Thinking about investing heavily in property, but having cold feet about all the money you’ll have to risk? Well, Commonwealth Bank has got you covered with ‘Investorville‘ – an exercise in Gamification gone mad. Commonwealth Bank are calling Investorville an “online simulation tool” – but it’s really a complex game based on real world costs. If you’re thinking about investing, this may be a great educational tool.
“Making the leap from owning your own property to buying an investment property can seem quite daunting to a lot of people,” claimed Mark Murray, General Manager Commonwealth Bank Consumer Marketing. “Investorville helps to break down common misconceptions and show the practicalities of property investment.
“The really beneficial part of Investorville is that users can, in the true sense of the term, try before they buy. The properties and data are reflective of the Australian property market and the types of properties available,” he continued.
The ASX does something similar, allowing potential investors to play the stock market for free, but we’ve never seen a tool like this so aggressively marketed as a gaming experience. Just the name itself – it’s clearly designed for those that spend hours on Facebook games.
The creator of Investorville, Aaron Michie, Interactive Concepts Director at BMF, explained further.
“We’d seen property games and property investment planners before,” he said, “but none seemed to offer an experience that a person could apply to the real-life challenges they were facing. Investorville combines sophisticated economic modelling and real market data with a simple user-friendly gameplay to give people realism and simplicity.”
Please, for the love of God, let’s make sure this thing doesn’t get on to Facebook – I’ve got enough spam updates on there as it is.
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