Seattle-based company RealNetworks is taking another tack in its efforts to succeed on Facebook. It announced today that it has bought Backstage Technologies, the Canadian developer that is most famous on Facebook for Family Feud, which was produced in partnership with iWin.

Backstage will work with RealNetworks’ own GameHouse, which makes UNO™, SCRABBLE® Worldwide, COLLAPSE! and a handful of other games. It also runs a Facebook app called GameHouse, a cross-platform portal to which it hopes to attract other developers.

The combination of the two companies (virtually, as Backstage will remain in its own Canada HQ) suggests a different sort of Facebook publisher. GameHouse’s own offerings have been branded board or card games, while Backstage makes simple arcade games like Scratch and Win and Action Sudoku. Neither company has ever made a Facebook game along the standard farm, pet or city lines.

Backstage’s reputation from working on Family Feud may be enough to secure RealNetworks more branded partnerships, a hot area right now with games like The Price is Right gaining millions of users.

RealNetworks didn’t disclose the purchase price, but it did say that it won’t impact 2010 earnings — which suggests a relatively low price, since Real is currently losing money as it restructures.

With an up-to-$750 million acquisition of Playdom by Disney, an up-to-$400 million acquisition of Playfish by Electronic Arts, the acquisition of Tapulous by Disney, and hundreds of millions of dollars in venture investments, virtual goods are impacting businesses across the media landscape. Virtual goods, and the companies that create them, may be bringing the largest disruption entertainment, communication, and e-commerce infrastructure businesses have seen in years.

Inside Network is proud to announce a new original research report by Justin Smith and Charles Hudson that presents a comprehensive examination of the size and future of the virtual goods market in the United States, entitled Inside Virtual Goods: The US Virtual Goods Market 2010 – 2011. This is Inside Network’s second annual edition of the US Virtual Good Market report. It will be released on September 28, but is available for discount pre-order now.

Where will the virtual goods market go in 2011 and what are the biggest opportunities left unclaimed? How will existing players fare as Facebook continues to reshape the social gaming landscape, and larger and more sophisticated players enter the market? Inside Virtual Goods: The US Virtual Goods Market 2010 – 2011 provides deeper insight into monetization, development, and the key questions facing the space in 2011 than you’ll find anywhere else.

Get the Annual Membership Get Annual Membership (Includes Report + 3 Additional Quarterly Issues): $2,495 $1,995 USD* OR Buy Single Report: $995 $795 USD* * Pre-order discount ends September 27, 2010. All pre-ordered reports will be delivered on September 28, 2010.

About the Report

Inside Virtual Goods is a new report researched and created specifically for entrepreneurs, investors, and analysts interested in the growth of this exciting new category of online commerce that is fueling the growth of games-as-a-service businesses. During a research phase spanning the last few months, co-authors Justin Smith and Charles Hudson have spoken with dozens of executives and entrepreneurs from all parts of the ecosystem in order to form what we believe are the most detailed estimates, analyses, and predictions for 2010 and 2011.

We focused and organized the report around the following areas:

1. Social Networks, Applications, and Games - The explosion of the virtual goods market on social networks is one of the biggest stories of 2010. We delve deeply into the trends, stats, key players, opportunities, and challenges facing the space this year and next.
2. Mobile Applications and Games – Mobile application developers that have been early adopters of the free-to-play model are now seeing significant growth in 2010. Our study breaks down the key opportunities and challenges facing this emerging space going into 2011.
3. Casual MMOs and Virtual Worlds - Virtual worlds and casual MMOs continue to grow as a meaningful share of the virtual goods opportunity in the United States. Our study breaks down the key drivers for success in this segment, trends in monetization and engagement, and the prospects for the future.
4. Hardcore MMOs and Free-to-Play Online Games – Developers in the MMO / MMORPG space have been among the earliest adopters of the free-to-play model. We explore why free-to-play MMOs are succeeding, revenue and user trends, and the key issues facing this space as we head into 2011.
5. Emerging Areas: Console Games and Subscription MMOs – As the virtual goods business model becomes more well understood, it is beginning to show up in new and interesting areas of the games and entertainment landscape. We highlight a few of the more promising areas where virtual goods are emerging as a promising opportunity.

