Ophelia's Gaze: What Second Life Could Learn from Poupéegirl's Fashionista Incentives

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of virtual world and MMO fashion

Poupéegirl is a Japanese MMO (produced by Ameba, a company that has dabbled in Second Life in the past) that focuses heavily on fashion, both real and virtual. Users share their real life closet as they build their digital one, motivated by some incredibly clever incentives that I'd love to see Second Life and other virtual worlds incprorate too. 

When I first came across Poupéegirl, I assumed it was a game where I would have to buy currency to buy clothes... and I already do that in Second Life, so why bother? When I looked a little closer, I realized that PoupéeGirl has a very innovative way of encouraging user participation right from the start, and it's a model that Second Life would benefit from following. Consider the barrier that many SL users feel the very first time they're faced with buying L$. Unlike most MMOs, Second Life makes it incredibly difficult to earn currency. Even knowing where to find freebies requires insider knowledge, and it's still not uncommon for those "freebies" to cost L$1 (which is L$1 more than most new players have.)

New players can go through something called a lesson book which rewards them with ribbons (the game's main currency) or clothing items for completing some basic actions for the first time, like adding a friend or visiting a shop. This is a great way to encourage people to actually familiarize themselves with the practical use of the platform (something I would consider lacking in Second Life's often monotonous tutorial stages.) They can also take these lessons at their own pace, completing them here and there rather than being forced to finish them all at once.

Keep reading to find out what else Poupéegirl has to offer SL!

Poupéegirl is not a standard social MMO. The emphasis is placed strongly on fashion, and users share pictures of their favourite real life clothes and accessories in their profile. The items are associated with favorite brands, and other users can Like (or "Suteki") them and comment. The rules for what can and can't be posted are extensive, but for each item shared the user earns ribbons in addition to a random piece of virtual clothing for their poupée's wardrobe.

There is also a system in place to prevent abuse of rewards: After uploading five items in one day, the rewards for uploading any more decrease and eventually stop altogether. This is a great way to encourage users to add new content and develop their profile in detail, similar to how Linden Lab is encouraging residents to complete their profiles and participate more in Second Life's online community. I suspect that Poupéegirl's tangible rewards have much wider appeal that Linden Lab's special titles, if only because they are actually useful in the Poupéegirl world.

In fact, the heart of what Poupéegirl does so well (and Second Life has always done poorly) is incentivize things that are directly related to playing it. For example, dressing up your Poupée every day for a month will earn you a whopping 500 ribbon reward. Even the tutorial method of the lesson book demonstrates this. As important as being rewarded for completing each step is, users are doing them in-game and not in an isolated tutorial area – they are interacting with other users and doing things in the game environment that are identical to how they will play later on. For Second Life to attract new users and encourage old ones to stay involved, it desperately needs to follow Poupéegirl's example – reward users for actually using it!

 

Iris Ophelia (Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Times and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and with pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.

Comments

[Rin Tae]

The example given here seems very good in making people want to continue. Of course it helps that it is fashion! ^_^ .. and everyone likes fashion!

But anyway, the point is very true, that even more then getting new users to learn about SL, LL need to make sure that those who come in stay.
And since SL existed, the learning curve for new residents has not only been too high, but also the world lacked a welcoming feel towards new users joining in. With welcome areas being often nothing more then griefing pits and the 'help' available to new residents being marginal at best, it is no wonder Second Life has problems with the growth in user numbers.

After all, what good is bringing in new people when none or very few actually stay?

[Adeon Writer]

The thing is, LL can't give out money for free or everyone would grind it. In the game you mention, the currency is probably not transferable between accounts. Unless LL were to make a separate credits system, that could work.

[Adeon Writer]

Then again someone would just earn a ton of stuff across many alts and then use it to buy their main's content... Hm. Are you sure this could work for SL?

[Arcadia Codesmith]

I think it could work. "No Transfer" prevents alt abuse. And while a deep system would be nice, one that gets players invested for those critical first few minutes, hours and days should be the priority.

[Adeon Writer]

Would the creator who made the content that the non-trans credits are used on actually get paid? Even if its in more "credits"? If so, it's still gameable. And transferable.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Most any system can be abused.

Most any system can include a flagging mechanism to minimize abuse.

I think a system like this, monitored with the right tolerances, could be made unprofitable to cheat without detection.