Village in Crisis - The monetization

This could be made as a for-profit game, but it feels better as a non-profit.  The non-profit would generate revenue from the micro-payments and the ‘mini-games.’ I expect $0.25 of value would be generated per user per day. Using the most cost effective ways of improving quality lives, this could amount half to one life-years per user per year (see about mosquito nets and deworming).

Village in Crisis - The idea

We care about things that impact our everyday lives. We spend money to alleviate common annoyances and give to charities that directly impact us and those around us, e.g., donating to breast cancer if a family member is a survivor. There is immense suffering in the world and the vast majority happens far from us (citizens of the US). We don’t see child soldiers or the women who are sold into the sex trade or whole villages suffering from dengue fever. Out of sight, out of mind.

The challenge is to bring the suffering to the attention of average Americans. Shoving it in people’s faces doesn’t work, they’ll just avoid it. It has to be made palatable and actionable.

Here is where farmville comes in. The solution is to create a game where players are like mayors/local non-profit leads of a city. They get to see a (watered down) version of what it might be like to live in a developing country including its trials. The job of the player is to keep the citizens happy and healthy.  This is no easy task in these simulated cities as public utilities are either nonexistent or dilapidated. The player must rely on non-profits for help. For a non-profit to help, the user needs to give a micropayment or play a ‘mini-game.’ These mini-games would be things that actually have economic value: watch a trailer, fill out a survey, or solve simple mechanical turk-like tasks. The player wouldn’t have to use micro-payments to succeed in the game, but they would have to ‘make money’ somehow for the city.

Once the city’s citizens are happy and healthy, the mayor moves onto the next city. This would be a collaborative game so several people can be helping the same city. After playing the game for weeks, players can check to see what their game playing has bought for real people: mosquito nets, clean water, goats, etc. This can be tracked by the number of quality adjusted years of life given to real people. That would be the game leaderboard. There would be a nearly 1-to-1 relationship between how a player does in the game and how many adjusted years of life they’ve added.

The game could also expose people to regional conflict and problems. If an issue is happening in reality it could make its way into the game and suggest the user call their congressman or senator.

Village in Crisis - The motivation

People like playing sim games. There is something addictive about games like Farmville, and micropayments in these games can quickly add up to real money. At the same time, we should be paying more attention to farmers in developing countries than to our virtual farmers.

Smart Microwave - The pitch

Stop standing over your microwave, watching, stirring, changing settings, and guessing. Upgrade to a microwave with some brains. Smart Microwave only needs you to tell it how hot you want your food and it’ll take care of the rest.

Smart Microwave - The fun part

Making this thing smart is the fun part. How well could a microwave do at figuring out what food has been placed in it and how that needs to be cooked? Are all of the sensors necessary or are more needed? Could adding a moisture sensor let the microwave better estimate what it’s cooking or when it has dried the food out?

Smart Microwave - The growth potential

I expect that in the US alone,100,000 of these could sell per year, which would be a 100 million dollars in revenue per year.

Smart Microwave - The monetization

This product would be sold to customers on a per unit basis. The price would be significantly higher than cheap microwaves at $1,000. But, it could pay for itself over its lifetime in time saved. It would make watching the microwave to make sure it doesn’t boil over or burn your food a thing of the past.