Each section contains:

1. A brief history on the evolution and growth of this space in the US, including a description of key players.
2. Estimates on the size of the US virtual goods market in 2010 in that area.
3. A diagnosis of the key opportunities and issues facing the growth of that space, including our outlook and projections for 2011.

In addition, prior to delving more deeply into each market segment, we’ve provided an overview of the emerging payments ecosystem that is growing to serve these new businesses. Traditional e-commerce infrastructure providers only offer a partial solution, and the virtual goods payments layer is currently in a major state of flux. In the report, we describe the variety of solutions that have been brought to market to date, and the key challenges facing the industry from a payments perspective as a whole.

For more details, check out the full table of contents below.

The annual membership, which includes the report and three additional quarterly updates, is USD $2,495. Alternatively, you can obtain just this report for USD $995.

The annual subscription brings you a total of four comprehensive reports comprising months of original research. Recent reports have covered:

1. The Future of Social Gaming. Social games make up over half of the US virtual goods market. This report provided detailed coverage of exactly how this industry has managed to thrive, who its most valuable players are, and deeper insight into monetization, development, and customer acquisition than you’ll find anywhere else..
2. The Spending and Usage Patterns of the Social Gaming Audience. Who are the millions of users whose time, money, and engagement have made social games into household names and their developers into technology industry celebrities? This report presented the only independent, original research into user profiles, behaviors, and attitudes toward social games and virtual goods.

Although the report will not be released until Tuesday, September 28, we are offering a special pre-order discount for those who purchase now. The pre-order price of US $795 for this report or US $1,995 for a one-year subscription is now available until September 27.

We are looking forward to continuing to cover the evolution of the space over the coming year. We look forward to hearing from you!

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

• How We Got Here: A Brief History of Virtual Goods Worldwide
• Defining Terms
  • Registered users
  • Active users
  • Average revenue per user (ARPU)
  • Average revenue per paying user (ARPPU)
  • How do different developers manage their businesses?
• Growing Virtual Goods Markets in the US
  • Social Networks, Applications, and Games
  • Casual MMOs and Virtual Worlds
  • Hardcore MMOs and Free to Play Games
  • Mobile Applications and Games
  • Emerging Areas: Consoles, Subscription MMOs
• Methodology

2. The Virtual Goods Payments Ecosystem: An Overview

• Large Payment Platforms
• Mobile Payment Providers
• Offer Providers
• Direct Payments vs Offers
• Pre-paid Cards
• The Arrival of Facebook Credits
• New Payment Providers
• Managing Fraud
• Related Companies

3. Social Networks, Applications, and Games

• Introduction
  • The Global Rise of Facebook
  • The Virtual Currency Payment Ecosystem Explosion – and Migration to Facebook Credits
  • Increased Optimization for Virtual Goods
• Social Networking Platforms Today
  • Facebook
  • MySpace
  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Others
• Significant Changes to Facebook Platform Dynamics in 2010
  • Distribution & Engagement
  • Monetization
• Social Application and Game Genres: How Do They Perform?
  • Role Playing Games and “Hardcore” Mini-MMOs
  • Simulation and City Building Games
  • Pet Games
  • Poker Games
  • Gifting Apps
  • Arcade Games
• Who’s Buying Virtual Goods?
  • Gender Breakdown
  • Age Breakdown
  • Geographic Breakdown
• How Are They Spending Money?
  • Item Type Breakdown
  • Payment Method Breakdown
• Market Size Estimate
  • Total Number of Monthly Paying Users
  • Total ARPPU Per Month
  • Total US Virtual Goods Revenues from Social Networks in 2010
  • A Quick Look at Revenues for Top Social Game Developers
• 2011 Outlook
  • Growth Rate
  • Major Risks that Could Hamper Growth
• Leading Companies

