- Gamesville
Infobox Company
company_name = Gamesville
company_
company_type =Subsidiary ofLycos
foundation = 1996
location_city =
location_country =
location = Waltham, MA, United States
key_people =
industry = Online Games Developer/Portal
products = Various, visit website for full product listing.
revenue = N/A
operating_income = N/A
net_income = N/A
num_employees = N/A
homepage = [http://www.gamesville.com/ http://www.gamesville.com]Gamesville is a
casual gaming portal founded in 1995 in Boston, Massachusetts bySteven Kane , Stuart Roseman and John Furse.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gamesville.com: Wasting People’s Time Since 1996 | work = | publisher = Virtual Advisor, Inc. | date= | url = http://www.va-interactive.com/inbusiness/editorial/biztech/articles/gamesville.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-12 ] Gamesville was acquired in 1999 by Web portalLycos for $232 million in stock.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Lycos Moves Into Gamesville | work = | publisher = Jupitermedia Corporation | date= | url = http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/243901 | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-11 ] Gamesville’s tagline is "Wasting your time since 1996".History
Founded on a minimal capital base, Gamesville operated not just as a games provider but as a targeted marketing operation, offering free games and prizes to members as a way to attract large numbers of users while tailoring their proprietary games to meet the demands of advertisers.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gamesville.com: Wasting People’s Time Since 1996 | work = | publisher = Virtual Advisor, Inc. | date= | url = http://www.va-interactive.com/inbusiness/editorial/biztech/articles/gamesville.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-12 ] To play, members must provide demographic information; in turn, members would receive targeted ads based on the demographics provided. Gamesville pioneered the use of interstitial advertising as a method of monetizing game players.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = nineCo Introduces Full-Screen E-Mercials | work = | publisher = The ClickZ Network | date= | url = http://www.clickz.com/15431 | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-12 ]
Gamesville's first game, The Bingo Zone, enabled hundreds of people to compete against one another in real time, for free, and win up to $20 by getting a bingo. Initially, Kane was skeptical of launching a free online bingo game because bingo is traditionally associated with the elderly rather than the prized demographics most advertisers seek. However, on the day Gamesville.com launched in April 1996, the Wall Street Journal ran a story about Gen Xers playing bingo in bars, and Kane is quoted as saying, "It was as if God had whispered to us." cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Cyber Bingo | work = | publisher = H.B. Koplowitz | date= 1997 | url = http://www.hbkoplowitz.com/LIC/archives/1997/bingo/index.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-11 ]
Over the years, additional free games with cash prizes were added, including card, trivia, puzzle, and several bingo variants. This approach attracted many visitors: In August 1999, Gamesville.com was the "stickiest" site on the Internet with
eBay in second place. cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Importance of Being Sticky | work = | publisher = Media Life Magazine | date= 1997 | url = http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news1999/nov99/news31101.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-11 ]Lycos
In November 1999, internet portal
Lycos announced that it would spend $270 million in stock to acquire Gamesville.com, which at that time had approximately 2.2 million registered users. cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Lycos Bets $270M On Gamesville.com | work = | publisher = E-Commerce Times | date= | url = http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/1817.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-10 ]Gamesville leveraged its relationship with Lycos to obtain the rights to produce the first (and to date, the only) online version of the popular television game show
The Price Is Right in 2002 cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = 'The Price Is Right' For Online Casinos | work = | publisher = Casinomeister | date= | url = http://www.casinomeister.com/news/november2002.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-12 ] although the license was dropped after one year.In 2002,
Monster.com profiled Gamesville's Rewards Manager, Josh Yeager, citing him as holding one of the Top 10 Coolest Jobs on the Internet.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Top 10 Coolest Jobs on the Internet | work = | publisher = Monster.com | date= | url = http://internet.monster.com/articles/unique/l | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-12 ] Yeager estimated that he sent out between 1,000 to 2,500 prize checks weekly, indicating that "some days I feel like theBob Barker of the Internet, other days like Santa Claus himself."cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Top 10 Coolest Jobs on the Internet | work = | publisher = Monster.com | date= | url = http://internet.monster.com/articles/unique/l | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-12 ] There is in fact more truth to this statement than at first glance, as Gamesville, for a brief time in 2002, had hosted the exclusive Internet game rights to The Price Is Right.Over the years, Gamesville developed several games without prizes including a multiplayer online version of
Spite and Malice and an online version ofSpider Solitaire .Drifting away from its focus on prizes caused the number of visitors to Gamesville.com to slowly but steadily declinecite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = 5 Year Traffic Graph For Gamesville.com | work = | publisher = Alexa.org | date= | url = http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=gamesville.com&url=gamesville.com/ | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-12 ] .
