Seventeen days ago, I told the world how happy I was to build a virtual Dunkin' Donuts in my virtual city in the Facebook game SimCity Social.
World, I have an update regarding another famous brand.
Century 21? The real estate people? Their virtual storefront stinks. This is not an opinion. This is math.
In SimCity Social Dunkin' Donuts is basically a tree with dollar bills for leaves. You want to make money in this game, and the Donut shop pays out big. On October 1, it was earning out 2,200 silver coins per day. This was way about 14x better than what my Brand X bakery was earning me. I moved its location, leveled it up and now the shop raises 2,640 coins in the same timeframe. This fact almost makes me want to go outside and buy a Dunkin Donuts donut. Almost.
Last night, I decided to indulge in the next product placement experiment in SimCity Social and clicked on the option to add a Century 21 office. Oh, excuse me... a CENTURY 21© Office, as it is referred to in the game. I set it up near some homes and the Sphinx (yes, that Sphinx). It earns... 280 silver coins per 24 minutes. As with any other in-game business, you have to click on it to earn the money. If you don't, it doesn't keep earning. So, yes, you can multiply the payments and say that the Century 21 office makes more money per day than the Dunkin' Donuts. But only a deranged person would check in with SimCity Social every 24 minutes for a full day to make all that fake money.
Hold on. I'm going to try to upgrade my Century 21 office.
Done.
It now earns 336 coins per 24 minutes.
You know,if the Century 21 people wanted me to feel good about their brand, they'd get the makers of SimCity Social to program their virtual real estate office to make it damn near feel like a cheat. Make that sucker pay out 3,000 coins per day or something.
This approach? It makes me want to bulldoze the place. My bowling alley makes more money. My 1-star convenience store makes more money.