gvoice18_en

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2009/NOV

n a w i a T f a i o n nd a m Bra nce a G A e l l e c Ex

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Gamania Taiwan Continues to Shine In recent years, Asian brands have taken advantage of different opportunities to shine on the international stage. Samsung in Korea has become a global 100 brand through aesthetic design; Acer used its targeted channel strategy to dominate Europe and make a mark in the U.S. Brand management is no longer just about marketing. It is also about product design, strategic innovation and logistics management. An enterprise that lacks any of these elements will lack the key to branding success. Gamania Taiwan is now fourteen years old, and it has fourteen years in brand building. Albert has always believed that branding is road Gamania must take. Gamania has always striven to create brand value and is one of the few game companies in Taiwan to carry its corporate branding through to its product advertising as well. In September this year, Gamania was once again chosen for the "Taiwan Superior Brands" awarded by TAITRA; even as we share in the accolades, we also look forward to being an example to our overseas business divisions. Now that they are growing steadily, they should also pay attention to the management and development of the Gamania brand in their region. As the only online game company in Taiwan to be named a "Taiwan Superior Brands", exactly what is it about Gamania's brand management ability that makes it stand out? Find out all the details in this issue of the G!Voice!

Editorial Department

02

● Publisher: Albert Liu ● Editorial Desk: Eric Chen ● Editor-in-chief: Yoyo Dai ● Text Editor: Tomas Wang ● Creative Desk: Kiwi Chang/ Betty Wang ● Web Planner: Snow Yang ● Art Editor: Nick Su ● Publishing: Gamania Brand Center


Contents Features

06 08 22

The Origin of the "Taiwan Superior Brands" The Three Keys to Gamania Glory A Gama Worth Waiting For

Project

24

"Taiwan Index" Games Its Way to New Marketing Strategy!

Events

28 30 36

Gama Rites – Gamania Celebrates a Rich Harvest for Mid-Autumn Learn 26 Keywords for Gama Day SPACE 17 Opens Up

"Travel Perspectives" through the Humanities

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GAMANIA

Features

We Are Pioneer of…… Developing online games into an industry of economic scale in Taiwan; Building the largest game server center in Asia; Creating paid online game services with no monthly subscription; Breaking into the international market with a "self-owned" Taiwanese brand; Creating an integrated virtual payment and service system; Expanding into the animation industry by securing production contracts with the Cartoon Network in the U.K. and MYP in the U.S. to become a game company with content aired around the world… "Doing what no one else dares to do" has made Gamania a leading Taiwanese brand. When Gamania received the "2009 Taiwan Superior Brands" from TAITRA at the end of last month, it was the only company in its industry to have won this special award. After fourteen years, Gamania has gradually ripened to become a brand of excellence and a respected role model.

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05


GAMANIA

Features

The Origin of the "Taiwan Superior Brands" While small and medium enterprises form the backbone of the Taiwanese industry, many are able to make good use of their resources, technical expertise, outstanding R&D capability and boundless creativity to create their own brand value. To encourage these brands and realize the vision of "branding diversity" in Taiwan, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) set up the "Taiwan Superior Brands" selection process since 2004.

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To be considered as an Superior Brand, a brand with an international perspective is required as the selection process looks at enterprise that engage in international marketing whose total income from exports and overseas sales must account for more than 30% of its consolidated revenues. The company's financial status, brand development, branding strategy and corporate competitiveness are also assessed. In the past five years, TAITRA has chosen over a hundred brands that Taiwan can be proud of through "Taiwan Superior Brands". Many of the companies honored in these five years are now stars in the international stage. HTC, a 2007 Superior Brand company, is now a sparkling diamond among the international mobile phone makers. The 2009 "Taiwan Superior Br ands" consisted of eight main industry categories. These were; ICT & domestic appliances, machinery and hardware, sports and leisure, medical and biotechnology, cultural creativity and fashion, green energy, boutique agriculture and others.

To provide the target enterprises with more effective encouragement, this year TAITRA also invited brand marketing and financial experts to rewrite the selection rules to include the reviewing of company finances and verify brand sustainability. To encourage more Taiwanese branded enterprises to compete for the honor, not only were the top 20 Taiwanese international brands from past years excluded from entering, but also a new rule was passed requiring winning enterprises to wait three years before entering again. As this is the first year that the new rule has taken effect, winners from 2004 through to 2008 can still enter (meaning that Gamania has won this award for two successive years). It is hoped that the "Taiwan Superior Brands" selection rules will provide major Taiwanese enterprises with an opportunity to re-examine the strength of their own brands.

