Companies searching for ‘stickiness’ are starting to lose their way. A significant minority of Americans (almost 10%) with Internet access no longer plan to surf. Z/Yen Limited, the innovative Risk/Reward managers have released a new study of financial trading games that exposes how poorly executed and unimaginative games cause surfers to switch off.

Z/Yen were disappointed with the quality of most of the games they examined. The study, "Online Financial Trading and Stock Market Simulations" examines over 150 on-line investment and trading games, assessing their potential application as a tool for generating web site popularity and evaluating the benefits investment games could add to web sites.

Michael Mainelli, Director of Z/Yen says " These games soak up vast amounts of investment, yet are often poorly thought out and executed. Where are the PacMan or Space Invaders for the Internet?"

Research Consultant Mary O’Callaghan adds "In a busy marketplace, with a wide variety in game style, playability and above all quality, few games stand out from the crowd and very few seem to try and entertain."

Based on their research and experience, Z/Yen have categorised the gaming world in 4 ways, considering interactivity and time independence. They summarise these categories as:

• Complex: including strategy type games that build up strong communities that depend on quick responses for their success and gameplay, e.g., Ultima;
• Isolated: including action type "shoot’em’up" games that require immediate responses, but have little sense of community, e.g., Jamba’s Chain Reactors;
• One-Off: including gambling and trivia games, with little sense of community but independent of user response times, e.g., Final Bell;
• Sticky: games which develop strong communities and high interactivity, resulting in long term relationships with users, including web trading games such as FatCat or Studio Boss.

Michael Mainelli goes on to say "Financial games were some of the least inviting and engaging. Too many were what we call ‘Trite Trackers’, games which are based on data streams from live exchanges, but do little with the information to make it interesting.

Among the many poorly thought out and executed games we did find a couple with outstanding potential for building genuine communities of loyal web users. Companies seeking to capitalise on this potential have two choices, to develop their own game in-house, or to customise an existing game template such as FatCat. We await the next developments with interest".

A copy of the report "Online Financial Trading and Stock Market Simulations" can be requested from Z/Yen Limited on + 44 (0) 20 7562-9562.

Z/Yen specialises in risk/reward management, an innovative approach to improving organisational performance. Z/Yen clients include blue chip companies in banking, information technology, publishing and distribution as well as charities and care organisations.

For further information please contact:

Michael Mainelli or Mary O’Callaghan on (020) 7562-9562 or email: mary_ocallaghan@zyen.com.