What are the key components to building a successful online games
business?  What *specifically* do I have to do to drive traffic to my
platform (a la Yahoo, MSN, AOL) to get people to rent and play games
online?  An acceptable answer should discuss the various
partners/players (i.e. online game distributors) in the space, name at
least three major partners I should consider striking deals with (not
Yahoo, AOL, MSN) AND offer suggestions on how I can effectively
increase revenue year over year.  Time sensitive question: answer
today preferred.  Note: I am NOT interested in online
betting/casinos/gambling sites... only online games sites (e.g.,
games.yahoo.com, AOL games, etc.)

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Clarification of Question by og_capone-ga on 09 Jan 2003 16:09 PST

UPDATE:  Although it would be great to get an answer today, I'll
actually be happy to get answer by close of day, Friday (1/10). 
Thanks!

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Clarification of Question by og_capone-ga on 27 Jan 2003 12:03 PST

Unfortunately, I am not able to accept this answer, as I specifically
posted that I needed the information by close of day on 1/10/03.  I
have since already gotten the information that I needed, and have no
use for this.  The posted answer came 15 days after the deadline that
I set.

Hi -

Due to the time-sensitive nature of your question, as well as the
scope of it, you may consider increasing your price to the $25-$35
range.

jbf777-ga

Rather then a lengthy answer, I'm really just looking for some solid
bulletpoints to help point me in the right direction.  I'm also
willing to provide a tip for a great answer.  Thanks!

OK - I upped the price to $20.  I hope that it will encourage more to
think about answering.  Thanks everyone!

i don't really understand your question. What kind of online game
business do you want to start?

try going to online arcade sites such as www.coffeebreakarcade.com or
www.shockwavearcade.com and find the game developer's websites.

Key Components To Building A Successful On-Line Video Game Business

First and foremost - learn from your competition.  www.pogo.com is a
prime example of a game site that attracts enormous traffic by
offering alot for nothing.  One of the most brilliant things about the
homepage is that it posts exactly how many players are online at any
given time and exactly what games they are playing.  This is genius
because it inspires the "flock mentality" of internet surfers.  Ie -
when they see 20,000+ people are playing "First Class Solitaire" at
any given moment - they click on it to go find out why.  Further
contributing to the overall success of the site is an easy to use chat
client on every game.  When people can play games with their friends
and relatives on the internet from far away, they tend to become
return visitors.  I can assure you of this because i have met chicks
playing euchre and often play cards on holidays with my mother who
lives 3000 miles away.

Advantages:
Enormous web-traffic and advertising potential
Sustained growth of return visitors
Fair advertising income

Disadvantages:
Outlandish bandwidth costs
Little non-gambling related direct income

Key Business Partners For Online Gaming Business:

The more successful your online gaming business is, the more bandwidth
it will demand.  An absolute key component to continued success is
Internet backbone reliability and server integrity.  Gamers demand
instant access, no up front fees and the ability to play whenever they
want with other live people.  You will seriously need to consider
where you host any sort of game server and ensure that it has
sufficient bandwidth to allow for unknown amounts of mass traffic.  To
ensure latency for your users you will need to employee an IT
Professional who understands HTTP Request/Response Paths, Architecture
of the WWW Proxy System, network latency and redundancy specific to
the games that you offer and MOST IMPORTANTLY must be able to
collaborate with Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers for cost effective
server load and troubleshooting during outages.

Server Tech Info:
http://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/usits97/full_papers/tong/tong_html/node2.html

Where to get an IT Guru:
http://www.cissp.com/
(Or you could always ask the question here "Where can I find a
qualified IT Professional?)

Major Partners and Player Considerations:

If you want to get rich selling Internet game kiosks - partner with
Canadian company Tim Horton’s and put 5 video conferencing terminals
at in each store nation wide.  Rent access in 1/2-hour increments with
coffee deals to turn the Internet cafe idea into a teleconferencing
enterprise for family and business.  In Canada, Tim Horton’s is a
staple coffee company founded by a famous hockey player with a huge
potential subscriber base for social style Internet services.  This
same ideology could be applied to American super franchises such as
Starbucks and Krispy Cream.

http://www.timhortons.com/
http://www.starbucks.com
www.krispykreme.com/us.html


If you want to get rich in the platform game industry you will need to
concentrate on emerging network game consoles such as Playstation 2
and X-Box.  X-Box Live and Playstation 2 are struggling to meet
current industry demands for network gaming due to lack of ethernet
hardware and multi-broadband platform accessibility.  IF you could
provide an Internet technology solution to their gaming needs you
could gain instant credibility in the video game industry.
Entrepreneurial info provided upon reasonable offer.

I need to get some sleep.  10-hour overnight shifts are killin me. 
Especially when i have to deal with this junk
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/01/25/internet.attack/index.html
Please ensure the security of your business SQL servers as it is
taxing to us call center tech support people.
Thank you for your support.

ps - i'm only looking for payment so i can ask questions at no cost.
:)
If more entrepreneurial info is required be specific and within reason
for your offers.  Thanks again for your consideration.
<-J