4. Casual MMOs and Virtual Worlds

• Introduction
• Demographic Breakdown
  • Gender
  • Age
• Payments
• Analyzing the Market Opportunity
  • ARPU
  • ARPPU
  • Market Size Estimate
• 2011 Outlook
  • Growth Rate
  • Key Challenges
• Leading Companies

5. Free to Play MMOs / Hardcore Games

• Introduction
  • History of free to play MMOs
  • Emergence of the free to play MMO market opportunity in the US
  • Major genres for free-to-play MMOs and hardcore games
• Analyzing the Market Opportunity
  • Total Player Base
  • ARPU
  • ARPPU
  • Payment methods
• 2011 Outlook
• Leading Companies

6. Mobile Applications and Games

• Introduction
  • History of virtual goods model in US
  • Major genres for free-to-play iPhone apps and games
• Analyzing the Market Opportunity
  • Total Player Base
  • ARPU
  • ARPPU
  • Payment methods
• 2011 Outlook
• Leading Companies

7. Emerging Areas

• Console Games
• Subscription MMOs

8. Conclusion

• Overview: 2010 Market Estimates
• Looking Ahead: 2011

9. Appendix: Company Index

Get the Annual Membership

The annual membership, which includes the report and three additional quarterly updates, is USD $2,495. Alternatively, you can just download this report for USD $995. Although the report will not be released until Tuesday, September 28, we are offering a special pre-order discount for those who purchase now. The pre-order price of US $795 for this report or US $1,995 for a one-year subscription is now available until September 27.

Get Annual Membership (Includes Report + 3 Additional Quarterly Issues): $2,495 $1,995 USD*

OR Buy Single Report: $995 $795 USD*

The next generation of location-based services is moving beyond check-ins and badges to parallel worlds with game mechanics. One iPhone title we’ve been watching is Gbanga Famiglia, a mafia-themed game by a Swiss developer called Gbanga.

Famiglia is just the latest iteration in the parent company’s journey to figure out what works, both with location games and the European audience. Gbanga started out two years ago, when some Zurich residents received a newspaper article referring to a conspiracy theory, with a link to a webpage.

The mailer was an intro to Gbanga’s experimental first game; a second try, which had users chasing virtual tigers around the city in an environmentalist-themed game, drew 700 users. Those initial attempts, which lasted just a few weeks, convinced the company that it had a good enough idea for the mass market.

The idea behind Famiglia is closer to Booyah’s MyTown. Users explore a cell-based map of their own locale, with each cell containing specific locations. Groups of players — mafia families — fight to take over and own these locations. Some, like restaurants, will also offer real-life deals.

Gbanga’s cells make it a bit different from some services. Think of them as a bit like neighborhoods; as long as you’re in a cell, you can make actions involving any location it contains. Users can thus potentially play from a fixed location.

For now, according to cofounder Matthias Sala, “simpler games have a higher chance of keeping users.” While users are quickly learning that location-based games exist, the cell setup and familiar concept help bring in players.

The next step for Gbanga is to add on-map virtual goods that can be purchased to give an edge in the game, as well as an option to spend in order to move around even less in the physical world.

And Sala is hoping that partners will pick up the Gbanga platform to build their own stories and alternate realities for other locales, in Europe or elsewhere. “Of course we want to port it to other platforms, as many as we can,” says Sala. “It’s not enough just to have global critical mass, where the whole world is trying to solve a riddle happening inside one space. Here it’s one riddle in Zurich, and another elsewhere.”

Asked how the European market is different, Sala points to German-speaking populations.

“[They] are very sensitive with privacy, and these innovations are struggling because of that. If you compare the States to Europe, the big players like Gowalla and Foursquare are pretty weak in Germany,” says Sala. “So we don’t want to be a location-based information system but a game. The game market for strategy games is huge in Europe, so I think there’s a chance that this browser-games market becomes location-based.”

