What Research Style Works Best For You?

Sometimes it just all becomes too much and you feel like you’re drowning. That was me this past Monday and that was the Executive Producer that I am working with on The Solar Games day today. When trying to get a new project off the ground everything needs to be done and there is never enough time or resources to go around. Research is just a part of the work that needs to be done and if you don’t understand the value of the research then it becomes hard to put it on the list of things to be done.

The Solar Games it is a start up company so for the most part we are working from the ground up. One of the challenges that we face right now is determining the value of the company before a game is actually made. One of the big questions that we have (as well as some potential backers that are looking at this project) is market size and expected revenue. To add to the challenge of finding answers to these two questions, we have to also consider the impact side of this project and how that will affect in-game purchases for this game.

For research into market size and expected revenue we will be looking at secondary research and using data already available. The big time consuming part of this is collecting the data from various sources examining it and turning it into something usable. For this research I feel we need to use both Qualitative and Quantitative research. For data on market size we will want to look at a large and random sample to get an idea of the size and that is Quantitative research. Quantitative research can also be used to look at what the average spend for game users in current games is. However to get an understanding of how the social impact of the game will affect revenue we are going to want to look at open-ended responses, interview and observation to identify patterns and trends is Qualitative research. To research more into the effects of the social impact of the game and how it will affect in-game purchase I think we are going to need to delve into the field or primary research. I am thinking about using a survey of gamers that are into “Games for Change” type games might be a good way to conduct that research.

Some of the Questions we are going to need to consider are those that fall under Qualitative research:

– Number and demographics of mobile and console game players?
– Percentage of game players that spend money in-game for freemium style games?
– What types of game elements are being purchased in-game?
– Growth of mobile and console device sales?

There is a lot to cover here so any thoughts are more than welcome.

What Does Your Online Image Look Like?

I remember the first time I ever did a Google search on myself. My brother who lived in another state called me up and asked what connection I had with a certain company. It took me off guard because I had just started doing some contract work with the company in question. After I filled him in with what I was up to, I asked him how he found out about me working with this company. He told me he had done a Google search on our last name and it came up. I was curious and had never done a search on myself so I gave it a try. I was kind of shocked with I found. I found my name attached to a state government website that I never knew about in regards to a company I had not worked for in almost a year. I found directories with my name on them with the wrong information posted. I was really surprised to see that since my name is not common at all and I have never found another Phillip with the same spelling of the last name. It also turned out that the website my brother found me on was not what I had thought. This guy that I was doing a little work with had me posted on his website making it look like I worked for him, which was not the case and the website was half business and half religion and the religious content on the website was close to being considered flaming it was go aggressive. Needles to say I was not happy about my personal image on line.

In one of my first classes in the Internet Marketing degree program I am currently in we learned about online images and how important it is to make sure that it shows us in the light that we chose to be seen in. Since then I have worked very hard to make sure my online image is a good and positive one. In preparing to write this post I once again did a Google search on myself. The first couple of pages that came up were all about me and most of it was by me. Most of the first page is taken up with social media profiles for the various social channels I am on such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to name a few. The first page also shows my blog, which is just the way I want it. My blog is all about my studies and professional experiences in Internet Marketing. The communication on my blog is definitely meant to be a self-expressing message. Think of my blog as well as my YouTube channel as a portfolio of my knowledge and skills in areas of digital marketing that I want people interested in my services to see. So I am very happy with the search results that showed up.

Doing a Google image search did not bring up quite the crafted results page like the web search did. The image search has my profile pictures from my social media profiles and shows some of my friends and family, images form videos I have created and posted online, or at least the first half of the results page was that way; I will get to the rest in just a moment. Looking at the top part of the page, if you knew me well and followed my work you would be able to interpret the information and of course my personal interpretation of the information will be very different and make sense to me but will be harder to understand if you don’t know who I am.

The rest of the pictures are more random and even I can’t say how they ended up on a search for my name. Now, if I being honest with the results, I did find quite a few mug shots of people I do not know. I didn’t like see these images in a search on my name because of the negative stereotype such pictures have. I don’t think these results have a derogatory effect on my image, however looking at the image results page I think I need to do some more work on what shows up. To this point I have not posted a lot of pictures online nor on any of my social media profiles, but that’s about to change so I can have more control over what people will find when searching for me online. For the most part I am happy how I come across online and will do what I can to keep that way or to even make it better.

https://www.facebook.com/phillip.mullennax

https://twitter.com/PMullennax

https://pmullennax.wordpress.com/tag/phillip-mullennax/

Flaming: Inappropriately aggressive messages that would not typical be said face-to-face.

Ya That’s What I Said

Being Part of Change

I have never though that I could change the world. I have tried hard to change my own life and have had success at that a time or two. There have been a few things that have changed my life–having my kids and going back to school at 36 years, but I have always thought myself too small to be the one to make big changes in the world at large. Going back to school has been the latest thing to change me. I have found confidence in myself and am ever more motivated to make changes–at least in my own life.

While logged into my schools website I came across a blog post by my program director that caught my eye. It was an invitation to apply for a marketing internship with a start-up company. When I saw the post I thought to myself “This could be something that could help me find that change I am so looking for.” I read further and found that it was an unpaid internship but decided to apply anyway. That is how I ended up working with Bradley Bulifant and the gang at GoodXGames and their new venture, The Solar Games.

The Solar Games is a social racing game set in the year 2033. Due to climate changes the world has found itself in an environmental apocalypse and in need of change. The Solar Games was set up by the nations to be like the Olympics and unite the world so that change could take place. Now, The Solar Games is not just another social racing game. It is a game for change using entertainment as a vehicle to create real world impact.

GoodXGames will be taking 50% of all profits from The Solar Games to be used for solar projects around the world in support of the United Nations “Decade of Sustainable Energy for All”. The first area of the world to be impacted by this movement is Haiti where energy is desperately needed. Other release future release by GoodXGames will focus on other locations with similar needs.

Not only will The Solar Games be making a difference in the world, but the players and supporters of the game will be as well. As solar projects happen in the real world players game profiles will reflect these changes as well, so players will be able to see real world impact as it happens that they personally help make happen. This concept of social responsibility by GoodXGames makes it so that the small actions of many become large-scale change affecting thousands and hopefully millions of lives.

I set out with this internship opportunity to get some good experience to put on my resume so that I could make some financial changes for my family. I did not expect this project to change me as deeply as it has nor did I expect it to have such a profound impact in my life and bring about such change for me personally. Now I find myself in a situation where I can be part of the change the world has such need for and that my actions can impact lives for years to come. I am so grateful I decided to take action. Everyone and anyone that wants to be part of this change now can be and like me have the time of their life doing it. I support The Solar Games and hope you will to.