to say on that issue.
Community Member