Virtual trading card games can be hit or miss, but Hong Kong-based developer CDE Humble Gaming has done a good job with a relatively new iPad release, Arena 9-HD. A sharper revision of the original iPhone rendition, the new iteration has seen a few upgrades in play, monetization and progression.

The mechanics and rules of the game are simple and similar to several other card games, but there’s a surprising amount of strategy involved. The object is to control the most cards on a nine space grid. To do this, the player must strategically place cards onto the grid in order to flip over their opponent’s cards. Here’s how it works: upon starting, players are given a starter deck of basic cards and each game allows them to use a hand of five. Each card has a number on all four sides.

The idea is to place a card with a higher number next to an enemy card with a lower number on the adjacent side, meaning that if player places a card with a “7”  to the left of an enemy card with a “6” on the left-hand side, then the enemy card will flip over. This is claims the enemy cards and is called a “Turn-Over.”

To add depth to the game and let weaker cards still shine, three other mechanics are included: Elements, Mirror, and Add.

There are five elements — wind, water, earth, lightning, fire — and each game will have randomly placed grid spaces containing these elements. Each card has an element associated with it and putting the right element card on the right element space will give a +2 bonus to all sides. Conversely, the incorrect element will lose value. In addition, there’s a mechanic called an “Elemental Kill,” meaning that any card surrounded by stronger elements on two sides will flip (e.g. a fire card surrounded by two water cards). This can be done using a combination of player and opponent cards.

Unfortunately, this mechanic was not well explained. Initially we thought that only the immediately stronger element could cause an Elemental Kill, as the tutorial seemed to indicate. However, later in play, elements other than the immediately stronger element caused the same effect. Moreover, placing an incorrect element card on an element grid will reduce its values by -1 or -2, with the latter being the “opposite element,” a term that wasn’t adequately explained.

The other two mechanics of Mirror and Add are easy enough to understand. Mirror means that a placed card has two sides that are identical to any two adjacent cards. Add means that the sum of two adjacent numbers on one side, is equal to the sum of two adjacent numbers on another side.

In both of these cases, the affected cards will flip and they can be used together for a more devastating effect– e.g. any card that is flipped over using Mirror or Add can then flip over adjacent cards.

The game’s monetization methods improved since its original iPhone version. The app is free, on both devices, so the company makes money through the sale of digital card packs. However, players do not necessarily have to buy these packs with real money, as they did with the original iPhone version. They can play and earn AP currency to buy most of the packs. But it does require a lot of playing  to access better cards.

With all collectable card games, buying packs risks accumulating duplicate cards. Thankfully, and unlike analog CCGs, enough duplicates will allow many cards to be upgraded in what is called the “Arena Smith,” but 20 duplicates are needed.

Arena 9 is integrated with OpenFeint, with the usual complement of achievements and leaderboards.  The game also has a synchronous player versus player Challenge Mode, which grant greater rewards for its users.

Arena 9-HD turned out to be a surprisingly addictive game. If you do like CCGs and strategy, this is a game that you’ll probably spend a lot of time with.

Path drawing games have been a popular genre for both the iPhone and iPad in the past with games like Flight Control HD. However, Invictus is adds a flair of its own to the genre with its new, similarly-titled iPad app, Fly Control HD. Having reached  #15 in Apple’s top free charts when we discovered it, the game has turned out to be quite popular.

Wrought with a quirky, cartoonish style and a whimsical theme (you quite literally control a fly), Fly Control HD is easily enjoyable, and adapts well for the iPad from its older iPhone counterpart. That said, the gameplay finds itself stunted dramatically by an overuse of the game’s virtual currency gating, giving the player very little to get them hooked in the first place.

Similar in respect to Flight Control, Fly Control has players preventing inevitable mid-air collision by drawing paths for the various insects to follow. Of course, since these are pests and not planes, players are to guide them to sources of food rather than runways or helipads. Nevertheless, a midair collision will still send them into a tizzy, and end the level.

