Getting Past 'The Game'

Life is a game. Game mechanics are nothing new; everyday we are surrounded by and participate in game mechanics: Driving in traffic, getting that perfect seat at the movie theatre, having a better lawn than your neighbor, the stock market (the real one) – all of these actions are a form of gaming, and all of us have partaken in one form or another.

Empire Avenue was founded on this base theory (life is a game) and uses various gaming mechanics to create an interactive environment for the user. There are many ways to play the game of Empire Avenue, such as getting the highest share price you can, growing your wealth higher than anyone else, hoarding all the secret achievements you can… the list is somewhat vast. These are great ways to unwittingly become better at using social media, growing your online presence and meeting new people online. The game mechanics used on Empire Avenue, however, are but a very small piece to this puzzle. Our game mechanics are merely a catalyst into something a bit deeper, more personal: the heart and soul of social media, if you will.

Connecting! Empire Avenue is about Connecting!

Think of Empire Avenue as an onion with many layers, the outer layer being the Social Stock Market game. The piece that gets you into the door and creates that interaction hook that keeps you coming back. Like all games, you'll begin to lose interest after a while. Personally I love playing [Insert Any Xbox360 Game Here] but after a while the real world beckons and I stop playing. Every once in a while I'll pickup the controller and go through a level or two, but the nights staying up till 3am trying to kill the next boss are few and far between.

This is why peeling back the next few layers on Empire Avenue is so much fun. Our early users forged a path of community building and networking that we did not envision out of the gate. Personally I believe the strength of our site is the community. Look at meetups, where are our users get together to meet in person, or the number of jobs that have been posted in various community groups. There are folks that are willing to help others with their businesses or learn how to become more effective in their traditional and new media marketing.

We learned pretty early on that Empire Avenue IS NOT about measuring 'influence'. It just can't be done using the metrics we currently have! Many have tried and will continue to try, however there are too many immeasurable subjective and very human factors involved in trying to measure if your online activities truly creates "influence" over others – trust, reputation and emotions. Today we're about the "value" of your network, making social media fun, helping users gain better insights into their online activity and creating connections!

A lot of people ask, "What's in it for me?" Well, for one, it's fun. Investing in people with your social capital, getting your wealth and share price up is just a lot of fun. We provide you with metrics about all of your connections, which will expand and become better over time, and you'll connect and network with interesting and smart people from over 190 countries. When was the last time you could go up to a stranger and strike up a meaningful conversation? You can do that here on Empire Avenue: we're more than a score, more than a measurement... We're Connecting!

-Aaron