Web 2.0 Service: Societal Game

Catch27 looks like it's doing pretty well for itself, besides the frequent server overloads. Capitalizing on the fact that much of the adolescent social life seems to be a popularity contest, it becomes a virtual economy of people. Profiles are rated by "hots", "smarts", and overall persona. Needless to say, the network is populated by the beautiful yet not the brightest (if bright, not the most mature). Neat idea, though rather twisted. It works due to its social networking element; however, it is in lack of a goal to complete. Well, I correct myself. There is a goal, to collect 27 people with some distinguishing characteristic, but to me, that doesn't seem all that worthwhile.

Say remix Catch27. Take the virtual economy and add a few other goals (business, dating, play, etc). Add more elaborate profiles, separated by games, and you have created a viable, interesting social network. Businesses could hire, while getting a picture of the social aspect of their lives. Dating might be more practical - you can rule out all the penniless, Bohemian writers. Interests can be shared, while at the same time seeing that your online poker buddy is actually a CEO of a large corporation. By adding an all-encompassing element, people will have not only an accurate grasp of a whole person, but also a rough estimate of the person in a particular field.

While I'minlikewithyou defines games as short questions, it would be great if the idea was extended. Business "Games" could include competitions for the best design, or the best programming implementation given a problem. Dating "Games" could include witty conversation competitions, friend matchmaking, or an online speed dating session. Similarly, any other type of game could help gauge the person in a particular field and increase/decrease the rating to the most accurate evaluation.

Though trading dates/employees may seem rather insensitive, it may work if implemented slightly different per topic category. Trading dates in the "Dating" goal may increase your dating pool and send those "good ones" to somebody that they would be more compatible with. Obviously, there would have to be some tact, subtly designing the site to have less impact of the rating, but more on the person's characteristics (such as having previous dates tag them as "funny" or "charming"). Obviously, each goal would have to be implemented differently since they call for different social measures.

Monetization could be through ads, links to networks, business competitions, dating features, etc. There could be small fees to some of the games, but the majority of the social network-generated would be buying new packs of profiles.

Feel free to comment/add.