Each bug will stay at a food source for a short period of time (about five seconds) before leaving. This adds an extra level of management, as bugs do not fly off the screen until after they have fed. Obviously, as the game progresses, this becomes an exponentially growing challenge, as players wait for food sources to open up.

In the first level available, there are only two types of food — a rotting pumpkin and a trash can. Periodically, players will also see another random insect (e.g. a roach) crawl onto screen that can be squished with a tap and used as a one-time use food source. Furthermore, the game also helps the player out by granting them rechargeable power-ups called “Blessings.”

These boosts are chosen before the start of a game and consist of things like bug spray, ghost mode, fly swatters, and so on, which slow bugs down, prevent collisions, or destroy some of the pests on screen. However, all of these must recharge over a period of time, and only one can be used in a game at a time until more slots are purchased. Furthermore, these noted examples must all be bought with the virtual currency “Gems.”

Upon starting the game, the player only has three, free, abilities (Slow Motion, Kamikaze, and Pest Repellent). They are decent, but in order to formulate any type of strategy, more than these will need to be purchased. Unfortunately, extra abilities all cost around 19 Gems and players only earns (maybe) one per play through, if they’re lucky. They’ll also earn coins that can be traded in for gems, but the “exchange rate” is extraordinarily high.

Of course, 45 gems can be purchased for $0.99 and 255 for $3.99, but that isn’t so much the problem. The big complaint is that players also only get one level and one type of bug (flies). All variety in the game, save for some different fly flight speeds, is thrown out the window until new bugs and levels are purchased.

With Flight Control, there were color coded aircraft, and that is present here in that there are also wasps and butterflies that can be taken to sweet puddles and flowers respectively. While purchasing them all is still technically cheaper than the $5 Flight Control, the simplistic nature of the single level and bug is not enough to really hook the player into wanting to purchase anything.

The only element that immediately seems worth purchasing things for is the multiplayer. Synchronous on a single iPad, players can split the screen and compete to see who lasts the longest. What makes this interesting though is that another power-up, called “Curses” (such as a swarm of extra pests) is available here, which can be activated in an attempt to sabotage the opponent. Additionally, Fly Control is integrated with OpenFeint, which means it also has access to sharable achievements and online leaderboards.

All in all, Fly Control HD is a nice game with a nice sense of style that makes the app most entertaining. That said, it asks users to buy too many aspects of the game without really giving them enough to make it feel interesting, nor giving them enough of a means to earn virtual currency in-game (despite all of its advertisements). There just isn’t enough to available to make the player want to buy anything new, and while power-ups greatly enhance the multiplayer, that just isn’t anywhere near enough.

Since our story last Wednesday about Zynga’s switch to exclusively using Facebook Credits in its games, the inevitability of a Credits-only platform has seemed closer than ever. But how close has Facebook actually gotten to its goal?

That question is an important one because Facebook has paced its rollout of Credits with the quiet and (to the public eye) willing adoption of the virtual currency by one game developer after another. Whether or not it’s acting more forcefully behind the scenes may be academic; Facebook has either way migrated a large number of companies to Credits, even though it hasn’t made the currency officially mandatory.

By Facebook’s own count, it has 70 developers and 150 games using Credits in some form. However, that doesn’t tell the whole story of Credits’ early reach. There are thousands of games and hundreds of developers; for Credits to become the sole dominant currency, Facebook needs to have them on the most prominent games.

Our own findings: Facebook has gone even father in terms of reach than its own accounts suggest, with over 80 percent of players of English-language Facebook games currently exposed to Credits.

We looked into the issue by building a curated list of the top 100 games on the AppData leaderboard. Since Credits aren’t yet fully international, we didn’t count apps developed in languages other than English — although it should be noted that several Chinese developers, who may have Western audiences, use them anyway. Since a number of apps don’t incorporate any virtual currency at all, we didn’t count them either.

The results don’t look overwhelming at first. Out of the top 100 games, 60 use Credits, while 33 use them exclusively, counting Zynga’s recently-changed apps:

So a clear majority of games among the top 100 have Credits, but not enough that Facebook can claim total domination. For that, we need another view of the data.