2009 "Taiwan Superior Brands" Judging Criteria and Emphasis (Final) Category

Judging Emphasis

Weighting

Brand Strategy

1. Channel and market 2. Brand activity

40%

Competitive Advantages

1. Core corporate competitiveness 2. Innovation in product and services

35%

Brand Achievements

1. Brand revenue as a proportion of overall company revenue 2. Weighting of the brand's overseas market 3. Brand revenue growth rate 4. Brand maintenance and promotion spending as a proportion of company revenue

25% 07


GAMANIA

Features

3

The

Keys to Gamania Glory

By entering the "Taiwan Superior Brands" selection process, Gamania was judged on three criteria by TAITRA: "Brand Strategy", "Competitive Advantages" and "Brand Achievements". While these could be considered just three judging criteria set by TAITRA, they are key to Gamania's industry leadership. G!Voice will now analyze how "Brand Strategy", "Competitive Advantages" and "Brand Achievements" translated into action for the "Gamania" brand to make it the success it is in Taiwan today!

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Gamania Brand Strategy

POINT

1

The first step in delivering a successful product is to make the brand visible to consumers. It's even more important to make it a well-liked brand. The marketing skills of Gamania Taiwan are well known in the industry and Taiwanese gamers have always been very supporting of Gamania's brand activities. So brand strategy is more than just about good brand marketing; it's also about how Gamania Taiwan takes consumers seriously!

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GAMANIA

Features

Control of physical and virtual channels A "channel" is how a corporation delivers its products and services to the consumer; the "market" is the place where niches can be exploited. Many enterprises have reached the same conclusion – whoever has the channels is the king; but how can they capture the "market"? Back in its Fullsoft days, Gamania had already managed to tap into the convenience store channel and open the way for the sale of online games. The "Convenience Store" game not only rewrote the rules of distribution for gaming products at the same time but also made it easier for consumers to see and buy games. The GASH integrated transaction platform was an even more

significant achievement. It not only established an Asia-spanning transaction platform but was also highly integrated with Gamania's online service. Before 2004, no one else in the industry had even looked at virtual transactions even as Gamania completed the integration of the physical and virtual channels. This proved to be why Gamania became the leading brand in the Taiwanese market. An integrated payment platform not only makes it easy for consumers to pay but also allowed Gamania to collect membership details from over 6.5 million people. When used for analyzing consumer behavior and customer satisfaction, the database provided Gamania live teams

Internet cafes 3C retailers

Micropayment services

Taiwanese store channels

Game shops

Bookshops

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Convenience stores


with a very valuable reference for making marketing decisions and service improvements. Gamania has also continued to establish strategic alliances withal major convenience stores, Internet cafes, 3C retailers and b o o k s h o p s i n Ta i w a n o v e r the past few years. Gamania now has access to over 12,300 physical channels as well as 12 types of payment processing services and virtual e-commerce channels. The synergies from the physical and virtual channels means gamers can not only make their purchases anywhere, they also give Gamania the ability to reach every corner of the market and extract the most value from each channel.

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GAMANIA

Features

Media attention and gamer support What about brand activities at Gamania? The accolades must go to the Gamania Taiwan live teams. Many firsts for Taiwan were set by Gamania in product marketing, including the first to invite a well known entertainment celebrity to be the game spokesperson, the first to launch a major TV advertising campaign, the first to give away free game CDs … all these and more not only helped to market Gamania products but also re-defined the Taiwanese people's understanding of the gaming industry to make online games a household world. In addition to all of these marketing fi rs ts , Ga mania Taiwan als o organizes various gamer events every year. In 2001, this was the

"Porsche Speed Challenge" which gave away a ritzy sports car. For the 2006 Maple Story anniversary celebrations, Gamania recreated the virtual game world in the Xinyi retail district. There is also the "Guild Meet Fund" that subsidizes Lineage player get-togethers every year … These events not only made gamers feel welcome but also helped to market the "Gamania" brand in the media. If we are to talk about how the Gamania brand successfully attracts and retains players, the Taiwanese live teams also have a very powerful weapon at their disposal – the most complete service offering. 24-hour customer service and bank-grade IT security means gamers really feel

Comparison of services provided by the top 5 online game companies in Taiwan Item

Gamania

Company B

Company C

24-hour customer service

Reservations

Drop-in service

In-person customer service

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Company D

Company E

● ●


pampered in Gamania games. Gamania is also more than willing to make its voice heard on behalf of cultural and creativity. This included sponsoring events promoting originality such as the "Kaohsiung Design Festival", the "Taipei Toy Festival" and the "Taiwan Design Expo" to promote Gamania's brand culture to the outside world. When it comes to social compassion, Gamania also lives up to its "Corporate Social Responsibility" by establishing the "Gamania Foundation". The Foundation not only actively reaches out to youths but also encourages them to realize their dreams through concrete support.

