June 8, 2010
12:00 to 16:00
Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Seminar room
Helsinki, Finland

On Tuesday, 8 June 2010, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT is organising an open seminar on research in so-called virtual economies. Online gaming, virtual goods sales and the convergence of games and social networking sites are radically changing the operating environment for consumer facing online businesses. Understanding user behaviour and different business models as well as the ability to collect and analyse data are emerging as crucial success factors. This seminar will provide a scholarly perspective to these topics by presenting findings from AVEA, a Tekes funded research project. Please find the programme of the seminar below.

12.00 Opening words
Kai Huotari, Research programme Manager, HIIT

12.15 Virtual Consumption
Dr. Vili Lehdonvirta, Researcher, HIIT

12.50 Virtual goods sales as a business model
Juho Hamari, Researcher, HIIT

13.25-14.25 Coffee Break

14.25 A micro-economic approach to MMOs
Juha Tolvanen, Researcher, HIIT

15.00 Does a player driven virtual world need economic management? CCPs approach to managing the economy of EVE Online.
Eyjólfur Guðmundsson, Chief Economist, CCP

15.35-16.00 Closing discussion

Welcome!

Please confirm your attendance by Friday, June 4, to Kai Huotari (kai.huotari{at}hiit.fi).