Economics/Geekonomics

The Analysts’ Freemium Nightmare

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I'm starting to pity economists, beyond the whole "how did so many of you morons miss the economy melting down" thing.  I'm feeling bad for them because they've got to try and analyze a lot of crazy trends in the actual working parts of the world economy, and things are changing rapidly and are far more distributed.

Last column I speculated on the various facets of Freemium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemium) that I feel need to be further explored and understood.  I'm quite enthused about the model and feels it holds great promise.

Now assuming Freemium is the wave of the future, as opposed to a tiny splash in the big ocean  of pricing models that lies on the shores of weird economic metaphors, there are going to be changes in more than just how we sell and buy.  There will be changes in how people analyze economic information, from understanding sales, to evaluating the performance of an industry.

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Further Freemium Thoughts

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Freemium is a term I see thrown around a lot this day.  It's sunk into the vocabulary of media producers, programmers, and marketers quickly – so quickly I don't think we've really analyzed the repercussions of it.  As I've seen the term used more and more, as I've played Freemium games, I think we've gotten so used to it we don't think about it.

This of course gets me thinking.  Not that it's not hard to do that . . .

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The Potential Of Monetizing Practice

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You've got practice software, unfinished (or not that great) stories, unused art.  Even if you're a progeek career-wise, you've probably got a lot of assets that  . . . well aren't that professional.  You're not sure you'd want to release that first Flash game, that fantasy story isn't that hot . . . let's face it some of your practice work may be decent or even good, but it's not your best.

Or maybe you're in practice phase right now, creating new stories or games or what have you.  You'd like to make money at it, but at the same time, well . . .

The thing is, in an age of print on demand, downloadable games, and eBooks you can easily monetize your practice efforts.  IN fact, I'm wondering if it's a good idea or an idea that may be normal in the future.

Consider the fact that, with little effort, you can get out an eBook, release an ad-supported smartphone game, and so on.  You certainly have the tools to get almost any media form you create out in some form of distribution, from a Print-On-Demand book to a full game download.  The fact that it might not be your best work doesn't stop you from getting it out there.

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