GoVenture World User Guide
Gameplay Details Continued
Business Costs
-
Operating Costs
Operating costs are the amount of g money that you have to pay to operate your business. Operating a business in some countries is less expensive than in others.
-
Shipping Costs
Shipping costs are influenced by the distance from where a product is manufactured to where it is shipped to be sold. The greater the distance, the higher the shipping costs will be.
-
Import Duties
Shipping costs are influenced by the distance from where a product is manufactured to where it is shipped to be sold. The greater the distance, the higher the shipping costs will be.
Buying and Selling Product
There are two ways to buy and sell product:
-
Directly between businesses
Retail and Manufacturing Businesses can negotiate buy and sell agreements between them at any time. If you are a Retailer, make an offer to buy. If you are a Manufacturer, make an offer to sell. Try to negotiate for the best deal.
-
Open Market
The Open Market is a marketplace where Manufacturers can post product inventory to sell at a set price. Prices are set by the seller so there are no negotiations.
Manufacturers cannot buy products, they can only sell. Retailers can only sell products to virtual consumers.
When selling product you have to set a selling price. To determine the best selling price you have to consider the amount of profit that you need to cover the cost of the product plus operate your business.
In business, there are two common methods for setting price: Cost-plus pricing and Market pricing.
-
Cost-plus pricing means determining all the costs to make and sell your product and choosing a price that is a set amount above this amount.
-
Market pricing means determining what consumers are willing to pay for your product and setting the price to this amount. Determining what consumers will pay for your product can be complicated as it is influenced by product features, product quality, brand, market demand for the product, competition, and the economic strength of the country in which you are selling.
Consumers generally prefer lower-priced products. However, some consumers are willing to pay more for products that match their desired combination of features, quality, and brand.
Note that while some consumers may be willing to pay a higher price for a product, be aware that if the price is unreasonably high, consumers will choose not to buy. As you continue to increase your price beyond a certain threshold, sales will slow as fewer and fewer consumers will purchase. If your price is above a maximum-price threshold, no sales will be made.
Discovering the most profitable price for your business requires experience and experimentation.
Shipping Product
-
When a Manufacturer sells product to a Retailer, or a Retailer buys product from a Manufacturer (directly or on the Open Market), arrangements have to be made for shipping the product and making or accepting the payment.
-
A Manufacturer must use PURCHASE ORDERS to send product to the Retailer. The Purchase Orders list shows all orders that have been received. A Purchase Order remains open until all product units have been shipped to the buyer.
-
The sale of services works the same way, but there is no shipping of product.
-
When a direct sale is made between a Manufacturer and a Retailer, the Manufacture arranges and pays to ship the product.
-
When a Manufacturer lists product on the Open Market, the listed product is reserved but not shipped until a Retailer purchases the product from the Open Market. The Retailer arranges and pays to ship the product.
Purchase Orders
-
A PURCHASE ORDER is a document issued by a BUYER that requests a product or service from a SELLER at a set price.
-
Once a BUY or SELL AGREEMENT is accepted by a buyer or a seller, a Purchase Order is automatically issued.
-
A Purchase order prompts a seller to deliver the product or service.
Invoices for Payment
-
An INVOICE is a document issued by a SELLER that requests payment from a BUYER who has purchased products or services.
-
Once a BUY or SELL AGREEMENT is accepted by a buyer or a seller, an Invoice is automatically issued by the seller to the buyer. Invoices can be viewed under FINANCE > Invoices and Loans
-
The buyer can make payments on the Invoice based upon the deal negotiated between the buyer and seller. Normally, once the product or service has been delivered in full, the buyer will issue a payment in full to the seller using the Invoice. However, the buyer and seller may negotiate other terms, such as one or more partial payments before a product or service is fully delivered.
Market Demand
Market demand is the amount of money that consumers spend to purchase products from retail businesses. Market demand varies by country.
Example:
Suppose Spain has a market demand for automobiles of g100,000. This means that (simulated) consumers in Spain will purchase up to g100,000 of automobiles each and every year.
