opinion, insight, and kvetch on marketing games, funware, interactive entertainment design, internet marketing, and e-business

My websites, apps, and internet marketing campaigns accomplish key business objectives. I make many types of online performance marketing products, from games that solicit real-time market research data, to search marketing campaigns that improve engagement and conversions.

Entrepreneur and Consultant

I own Semseoco, a Twin Cities internet marketing consultancy that serves local small businesses and professionals with a limited online marketing budget.

I have owned and operated an online adult entertainment company since 2004. From 2007 to 2010, I have also freelanced in IT project management, and web product strategy, design, and development. I have been active in social game design and marketing games since 2004, especially in the adult entertainment space where free content, piracy, and market saturation continue to erode the effectiveness of early internet marketing tactics.

Education

From 2002-2004, I studied computer science at Metropolitan State University.  In 2009, I enrolled with University of Phoenix Online to master small business management and entrepreneurship.

Work History

Prior to deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up, I worked an odd mix of IT (technical support, database administration, documentation, repair and upgrades) and marketing jobs, with occasional graphic design, web development, and illustration gigs on the side. My skills and career continues to span both technical fields (hardware and software system design, development, testing, administration, and support) and creative fields (graphic design, illustration, and writing).

I am not currently taking new personal clients while I complete my management degree, but I have done a number of freelance and independent contractor projects. Most recently, I served as product manager for StyleHop Corp., an NYC-based fashion community that has used gaming to drive engagement and sales while gathering actionable market research from players.

Why Games?

My focus on marketing games stems from my belief that the incentive structures of game design will become ubiquitous, effective behavior-shaping tools for businesses, governments, schools, and communities. Developed nations are fast approaching a cultural shift in our attitude toward work, productivity, and what defines the “good life” and I believe the engagement and motivation from game-like activities will have a tremendous influence on the labor market in knowledge-worker-driven economies. The 20th century yielded an abundance of useful psychological research and analysis, and we are now in a position to use what we know about people (what motivates us, why we act, and how we think) to make life more enjoyable and productive.

However, while I love games, I think of my work in much broader terms than simply “game design” because game mechanics are just a subset of the many solutions I employ to create positive experiences and business results.

Why Adult?

I have extensive adult industry experience from my work on the RaptureOnline project, an independently-funded (aka ridiculously underfunded) massively-multiplayer online erotic game (MMOEG) by progressive adult entertainment company Black Love Interactive LLC. I currently develop and maintain many adult-oriented websites, games, and Second Life locations.

I want to say a few positive things about my experience as an adult game designer and affiliate marketer because I have lost job opportunities and experienced prejudiced reactions because I make no secret of my work producing and marketing legal adult entertainment. The reason that I promote all of my work and do not use a pseudonym is that I am proud of everything I make and everything I have learned (if you want to learn how to rank pages, try cutting your SEO teeth in adult keyword niches!). I believe sexuality is a fun, healthy part of our lives, and I work on adult projects without secrecy because I think more talented, intelligent, caring adults need to be involved with adult media (not just to make money, but to restore a healthier attitude toward sex, the human body, and erotic diversity in our culture).

Basically, I work on adult projects because I believe it’s important work. I don’t want my daughters to grow up in a world where people are so uptight that major “social” sites like Facebook censor photos of normal, healthy human interaction, such as mothers breastfeeding their babies. Sex-negativity and body-shaming have got to go, or future generations will be perpetually, neurotically dissatisfied with their bodies and their love lives (despite everyone’s plastic surgery addiction and prescription meds). With adult game design, I was very lucky to find a work niche that I am passionate about, and I think that once a person finds something they understand intuitively and champion sincerely, it’s good to stick with it.

Personal

I live in St. Paul, Minnesota with my two kids and two cats. I also live with a disability and am positive and passionate about disclosure at this point in my life (because it does help reduce the stigma of disability when people are open and honest about it). My hobbies include gaming, illustration, 3D graphics, and keeping up on IT trends. Game design, online experience design, virtual worlds, the social web, marketing, history, epistemology, ethics, morality, sexuality, gender, and humor are some of the topics I enjoy reading and musing about.  I’m a fan of unicorns, love, art, sex, lolporn, zombies, Tim Burton movies, Charlie Kaufman movies, too much guitar-driven music to list, #000000, nostalgia, kvetching, and that little fwppa-fwppa sound kitty ears make when cats shake it like a polaroid. Enough about me. This is awesome: