I think it is easy, when trying (and usually failing!) to get a grip on spending to get a bit down on yourself about it. After all, no matter how well things are going it is always possible to do better. Because no-one talks about money it is easy to think that most everyone has the same sort of attitude to money and is doing the same sort of things. However, just occasionally there will be a piece in the news or I will read something that reminds me that other people have very different attitudes to money.
Mr W has been reading The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick in which there is a section about how the apps within Facebook make almost as much money as Facebook itself:-
“Transactions inside applications make even more revenue. Justin Smith of Inside Facebook estimates there were $300 million in such transactions in 2009. Much of this is spent to buy an upgrade to a more advanced level of a game, or to buy virtual goods, like a fancier shoe to kick your friend in Kickmania. Playfish’s Pet Society game, where users set up houses to display their pets, releases new virtual items every Monday. On Valentine’s Day in 2009 the company sold five million images of roses that players could give to their friends . Each one cost about two dollars. In Zygna’s Texas Hold ‘Em, players who want more chips than they are allocated each day pay real money to get them, even though there is no way to remove winnings from Facebook. Numerous Facebook games have revenue exceeding £3 million a month.”
Am I the only one who thinks this is insanity – to spend money on imaginary fancy footwear with which to better virtually kick someone with!?