-
Some countries have much higher market demand than others. The market demand in every country in the world increases as more businesses are started in GoVenture World.
-
The proportional market demand by country in GoVenture World is designed to be similar to the real world. For example, if the United States comprises 24% of the global economy in the real world, then this will be similar in GoVenture World. However, in order to help with gameplay, all countries have a minimum market demand available to support at least one business.
Virtual Customers
In GoVenture World, consumers are simulated (not real) people that purchase products from retail businesses.
-
Consumers have different profiles, which identify the factors that influence their purchase decisions.
-
Consumers may be influenced by price, marketing, brand, features, quality, or some combination of all of these factors. Use market research to discover this information.
-
Social Responsibility
Consumers are more likely to purchase products manufactured and/or sold by companies that demonstrate social responsibility. See Social Responsibility for more details.
Manufacturing Businesses produce and sell products to Retail Businesses. Retail Businesses sell products to virtual consumers. Virtual consumers are simulated by GoVenture World. Virtual consumers decide which products they are going to purchase based upon:
-
Product Type
Cars, clothes, food, etc.
-
Price
Consumers generally prefer lower-priced products. However, some consumers are willing to pay more for products that match their desired combination of features, quality, and brand. Note that while some consumers may be willing to pay a higher price for a product, be aware that if the price is unreasonably high, consumers will choose not to buy.
-
Features
Attributes of the product. Consumers generally prefer products with more features. However, only some consumers may be willing to pay more for such products. See Product Quality and Features for more details.
-
Quality
Durability and reliability of the product. Consumers generally prefer products of higher quality. However, only some consumers may be willing to pay more for such products. See Product Quality and Features for more details.
-
Brand
A combination of the Brand Equity of the Manufacturing Business that produced the product and the Retail Business that is selling it. Consumers generally prefer products with a stronger brand. However, only some consumers may be willing to pay more for such products. See Brand for more details.
-
Signage and Service
Signage increases the visibility of a business. Service increases the goodwill consumers have towards a business. The Signage and Service of all Retail businesses in the same country are compared each hour GT and the result influences sales to virtual consumers. The comparison is based on the daily cost GT of the Signage or Service turned ON. See Retail Business for details.
Various consumers assign different levels of concern to each of the above attributes. For example, some consumers are very price conscious and will choose the lowest priced product, regardless of features, quality, or brand.
Some consumers are brand conscious and will purchase leading brands regardless of price. While other consumers have a combination of concern with price, features, quality, and brand. These are called consumer psychographics. Consumer psychographics vary in GoVenture World by country.
Understanding consumer psychographics is necessary for business success. For example, spending extra money to produce a product with improved features may not be a good business decision if there are few consumers concerned with features.
Consumer demographics identify characteristics of consumers, such as location, age, race, income, and other statistics. While consumer psychographics identify how consumers think, consumer demographics identify where they are and what they may be able to afford. Consumer groups are collections of consumers that share similar psychographics and demographics.
Product Quality and Features
When products are manufactured they can be produced with a certain set of product Features and manufacturing Quality.
-
Features refer to the attributes or characteristics of a product. For example, a car might have safety, fuel mileage, and styling as Features. A soft drink might have taste, health benefits, and packaging. In GoVenture World, for simplicity, Features are bundled together, and not described separately as these aforementioned examples. A product with more Features costs more to produce. Some virtual consumers seek out products with more Features and may be willing to pay more for them.
-
Quality refers to how durable and reliable a product is. It costs more to produce a higher Quality product. Some virtual consumers seek out higher Quality products and may be willing to pay more for them. Higher Quality products also tend to deliver higher brand loyalty.
-
Products are assigned a score for Features and a score for Quality. The Features score is determined by the R&D Stations and Addons turned ON during the manufacturing of the products. The Quality score is determined by the Manufacturing Stations and Addons turned ON during the manufacturing of the products.
-
Features are assigned a score of 0% to 100%, where 100% means the product has the most Features possible and 0% means the least.
-
Quality is assigned a score of 0% to 100%, where 100% means the product has the highest quality possible, and 0% means the lowest. Note that 0% quality does not mean a product has bad quality and will fail; it only means it has the lowest quality in comparison to higher-quality products.
-
A group of products will maintain the same scores for Features and Quality from the point of manufacturing to retail to consumer. However, if a Manufacturing Business makes a group of products with one set of scores for Features and Quality and then makes another group of products with different scores for Features and Quality, and intermingles all of these products in the same inventory, then their Features and Quality scores will be averaged when they are posted on the Open Market or shipped to a Retail Business.
-
For example, if a Manufacturing Business has 1 product in inventory and it has 0% Features, and another product is manufactured at 100%, then both products will be set to
50% = (100% + 0%) / 2
-
Another example: If 3 products have 100% Quality and 1 product has 0% Quality, then all 4 products will be assigned a Quality score of 75% = 300% / 4 ... but this only happens if all 4 products are held in inventory at the same time by a Manufacturing Business. If the first 3 products with 100% Quality are immediately shipped before the 1 product with 0% Quality is manufactured, then the 3 products will retain their 100% Quality score with the new product will be 0%.
-
For a Manufacturing Business, the Features and Quality averages applied to products in inventory includes all products on hand in inventory, and excludes products reserved on the Open Market and products that have been shipped. Products reserved on the Open Market will not change in Features and Quality unless they are delisted from the Open Market, at which point the averaging is recalculated for those delisted products along with all products currently on hand in inventory.
-
For a Retail Business, the Features and Quality averages are applied to all products on hand in inventory as well as products that have been shipped and are currently in transit to the Retail Business.
-
Features and Quality are two ways to differentiate a product from competing products (other ways are Brand and Price). Access market research to discover the various consumer psychographics in GoVenture World to help you determine what types of products consumers want to buy.
Inventions and Addons
-
Addons are invented by players and patented with the intellectual property rights held by their Holding Companies.
-
Addons can be licensed by Manufacturing Businesses to improve product Features and Quality and by Retail Businesses to improve Visibility and Sales Capacity.
-
A Manufacturing or Retail Business can license an Addon by paying the Addon inventor a one-time Licensing Fee and a recurring Royalty Fee calculated Per Unit or Per Day. The Royalty Fee is included in the cost of using the Addon.
-
Licensed Addons can be turned off or on at any time at no additional cost.
-
A Manufacturing Business can combine Addons with Manufacturing Stations and R&D Stations to achieve maximum product Features of 100% and maximum Quality of 100%. A Retail Business can combine Addons with Sales & Service options to achieve maximum Visibility of 100% and maximum Sales Capacity Per Day GT that varies based on the product type.
-
The effectiveness of an Addon diminishes every month GT. This encourages the invention of new Addons and motivates businesses to carefully manage their Addons.
-
Inventing an Addon involves the following:
-
Choose product type
-
Choose Addon name and description
-
Create a drawing using pixel art
-
Conduct R&D to determine the effectiveness of the benefits
-
-
Inventing an Addon has two costs:
-
R&D Investment
-
Patent Filing and Registration Fee.
-
-
An inventor must choose an Accounting & Law Firm to file the patent and receive a portion of the fees. Accounting & Law Firms do not have to do anything to earn these fees other than encourage other players to choose their Firms to represent them.
-
An inventor can only invent a limited number of Addons, but can deactivate an Addon to allow for more Addons to be invented. A deactivated Addon will continue to function normally for all licensees that use it, but the Addon cannot be licensed by anyone new.
-
An inventor can license their own Addons.
An inventor can only license one of their own Addons for each manufacturing business they own.
Brand
Brand Equity represents the Brand Awareness and Brand Loyalty you have created for your business.
-
Brand Awareness is how well-known your brand is versus the competition. It can be improved with advertising, sales, and reputation.
