Trivia Targets Not-So-Trivial Cost of Software Piracy

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. [Nov. 15, 2000] - You probably didn't know that more than one-third of all business software applications installed on PCs and laptops worldwide are pirated, did you? Or that pirating companies are caught virtually every day and threatened with legal action?

Of course you didn't. But the Business Software Alliance (BSA) wants you to know these and other facts that raise the flag of software piracy and its associated costs. To help spread the word, though, BSA and its associate, mindshare Internet Campaigns, needed an attention grabber. Mindshare found the solution in PeopleSpace Inc., a Charlottesville, Va.-based developer of online games, survey tools and other interactive devices.

The result is BSA Software Piracy Trivia, a series of trivia games which, aside from presenting BSA's message in a palatable form, also suggests the potential of online entertainment for educating audiences and advocating causes.

"Hey, fun draws a crowd," explains Jack D. Smith, PeopleSpace founder and president. "I think this is a pretty clear indication that, given the right tools and experience, and with a certain amount of creative abandon, you can take almost any topic and turn it into something challenging or entertaining."

The game is dressed up with some quirky animations. Answer a question correctly, and a laser gun pops up out of a PC monitor and zaps a "bug," an imaginative crossbreeding of an insect and a computer chip. Answer incorrectly, and the reverse occurs - the bug blasts the PC.

"PeopleSpace really came through in making an entertaining product out of subject matter that doesn't naturally lend itself to fun and entertainment," said mindshare CEO Dan Solomon. "And they put it together in a timely fashion on a rather tight schedule."

PeopleSpace is a leading developer of Internet marketing and promotional tools, featuring games and other interactive products designed to attract and retain visitors to web sites. From initial concepts to hosting, maintenance, and data mining, PeopleSpace develops a broad range of interactive marketing solutions. Products and services include arcade-style games, single- and multiplayer trivia, live online chats, polls, surveys, streaming content, web-based content management tools, and tools for viral marketing campaigns. All can be branded to market any company or product. More information, as well as free games, can be found at www.peoplespace.com.

PeopleSpace clients include AOL, AOLTV, Ask Jeeves, BoxerJam, Electronic Arts, Fox Sports, iVillage, NBC, Playboy, Sesame Street, Tech Republic, TV Guide, and others.