Gaming + Economic Development. What's the link?

It is not surprising that the world spends a collective 3 billion hours per week playing video games. While some would complain that video games are leading to the downfall of society – violent behavior, social disconnection, rotting the brains of people who could be studying, etc. – there is one development team who has set out to use the power of games to build society both virtually and literally. 




The software platform Seeds has goals very similar to the popular microlending organization Kiva –funding entrepreneurs in developing nations which are provided by user donations. While such platforms usually depend on recurring memberships and the type of media outreach associated with traditional non-profits, Seeds went a completely different route: it recognized how much time and money goes into online, social gaming and realized it can leverage these principles to raise funds. Compared to other sites with similar objectives, Seeds chose micro loans as the most sustainable way of donating to the developing world. After successfully closing their round on Fundable, they are now building their product:

The Seeds game world is designed to reflect the real-world mission of the platform. It features players helping to build a virtual collapsed civilization. The players engage in activities such as building citadels (think somewhere between SimCity and FarmVille, but with a cause). The Seeds strategy is to “monetize impatience” by inviting the users to use virtual currency (converted from real money) to make the tasks in the game world easier; a model of paying for upgrades. 

While this may come off to some as being a little eccentric and maybe even silly, what gives it legitimacy is that the sale of online goods is an enormous business. Seeds aims to build an API for other, more established games and to add an altruistic value to the purchase of virtual goods. Downloadable content and the sale of virtual goods are lucrative cash-cows in the video game world and may actually be on their way to replacing the traditional business model of single-copy sales. 

At the other end, connected to this game world, are receivers of micro loans that are typically located in developing nations. The recipients have the ability to petition the users for micro loans, and on top of that receive funds from the sale of the virtual goods and extras in the game world.

The lesson here for startups is that it is possible to apply one lucrative model in one realm and apply its revenue-generating principles in another, even if one is held as frivolous and the other as serious.

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