-
Brand Loyalty is the likelihood that a customer who has already experienced your product will purchase it again. It can be improved by getting repeat or new customers to purchase your product, with the hope that they will have a positive experience with it. Customer experience is determined by product quality.
Each individual business has its own Brand Equity that is continually updated. Your Holding Company also has its own Brand Equity. A higher Brand Equity will attract more customers to your business. To improve Brand Equity:
-
Sell more products or services
-
Buy advertising
-
Improve your reputation rating
-
Sell products of higher quality
Note that advertising will improve the Brand Awareness of your business with other players in GoVenture World (because they may see your ads) and with virtual consumers (who cannot read the message in your ads, but who will be affected by the ad being run).
Advertising
Businesses can run advertisements (ads) to increase their brand awareness. Ads are displayed in the smartphone. Ads are visible to all players at the same time. They cannot be turned off because they are part of the game. To run an ad, you must purchase a spot.
-
Spots are time segments when ads will appear. For example, 1:00PM-2:00PM RT.
-
You may purchase one or more spots by bidding on them. The highest bidder will win the spot.
-
Once you win a spot, you can design and assign an ad to the spot. You will have several days to create and assign your ad before it will run.
-
Your ad will run for the entire duration of the spot. It might be cycled with other GoVenture World game or sponsor ads, but it will not be cycled with other player ads. Player ads will only run in spots that they have won.
-
Buy spots when you think your target viewer will be playing GoVenture World (if they are not playing the game, they cannot see your ad). For example, if you want players in North America to see your ad, you probably should not buy a spot at 3:00 AM EDT, since most people are sleeping. But that time might be good for players in Asia where it is the afternoon.
-
Running an ad will also improve your Brand Awareness with virtual consumers. Even though virtual consumers cannot read the ad, it will still have a positive effect on them.
Players can only run ads that promote activity related to GoVenture World. Ads that promote anything else will be promptly removed and could risk having your account suspended or cancelled.
Social Responsibility
Social Responsibility is a duty to act for the benefit of society at large. Demonstrating Social Responsibility is good for the world and earns you respect and admiration.
-
A Holding Company can make investments in social responsibility, under MARKETING > Social Responsibility. Several social causes are available to invest in.
-
Investments are considered donations and are tax deductible. Tax deductible means that any amount invested in a specific calendar year (GT) will be subtracted from the Holding Company’s total revenue before profit is calculated for that year. This reduces profit and therefore the income tax payable on that profit.
-
Holding Companies are publicly ranked by their investments in Social Responsibility. Social Responsibility investments made by Holding Companies and their rankings are publicly visible under ACHIEVEMENTS > World Leaders. Rankings are shown by specific social cause and by all combined.
-
Manufacturing and Retail Operating Businesses that are owned by a Holding Company that demonstrates Social Responsibility may gain a sales advantage, based on its Social Responsibility INDEX, which is calculated as follows:
-
The INDEX is based on the cumulative total investments made within the past one year GT. The specific social cause(s) invested in has no effect on the INDEX. The timing of when the investments are made does not matter, except that only investments made in the past one year GT are included in the INDEX.
-
Must invest a cumulative total of at least g1,000,000 in the past one year GT to be included on the INDEX.
-
The INDEX is based on the ratio of money invested in Social Responsibility in the past one year GT to Revenue earned all time. For example, a Holding Company that has earned total cumulative Revenue of g1,000 and which invests g10 in social causes (in the past year GT) will have a ratio of 10 ÷ 1,000 x 100% = 1.0%.
-
The Holding Company is assigned an INDEX RATING using the following scale:
-
15% or higher = Platinum or “Hero”
-
12% or higher = Gold or “Humanitarian”
-
9% or higher = Silver or “Benefactor”
-
5% or higher = Bronze or “Patron”
-
1% or higher = Steel or “Friend”
-
The INDEX provides a competitive BOOST when consumers are choosing which product to purchase from competing options. The BOOST represents an increase in the likelihood that a consumer will choose a particular product from a particular Retail Business versus competing products from the same or other Retail Businesses in the same country.