The best way to see how deeply Credits have penetrated Facebook is by counting up the monthly and daily active user counts (MAU and DAU) of the games using them:

Those numbers translate to well over 80 percent of the MAUs in the top 100 games (which dominate most of the app traffic to all games) using Credits, and over 85 percent of the DAUs.

Measuring by either MAU or DAU, over 50 percent of the players on these top games are using Credits as their only payment currency. If Facebook game players aren’t already aware of what Credits are and how to use them, they soon will be.

These stats are just a snapshot of the moment. Before long, Credits will have an even firmer lock over Facebook’s game players.

Some companies that have told us that they will switch to using Credits exclusively, like Playdom and RockYou, but haven’t yet made the switch on all their apps; further, we’ve also heard that the last holdout in the top five, Electronic Arts, will switch to using Credits exclusively as well.

Even if Facebook never explicitly forces Credits on developers, the pressure to change will become palpable — not just from the platform, but from players who get used to carrying their Credits from game to game.

One more interesting stat that surfaced: 13 of the 100 games actually use Credits as their premium in-game virtual currency, rather than having a currency with a proprietary name (like Farm Cash) — a choice that some say can encourage players to spend more freely. Such choices will become an interesting frontier in social gaming, if Credits have the positive effects that some have predicted.

To dig deeper on monetization in social games, check out our in depth report, Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming 2010.

The newest Playdom game, City of Wonder has breezed to to the top of this week’s AppData list of fastest-growing Facebook games by monthly active users, but it’s not alone in big gains; The Price Is Right has also made another appearance, edging over a million new MAU:

	Name	MAU	Gain	Gain,%
1.	City of Wonder	8,258,944	+3,090,907	+60%
2.	The Price Is Right Game	1,820,953	+1,042,013	+134%
3.	Texas HoldEm Poker	33,892,121	+773,118	+2%
4.	MMA Pro Fighter	2,530,656	+673,668	+36%
5.	Millionaire City	7,103,233	+598,341	+9%
6.	Nightclub City	8,508,084	+549,207	+7%
7.	Ikariam – The free browser game	665,457	+520,049	+358%
8.	Kingdoms of Camelot	6,177,127	+494,491	+9%
9.	Games	6,934,563	+433,118	+7%
10.	Critter Island	542,369	+408,910	+306%
11.	Lucky Train	1,307,932	+336,363	+35%
12.	CBSSports.com Franchise Football	380,010	+305,881	+413%
13.	Car Town	4,135,108	+275,290	+7%
14.	Funflow	1,520,130	+265,042	+21%
15.	Madden NFL Superstars	291,395	+264,649	+989%
16.	Toilet Paper Roll	2,380,704	+251,582	+12%
17.	Ninja Saga	5,318,383	+243,720	+5%
18.	Monster World	3,431,226	+202,080	+6%
19.	Tattoo City	2,802,804	+190,645	+7%
20.	Backyard Monsters	1,488,346	+188,039	+14%

Although City of Wonder’s three million MAU gain looks impressive, the percentage of those monthly actives that return as daily active users has sunk to just 12 percent — significantly lower than most Facebook games. That may indicate trouble in the future for this title.

The Price Is Right accelerated over the week, picking up a million new MAU. Like City of Wonder, its DAU / MAU (or stickiness factor) is fairly low, but that’s less unusual for a game-show themed app.

Digital Chocolate appears to be spending on advertising; both MMA Pro Fighter and Millionaire City made substantial gains, coming in together at number four and five. The company also passed 10 million MAU during the week.

Ikariam – The free browser game is the least widely known game on the upper half of the list. As we mentioned when the title showed up on Friday, it’s a combination of city-building and strategy, imported to Facebook from an existing web-based version.

The other new title on the list is Critter Island, which appeared at the top of Friday’s list of emerging games. The island management game is helping to revive Lolapps, which saw traffic from its popular quiz apps dip when it turned its focus to making games.

