Interview: Faketown talks Fighting Carbon Emissions and Marketing in 2D

Faketown, the 2D virtual world, has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund to educate users about carbon emissions and responsible growth. "[The WWF] really wanted to reach a younger audience," said Faketown CEO Michelle Ogata. "And they were excited about getting to an audience that they typically have trouble reaching in terms of them being apathetic about their projects and generally less interested. But we had a soft launch a couple of weeks ago, and the users are extremely engaged in both the gameply and environmental aspect as well."

"If you direct URL the WWF profile, you go the garden shop where we sell virtual seeds branded with the WWF logo," explained Faketown Co-Founder and Creative Director Bart Yeary. "Then you plant that tree, and it needs to be watered routinely every twelve minutes, and it grows and produces virtual oxygen and enters you in the running to be the top oxygen producer in the town. We reward the top producer with a custom avatar. It’s raising carbon awareness in the world and it also encourages you to donate to buy real trees through the WWF to get a new avatar."

Although the program won't be promoted until next week, the companies are already seeing positive results. "These users who are kids between 13 and 18 are getting excited about talking about how they can reduce their carbon footprint," said Ogata.  "Over the last week, a couple of kids have started their own online environmental clubs, and one user went around their real neighborhood putting up flyers about the WWF. The message has definitely been getting across."

87 percent of Faketown users are between 13 and 24, and the majority are between 13 and 18. Ogata says that "Knowing our audience, if we preach too heavily, they’re not as receptive as if they are controlling the dialogue. So we talk to regualar, power users who in turn get other users excited. The older kids like to rattle off facts, and the younger kids look up to them. It seems like being really involved on a daily basis makes a huge difference."

For Yeary, the combination of social networking with gameplay and purchasing is what seals the deal. "When there’s a real reward for participation, it makes for a more receptive audience," he said. "When there are virtual assets, users can walk away and own a piece of it. They belong to the concept without making a huge commitment at the beginning of it."

Faketown has a smaller user base than larger 3D worlds like Second Life. The company is in plans to expand its advertising, but right now  it sees about 35,000 unique visitors per month. Ogata says, "So it’s interesting to see someone like WWF create an immersive environment on a small budget."

The small budget it takes to work with a 2D world is part of what Ogata sees as attractive about Faketown for projects like this one. "I can’t give you names, but some companies have reached out to us who have only experimented in 3D worlds. It’s a hefty commitment, even just to test it out when you don’t know what the result will be. They ask 'What can we do in the 2D world?'"

Joey Seiler
www.VirtualWorldsNews.com
joey (at) showinitiative.com
(512) 535-8650
skype: joey.seiler.vwnews

Comments

[mzcandykisses12]

it not fair because they just shut it down and didnt tell us i got off cause i had to refresh and it shut down rite after men i was mad now itz like so boring now that faketown is not here anymore ugh men itz like hella boring.dang im so like boreddddddddddddddddddd

[bless13]

when faketown was around i had something 2 do on da cpu but now it's juss boring old online games

[bless13]

when faketown was around i had something 2 do on da cpu but now it's juss boring old online games

[ghost12390]

hey man i like faketown a lot too but i liked this website also called habbo.com
it's just like fake town in its own way u get music plus its 3D another thumbs up but any way to cut to the chase if like faketown u will love habbo