Fake stock investment mobile game

Edit from 2022 future Nick:
Boy howdy did this concept play out. Today, there are hundreds of apps in every phone store with this premise.


A free to play iPhone/Android app that emulates making stock market investments without using any real money. Think of it as a cross between fantasy football, Zynga Poker and the stock market.

The app would:
  • Present users with constantly updating real-time information on market performance
  • Allow players to invest virtual currency
  • Update and track the performance of a player's portfolio based on actual stock performance
  • Allow players to track their portfolio against their friends.

Theory:
Modern mobile games are designed to allow users to play in small sporadic bursts. This is mainly because phones as a platform work best as devices to check in on occasionally when bored rather than dedicated gaming devices to sit down and adventure with for an hour or so. Small batteries, limited capabilities, and terrible input controls make phone gaming a time-filler, not a destination.
Games that become popular and do well financially are ones where the users are only asked to check in for a minute or two, but are pressured to check in multiple times a day. This can be seen in such examples as DragonVale, Zynga Poker, Words with friends, or Hero Academy. Sessions are simple, but there's always some on-going campaign, returning rewards, or offline development element to encourage long term interaction.

It seems to me then that the action of making, watching, and adjusting investments through a phone app follows a very similar formula. Players are only required to check in every once in a while to watch or adjust their investments, and are called back to the game by alert messages about sudden spikes in value or other relevant reports. Seeing their value grow while offline is rewarding, seeing their value drop encourages high-touch interaction.
The added realism value of playing the actual stock market grants an atmosphere of importance and value that other games do not have, even though only fake currency is used.

The reason why this would be a fake money game is two fold: First, it makes onboarding new users easier with no risk while encouraging them to be experimental. Second, navigating the legal minefield of actual investments and competing with real investment houses would be insane, especially for a scaled down simple phone app.
The goal is to be approachable for any age range, and provide a simple and rewarding atmosphere. Fake money also alleviates hesitance to invest and play around. The app should be designed as a fun game in and of itself - offering achievements and goals, a training in how investment works.

Monetization:
(these are purely speculative)
  • Microtransactions to purchase additional in game currency
  • Premium features:
    • portfolio advanced data breakdown
    • recommendations
    • curated news feed
    • multiple separated portfolios that can be independently tracked
    • faster market metrics (Bloomberg terminal)
    • API access for algorithmic or third party trading

Structure:
  • After installing the game and registering for the service, players are given a small starting amount of money
  • Players can browse search for specific stock companies, filter search for a myriad of factors, or browse categories for most popular/growing stock/performance
  • can Invest in the purchase of any # of shares they can afford at current rates
  • Create a portfolio of investments
  • Find friends in-app to compete against or learn from

Future ideas:
  • Game variant where stock value rises and falls based on in-game player investments in addition to real values
  • Added incentives to make virtual money, such as:
    • A house to furnish, sim pets to spend money made on, possible to go bankrupt and loose sim -> ups the stakes
    • Other games (or apps) that use in-game currency from this one
      • can be its own game with other ways to accumulate virtual currency, but compatible with this account to tie together the currencies.
  • plugins for news stories to be forwarded to premium members who hold relevant fake shares
  • Partnerships with shwab or some such to easily allow users to exchange their fake stock for real stock for a fee.
  • Limited-time Competitions where participating players all receive the same starting capital and start fresh new portfolios. Highest value at the end wins.
  • (2022 edit:) Development of the Blockchain and crypto currencies has a lot of opportunity in a system like this.

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