Brand building through "Innovation" and "Dedication" Based on the above, it is not hard to see that Gamania Taiwan's brand strategy is based on two key principles: "Innovation" and "Dedication". Gamania is a brand filled with youthful energy so creativity and vitality are our greatest assets. That's why Gamania Taiwan can also think outside of the square and use alternative marketing methods, making Gamanian brands almost synonymous with "Creativity" and "Innovation" in Taiwan. Paying attention to consumers is also a golden rule for Gamania Taiwan when it comes to brand management. Albert once said: "The spirit and value of a brand is closely linked to consumer emotions. This link must be maintained through devotion to customer service. Only then can the brand values remain unchanged." Be it marketing, channels or brand activities, Gamania will "devote" its efforts to understand what gamers want.

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GAMANIA

Features

Gamania Competitive Advantages

POINT

2

A brand's competitive advantages are a corporation's key to value creation when faced with an ever-changing global market. Through fourteen years of relentless effort, Gamania in Taiwan has not only retained its ability to innovate but also consolidated is overseas operations through the "Philadelphia Project" reforms. When the four R&D subsidiaries are added to the mix, Gamania actually has quite an impressive range of competitive advantages!

What makes up the "core corporate competitiveness" of Gamania today? What immediately comes to mind is the Gamania group's strategic network in Asia as well as the R&D prowess of its four subsidiaries. No discussion of these two advantages can be complete without mentioning the two main directions that Gamania decided upon during the 2001 "Philadelphia Project". At the time, though Lineage had brought Gamania Taiwan tremendous success, Albert continued to believe that internationalization and in-house development would be where markets are lost and won in the future. He therefore set "Capture the Asian markets and break into the Western markets" as well as "Invest in R&D and build an in-house development capability" as Gamania's two main strategic directions. From then on, Gamania accelerated its expansion of Asian operations.

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Complete Asian strategy Gamania can be considered the first online gaming company in Taiwan to expand its gaming operations into the rest of Asia. By dint of hard work over the years, Gamania now has a solid footing in key Asian markets such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan. For example, Gamania Hong Kong made a profit for the first time in 2005; Gamania Japan delivered great results thanks to Bright Shadow in 2008 then Zodiac in 2009; though Gamania Korea is the very competitive Korean online gaming market, it has managed to continue its stable growth; Gamania China will set up strategic alliances with Chinese game companies and

channels in a bid to re-capture market share this year. In the past, Gamania had been aggressive about expanding its operations in Asia. Though the risks were high, Gamania has managed to win through. With the trend towards globalization in online games, Gamania's extensive presence in Asia has now become the most powerful weapon in the brand's push towards internationalization. International marketing and collaborations continued to move ahead and expand worldwide during this time as well. These included: partnering with GAMEPOT USA to operate the internally-developed online game Bright Shadow; participating in

Ani-Com HK 2009; internallydeveloped online game Zodiac Online winning awards in Japan; and UK-US collaboration for the animation Hero: 108. These developments not only emphasized Gamania's overseas business acumen but also the company's own advantages and vision in internationalization. In the future, Gamania will not only continue to press home in the Japanese and Hong Kong markets where it is now turning a profit but also use the animation Hero: 108 to break into the Western markets so "Gamania Asia" can become "Gamania Worldwide".

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GAMANIA

Features

Complete R&D capability The "Philadelphia Project" not only defined Gamania's Asian operations but also set the direction for Gamania's in-house R&D strategy. "Alibangbang" joined the Gamania Group in 2002 and "PlayCoo" in 2008. With the creation of "SEEDO Games" and "RedGate Games" studios this year, the gathering of developer talent has served to flesh out Gamania's R&D lineup and made it more competitive. With a R&D team of around 300 people, Gamania can now develop around 23 games a year. As the gaming market becomes increasingly saturated, these development teams will help Gamania to capture more of a very diverse market through more unique games.

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Always the ďŹ rst in innovative services Apart from its extensive Asian offices and complete R&D team, it is the spirit of innovation at Gamania that has seen the Gamania brand continue to overcome changes in the Taiwanese market. The gaming industry is a fast-changing market so apart from continuing to release new products, providing good service remains the key to winning over consumers and staying ahead of competitors. This is why Gamania has always been the most innovative service provider in the Taiwanese gaming

industry. In 2000, Gamania in Taiwan built the largest online game server center in Asia. The new server center was provided with massive bandwidth as well as fire, hacking, cheating and power outage protection. Despite the high cost, the server center allowed Gamania to deal with any unexpected connection issues or crises immediately. Not only did connection quality reach an acceptable level of stability it also boosted the faith and trust of Taiwanese gamers in Gamania.

Online game server center

In 2007, Gamania opened Taiwan's first gamer ser vice area. The gamer service area is provided with a comfortable waiting area, gaming magazine reading area and demo area where gamers can receive customer service of the highest standards in a properly furnished space from attentive staff. This made Gamania the first brand in the Taiwanese online gaming industry to make the effort to build an in-person service space for gamers.