-
The BOOST equals the INDEX ratio.
-
Platinum = 20% boost (maximum)
-
Gold = 15% boost (or higher)
-
Silver = 10% boost (or higher)
-
Bronze = 5% boost (or higher)
-
Steel = 1% boost (or higher)
-
-
-
The BOOST is based on 50% of the INDEX RATING of the Holding Company of the Manufacturing Business that made the product and 50% of the INDEX RATING of the Holding Company of the Retail Business that is selling the product.
-
The BOOST can increase between ratings — For example, it is possible to have a 7% boost with Bronze rating, or an 18% boost with a Gold rating. There is no boost provided for lower than Bronze rating.
-
NOTE: Revenue is used to determine the INDEX instead of Profit because Profit is not an accurate and consistent representation of a company’s financial resources and influence. A company with billions in revenue could have little or no profit, while a much smaller company could demonstrate strong profit. Revenue is a better way to compare financial resources, and a ratio of money invested in social causes as a percentage of revenue demonstrates how strongly committed a company is to social responsibility. For example, a company with billions in revenues that invests g1 million in social causes is not impacting its finances as much as a smaller company that invests the same amount of money. Furthermore, the INDEX is based on money invested in the past year GT so that continued investment is necessary to maintain higher status on the INDEX.
-
Trademarks
Holding Companies can trademark their names. Trademarking your name protects you from others who may want to take advantage of your business success. For example, let’s say you spend much time and money building up a strong name brand in GoVenture World called “Ford”. You would not want another player to create a Holding Company with the name "Fordd" or “Fords” as that might confuse other players into thinking that is your business. To avoid this from happening, you can hire a Lawyer to register your Holding Company name as a Trademark.
-
A lawyer will charge you a fee for his service and to cover the Trademark Registration fee.
-
Once you and the lawyer agree to an engagement, the lawyer will submit a Trademark Registration Form.
-
The Trademark Registration Form will be reviewed by the GoVenture World Trademark Office, which is managed by GoVenture World administrators or other individuals assigned by GoVenture World administrators. The review may take several days.
-
Your lawyer will be notified if the registration is successful or not. If successful, your Trademark will appear as Registered.
-
There are no refunds for unsuccessful registrations so be sure to hire a lawyer who will provide good service.
If you have a Registered Trademark and believe another player has infringed on your Trademark, you might ask the player to change his Holding Company name or pay you a fee to use your Trademark. The infringing party may or may not comply with your terms. If they do not, you may have to hire a lawyer to mediate the dispute or sue them. Keep the following in mind:
-
Legally determining whether or not an infringement has occurred is ultimately up to the GoVenture World Courts to decide, if the case goes to court.
More About Trademarks
-
Trademarks must be in use before a Trademark application is filed.
-
First to file a Trademark application is given priority over those who file for a similar Trademark on a later date.
-
If a similar mark is already in use by another business before a Trademark application is filed and registered, said use is unlikely to be ruled as Trademark infringement. And, it is likely that your Trademark application will be rejected.
-
Trademarks can be registered for Holding Company names and marketing slogans. Operating Business names and product names cannot be registered as Trademarks.
-
A registered Trademark for a Holding Company name can restrict other Holding Companies from using that same name, but may or may not restrict Operating Businesses from using the name. For example, Holding Companies named "Apple" and "Apple Company" would likely be ruled as trademark infringement.
-
A registered Trademark for a Holding Company name can restrict Operating Businesses from using that same name if, and only if, they sell the same type of products. For example, a Holding Company named “Apple” that sells smartphones through one of its Operating Businesses does not restrict another Operating Business named “Apple” that sells automobiles (but it does restrict another Holding Company from using the name "Apple"). For example, a Holding Company named "Google" could have an Operating Business named "Apple" if it does not sell the same type of products as Holding Company "Apple".