Stardate 20010727.0753 (On Screen): This is an example of a eBusiness which really takes advantage of the characteristics of the medium. It's impossible to conceive of how this could be done any other way, and I have no doubt that it's very successful. The "Hollywood Stock Exchange" is an online game that you can play for free. It uses funny-money called "Hollywood Dollars" or H$ and just by signing up you get two million of them. You can then buy and sell "stocks" in various stars, and movies, and sell again later to try to increase the number of H$ you have. Of course they are not good for anything else (that would be illegal) but for people interested in this kind of thing it's a running contest, with the scores clearly available. If you're good, you'll make money. If you're not, you'll lose.
It's been said quite truthfully that true expertise in a subject is demonstrated by the ability to win a series of wagers on that subject, and that is what this amounts to. It looks like it's harmless and fascinating. So where is the business?
Ah. that is where the subtlety of this comes in. See, if you run low on H$ and want more, you can do things which will
get more for you. Two in particular: look at a page of advertisements and get some H$ for every ad you click, or go to the HSX online store and buy merchandise. Everything you buy gives you a premium of H$. Ultimately what you're looking at here is merchandising.
Interestingly, you'd expect that the free availability of new H$ would lead to inflation, but that's not necessarily the case. The model also has a sink for H$: every time a new star or movie emerges onto the scene, the operators of the HSX create stock for it which they sell, and this in turn drains H$ back out of the system. It is altogether a clever concept. Once they got their software written, it should not be expensive (in real $) to run this system. This is the most clever hook for an online store I've ever seen, and I have no doubt whatever that it is successful, especially considering the list of companies selling through it. (discuss)