SmallWorlds, a 3D virtual world created in 2008 by a New Zealand-based development team, is more than just a Facebook game: it’s actually present on multiple platforms, including MySpace, Bebo, Hi5 and its own web portal.

What makes SmallWorlds different from other virtual worlds is this cross-platform distribution — it reaches out to a wide group of users, and doesn’t require a software download, as so many virtual worlds do. And for a social network-based virtual world, there is a surprising amount to do, so much so that it can feel overwhelming.

SmallWorlds has the same objective as most virtual worlds — to interact with other users and emulate reality. Players start out in a small new-player area, which launches them into a tutorial of the basics of movement and transportation around the world. The different areas in the world are almost like 3D chat rooms, in the sense that they’re not usually “connected” to one another. Rather, players warp about Star Trek style, loading each new zone independently.

After the basics of movement are explained, SmallWorlds introduces the player to their own virtual home and the basics on buying and decorating, with the help of stores that sell  items ranging from ancient Egyptian relics, to modern appliances, to outdoor gear.

But it’s the social interaction that is the heart of SmallWorlds. Beyond chat (which is stylistically accompanied by a gibberish speech sounds), there are many emotes that also come with sounds. Players looking for friends have a variety of locales to visit — stores, beaches, clubs, resorts, and so on — many of which have synchronous activities.

Besides talking, there are other activities to engage in, the simplest being board games, like checkers. There are also a myriad of arcade games (with tournaments) powered by companies like Mochi Media and Kongregate. Less competitively, there’s an entire gallery of digital paintings by users, and many open canvases for players to draw on.

More in-depth multiplayer games involve teams and are found in an area called Arena Central. These competitive games include capture the flag, collection, and shooter concepts. Each one is decently fun to play with some virtual friends, but they are all very simple and because none of them are the focus of SmallWorlds, they do feel a bit clunky.

All the same, it’s a good idea  to participate in anything and everything you can. Many activities grant Tokens and Citizen Points. Citizen Points are basically experience points, which earns a player“Citizen Levels,” which in turn earns special titles, exclusive items, and so on.

Exclusive items are worth noting because they can be used to add pizzazz to your avatar. We’ve seen space men, fairies, skater punks, and any number of animal people. Many higher level players have virtual pets in tow. This is a whole other mini-game, as players can adopt virtual critters and teach them “Pet Dances” that range from the basic (beg, stay, jump, etc.) to the more advanced (Thriller, Moonwalk, etc.).

If this sounds like a lot, that’s because it is. That’s our only complaint with SmallWorlds. There’s so much, it often feels unfocused, not to mention that after the tutorials the game doesn’t do a great job of walking players through anything. There are a lot of tutorial text boxes everywhere and even the occasional video, but most players aren’t going to want to read every ten seconds. There is a nice mission system, though, that acts as a kind of guide. Still, we’d like to see a few more simple, interactive tutorials to get new players started.

Overall, SmallWorlds is a pretty solid social virtual world, and one that has found some success on Facebook, with 120,306 monthly active users. That’s not too bad, for a genre that few dedicated social game companies have been willing to experiment with.

Check out the top headlines and insights this week from Inside Facebook— tracking Facebook and the Facebook platform for developers and marketers.

Monday, September 6th, 2010

• SocialBuzz and VChatter Do Well on This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Apps by MAU
• Involver Customizes the Facebook Marketing Experience
• Facebook Shows Your Likes in Common on Profiles of Other Users

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

• Fluid Helps Promote E-Commerce for Brands on Facebook
• Facebook Updates Payment Terms to Control Credits Supply, Ease International Processing
• Facebook Places – Product Updates and User Behavior Three Weeks In
• Batched Facebook Notifications Decrease Clutter but Can Increase Confusion

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

• SocialBuzz and Scoremaster Appear on This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Apps by DAU
• Top 20 Gaining Facebook Pages: Gaga, Bieber, Gucci, Manchester United and TV
• Context Optional Releases Places Application For Facebook Pages
• Zynga Now Officially Using Credits Exclusively in Most of Its Facebook Games
• Facebook’s August 2010 US Traffic by Age and Sex: Growth Picks Up Across All Groups