killjam
In an attempt to reinvigorate the Gamesville site, Lycos entered into a year-long integration with
Skilljam starting in 2006; purportedly the integration was designed to provide premium "best in class skill and casual free games for cash prizes, combined with exclusive games content not available anywhere else"cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Lycos Goes Casual | work = | publisher = Game Daily | date= | url = http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=11983 | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-12 ] to Gamesville players. However, instead, the integration with Skilljam only hastened the decline in traffic to Gamesville.In April 2007, Lycos issued a public apologycite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Lycos Apologises, Restores Gamesville To Old Look | work = | publisher = EFY Enterprises | date= | url = http://www.efytimes.com/efytimes/fullnews.asp?edid=18305 | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-12 ] , announcing an end to the Skilljam partnership and a promise to return the site to its roots. The relaunch of the site included new premium games from
WorldWinner and new download games provided byOberon Media . ATripod blog was also integrated into the site under the title "The Gamesville Blog".After the relaunch of Gamesville, traffic to the site steadily increased, although not to its former heights.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = 3 Year Traffic Graph For Gamesville.com | work = | publisher = Alexa.org | date= | url = http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=gamesville.com&url=gamesville.com/ | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-12 ]
Notable products
In March 2007, Gamesville launched [http://www.gamesville.com/games/magic21Multiplayer Magic 21] , a variant of blackjack, where multiple players compete to win a cash jackpot worth up to $4,999.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Sneak Preview: New Gamesville Game | work = | publisher = Gamesville | date= | url = http://www.blog.gamesville.com/index.blog/1655696/sneak-preview-new-gamesville-game/ | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-12 ] The game is notable because it is the first proprietary jackpot game developed by Lycos/Gamesville since 2002's "The Price Is Right".
In July 2007, Gamesville launched a new
avatar system enabling users to create 2D representations of themselves for use in Gamesville games.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Express Yourself With Avatars | work = | publisher = Gamesville | date= | url = http://www.blog.gamesville.com/index.blog/1667435/coming-soon-express-yourself-with-avatars/ | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-13 ] Gamesville currently holds "best avatar" contests in the Gamesville Blog. cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title =Best Gamesville Avatars | work = | publisher = Gamesville | date= | url = http://www.blog.gamesville.com/index.blog?topic_id=1093469 | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-13 ]On May 28, 2008, Gamesville relaunched Bingo Zone with a new design, a chat game called Dickie's Bonus Balls, and progressive cash prizes. cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Introducing The Bingo Zone | work = | publisher = Gamesville | date= | url = http://www.blog.gamesville.com/index.blog/1816955/introducing-the-bingo-zone/ | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-05-31 ]
Notable intellectual property
Gamesville has several trademarks and patents in its portfolio, most notably US Patent 6,012,984, “Systems for providing large arena games over computer networks”.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Systems for providing large arena games over computer networks | work = | publisher = U.S. Patent Office | date= | url = http://www.google.com/patents?id=b94AAAAAEBAJ&dq=gamesville | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-11 ]
ee also
*
Online games
*Online bingo
*Browser game
*Lycos References
External links
* [http://www.gamesville.com Official site]
* [http://www.bingozone.com BingoZone.com]
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