05/22/2013– Gamification of the Financial Markets: Learn The Tricks of The...

TraderPeople, (www.traderpeople.com) is an exciting new online social gaming business providing fantasy and simulated financial trading games for a variety of audiences, from inquisitive novices through to experienced traders.

Launched in 2011 TraderPeople is the brainchild of Jonathan Rose and Chris Hobcroft, backed by investment company Blenheim Chalcot, London. Together with their team of four developers Jonathan and Chris build innovative virtual trading games to target specific end-user segments, such as students, silver surfers, budding traders, employees of financial companies and trading institutions, as well as the wider gaming audience.

In December 2011, they took the trading game scene by storm with the launch of Traderversity (www.traderversity.com), the world’s first free-to-play financial trading game with real-time prices, aimed exclusively at the UK student sector, bringing a whole new interactive, socially integrated dimension to online trading games. In the first month of operation, Traderversity saw user numbers soar to 700. The pair simultaneously launched TraderPlay, (www.traderplay.com) a similar game but accessible to all, which now has a following of around 450 gamers and is growing quickly.

Under both games, players do not invest real money but are given £1,000,000 of virtual money to trade with – and any profits or losses contribute to the overall leaderboard. Gamers are encouraged to challenge friends and contacts to go head-to-head using the website’s in-built Facebook app, and see who has triumphed when the markets close. For those that show a natural skill, there is even real money to be won – or potentially the opportunity to catch the eye of industry headhunters.

The TraderPeople games have been developed over the last 12 months and leverage the core trading system, which has been developed over the last 5 years. The core trading system has allowed some of the world’s leading financial establishments to trade real money on the global financial markets.

Building on the success of these two highly popular and addictive games, TraderPeople’s bespoke social gaming platforms can be re-skinned and configured to create distinctive trading games, hosted by TraderPeople. The games can be individualised based on the target users, and can vary in complexity, competitions and levels of socialising within the game play, allowing effective engagement with users. The games can be adapted for different audiences and are ideal for a wide range of businesses to drive traffic to their websites.

The team is able to integrate the game into external websites, maintaining the look and feel of the client company, or can be delivered as a standalone site with its own domain name and branding, depending on the individual needs of the client. The TraderPeople team can then manage and host the site, provide player support and advice and offer ongoing recommendations on game development and advancement.

All game platforms offered by TraderPeople allow players to trade on real world, live financial markets and immerse themselves in game play with multi-layered competitions. It also allows players to stay connected via social networking integration and, for those who are new to trading, it offers in-depth video tutorials to educate and help players reach higher levels of game trading.
These individualised trading games encourage and drive web traffic. Players are encouraged to revisit, sign up for competitions and invite friends and associates to join. Simulations can be built for between one and one million players and can feature equities, foreign exchange, indices and commodities.

Since the market downturn of 2009, there is a growing mistrust towards financial institutions and a general lack of understanding of how they function. TraderPeople aims to educate the public on how this complex market works and restore consumer confidence in making informed investment decisions.

Between them TraderPeople founders Jonathan and Chris have 15 years experience in financial services, trading and the technology sectors. The company is based in a key London location, where the silicon roundabout meets the City of London.
Jonathan Rose from TraderPeople says: “This is an exciting time for TraderPeople – our TraderPlay venture is proving popular and the launch of Traderversity, specifically targeting the student segment, will certainly boost our gaming credentials and allow us to really make our mark on the financial trading game scene.

“We have witnessed a global gamification of the financial markets and we can now create educational, social trading games based on real world trading activity. Financial markets have been historically viewed as inaccessible, with a perception that they are too complicated for the everyday person. Since the recession, trust in banking institutions, and the stock market has declined massively, and caused a negative impact on how the nation views the markets, and namely those who work them. Perhaps the positive outcome here, is that people have started to question what exactly it all entails, and are more inclined to want to throw their own hat in the ring, and trading games are a perfect way to do this, risk-free.

“When looking at what else was out there, we saw only over simplified and boring alternatives, or those that didn’t reflect the reality of what was truly happening on the market. Worryingly, we also saw many ‘games’ that were merely sales tools for businesses, which actually called for users to take a punt on their own money.

“We want to educate people on how to invest their funds wisely and hope that by teaching some of the basics of trading, people’s confidence in making their own real financial investments will grow. We feel that the public’s awareness and knowledge of financial trading is in need of an overhaul and we have developed an innovative way to teach people about the marketplace and how to make informed trading decisions.

“We have set ourselves ambitious targets and hope to reach 50,000 gamers on our platform by the end of 2012. We’re keen to grow the game development side of the business and welcome enquiries from companies looking to launch their own trading games.”
For more information on how TraderPeople can develop a bespoke game package for your company, visit www.traderpeople.com or contact Jonathan Rose on 07545 250 422.