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

• Social Media Tool Provider Syncapse Acquires Social Media Agency Nudge
• General Motor’s OnStar In-Car Service to Include Facebook Integration
• Russia and Eastern Europe See New Facebook Growth in August 2010
• Highlights This Week from the Inside Network Job Board: Playfish, Ngmoco, Boku, & More
• In Latest Intellectual Property Push, Facebook Files for Gift Card Trademarks
• Like Button Can Now Link to Facebook Pages and Specific In-App Content
• Facebook Adds “Social Context” Metrics to Its Performance Advertising Analytics

Friday, September 10th, 2010

• Malay-Language Apps Burst Onto This Week’s List of Emerging Facebook Titles
• More Credits for Charity: Stand Up To Cancer Campaign Looks for Facebook Virtual Currency Donations
• Ads API Profile: Omniture Online Marketing Suite Handles Every Step of Facebook Advertising
• Facebook Building Its Southeast Asia Market Presence with New Singapore Office
• Facebook to Stop Counting “Short Impressions” in Advertiser Metrics
• Facebook Roundup: ESPN, Yahoo Fantasy Football, Stats, Broadcasting Ban, and More

Saturday, September 11th, 2010

• Facebook Launches Page Discovery “Browser”

Venture Firms Boosted by Zynga — A few venture companies that had the foresight to invest with Zynga early on are enjoying an advantage in their fund-raising, according to The Wall Street Journal. Original investor Foundry Group is “already collecting $225 million in commitments for its second venture fund,” while Avalon Ventures  is ahead of its $150 million target. Other Zynga investors that may be seeing a boost include Andreessen Horowitz, Institutional Venture Partners, and Union Square Ventures.

Mark Cuban May Be Going Social — Billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team and HDNet is looking for social game projects to invest in. While his brief blog post on the matter is a little older, a recent article from Forbes notes that he believes that social games “will extend very quickly into the business space… [adding] some fun and competition to mundane clerical and other tasks.”

Facebook Veteran Launches PlayHopper — The former director of international business for Facebook, Net Jacobsson, is starting up a new social gaming company called PlayHopper, according to CNN Money. Currently an advisor to both CrowdStar and Aurora Feint, Jacobsson says that PlayHopper’s social games will cater to very specific, niche, audiences. The first game is slated for launch in September.

3ME to Target Social Games for Music Industry — A new London-based social company called 3ME launched this week. Founded by Yuza Mobile and Newstate Entertainment, they are looking to use social games for music and industry clients. Specific products have yet to be announced.

PopCap Rejects Buyouts — PopCap recounts a story to Develop about its early rejection of a $5 million buyout offer from Microsoft. According to PopCap Creative Director, Jason Kapalka, while acquisition is not out of the question, the company’s independence comes first.

Scoreloop Adds Android Payments — As Scoreloop spreads its influence on the Android platform, they have added to their services by allowing the ability to make payments for Android applications, such as for virtual currency. According to VentureBeat, the platform now provides payments, app discovery, and the addition of PayPal for handling transactions.

i-Jet Media Publishes “Most Expensive” Russian Social Game — Though exact numbers weren’t disclosed, i-Jet is claiming to have published the most expensive Russian social game ever on the social network Odnoklassniki, called Pet a Pet. Developed by Akella, the app saw around 45,000 installations in its first day, and is gaining more than 200 new users every minute.

[Rumor] Google to Buy Zynga? — In an interesting tweet from journalist Monty Munford, Google could be preparing to buyout Zynga for $6 billion. But at the moment, this unfounded rumor seems unlikely.

Amazon Launches New Checkout System — In the online payments world, Amazon.com announced the new “Checkout by Amazon” (CBA). With it, account holders will be able to make payments and purchases online using their Amazon.com credentials, without ever leaving the merchant’s site.