the simExchange is an online game where you invest in video games using fictional money. The game is quite similar to other online stock market games like BlogShares or Trendio.

The game has a very Web 2.0 design and the aim of the game is to invest in upcoming titles and consoles. The prices of stock relates to highstreet sales: 1 DKP (the in-game currency) is equivalent to 10,000 sales.

The site seems to be more like a real stock market than games like B$. The help pages cover the system the site uses in more details and they take themselves more seriously by answering questions like When does the simExchange close? (the answer, pretty simply, was that it didn’t! ).

When you buy and sell stock in a game you do it through Ajax. This does save the annoyance of having to wait for a new page to load, however, it makes it easier to think you haven’t bought any and you buy more.

When you start the game, you received 1,000,000 DPK. Stock ranges from around 30 DPK to around 5000 DPK! This is quite a gap and it tells you how important it is to invest wisely. In my opinion, 1,000,000 is far too much to start with and a better amount would be 1000DPK or 2000DPK. Another thing I dislike is that you can’t see your balance on the homepage.

The game uses light colours which work very well.

The site also has the ability to add media related to a game. I don’t really see a point in this, however, I imagine it makes the game feel more like a community.

I don’t think I’ll have the time to play this site at the moment, I can barely play B$ at the moment, but I suggest if you have spare time and like this type of game you should give it a shot.

Tags: video games, stock market, gaming, video game, web2.0, web 2.0, web2, ajax, web 2