Customer service center's in-person service area

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GAMANIA

Features

Bold expansion into the animation industry Even as Gamania is continuing to develop online games, it also made a bold move to expand into the animation industry. In 2000, Gamania HQ set up the "Office of Creative Concepts" (the predecessor to the Creative Center) to focus on animation production. The office was later expanded and renamed the "GAMANIA Creative Center". The center produced various short animations and showed them at exhibitions around the world. They represented not only Gamania's development talent but also won awards at many major international exhibitions. The Hero: 108 animation created by the Creative Center will soon launch in the European market with an accompanying online game peripheral toy figures, opening a new market in the West for Gamania.

《Hero:108》

Creative Center

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Mig Said

Who's Next Door

What a Hell!

Piggy to Go


Building an Innovation Integration Platform Online games remain the backbone of the Gamania business, for now there are now plans to build Gamania's own unified digital entertainment platform. The first step took place this year with the launch of the beanfun! platform that consolidated all of Gamania's existing game products and membership accounts. Next will be the integration of animation and community content, with online shopping, music, movies and other inter-industry collaborations all on the cards in the future. The ultimate result will be a digital entertainment portal that will satisfy all consumers between the ages of 1 to 99. The integrated platform as well as Gamania's trans-regional advantages and strategy will bring out the best of the Gamania brand.

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GAMANIA

Features

Gamania's Brand Achievements

POINT

3

Everyone has seen how Gamania has performed in the market over the past few years. When compared to the results from the same period last year, the Gamania Group has delivered gains almost every single month. The summer break, in particular, was one high after another. While other companies were fallen by the global ďŹ nancial crisis, Gamania managed to beat the trend and continued to grow!

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Bucking the trend for record-breaking growth! The impact o the global financial crisis has seen almost every sector of the Taiwanese economy go into recession over the last two years. Gamania has bucked the trend by repeatedly achieving record revenues. Through a strategy of diversification, the Gamania Group was able to deliver success after success in each market; Gamania subsidiary "Taiwan "Index" more than doubled its revenues compared to last year; the Hong Kong's 3Q revenues was its highest quarter ever and an 80% increase on the previous year; in Japan, the homegrown Zodiac Online is continuing to contribute to the bottom line and revenues were up by 70% compared to the last year. Thanks to the contributions from all of the regional subsidiaries, consolidates revenues for the Gamania Group reached 3.99 Billion NTD by September, a massive 39% increase compared to the same period last year. For Gamania, this year will no doubt be another record-breaking year. The Digitimes "Tech 100" also put Gamania in 22nd place, breaking new ground for the Taiwanese online gaming industry. The "Taiwan Superior Brands" award from TAITRA this year offered G!Voice an opportunity to take everyone on a tour of Gamania's performance in past years. Even as we share in Gamania's achievements, we must remember that it was made possible thanks to everyone at Gamania working together. At the same time, Gamania hopes that as its overseas units enter the growth phase, they will also make Gamania Taiwan their target and start paying attention to developing the Gamania brand in their area. Having made its mark in Taiwan, Gamania will now strive to become an "International Excellent Brand" and work with every Gamanian to realize this even more challenging goal!

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GAMANIA

Features

A Gama Worth Waiting For Gamania gave an outstanding performance during this year's selection process and left a strong impression on Deputy Director Ceng from TAITRA's Marketing Projects Office. G!Voice has invited deputy director Ceng to share with us his impression of Gamania's performance in the "Taiwan Excellent Brand" selection process as well as TAITRA's hopes for Gamania.

A brand filled with charisma When talking about his knowledge of Gamania, Deputy Director Ceng immediately thought of the Gamania log. "Even with its two legs and a slice of mandarin, it provided a very lively message of ‘mobility’ and ‘sharing’. Gamania stands out even among all the other companies in Taiwan." Apart from the strong first impression that Gamania gave to the judges on the day, Ceng also

mentioned the presentation from Gamania: "All of the brands that entered came from small and medium enterprises. Each found its own market niche and achieved great results with their products. But what we really liked about Gamania was the company's vision – "exploring the unlimited possibilities of fun". From a consumer perspective, Gamania is indeed unlimited because it's hard

to find another brand that caters to people of all ages. Using this as a guiding principle when planning and delivering entertainment options for consumers means Gamania is delivering on its commitment to consumers as well. I personally feel that Gamania has really done an outstanding job on realizing the whole "exploring fun" concept."

Ceng Han-Shou, Deputy Director of Marketing Projects, TAITRA

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Going international with a Taiwanese brand

Vincent, CEO for Gamania Taiwan, receives the award on behalf of Gamania from TAITRA Secretary-General Chao Yung-Chuan

Apart from praising Gamania for winning the "2009 Taiwan Superior Brands", Ceng also had high hopes for Gamania, saying "Though the Taiwanese ICT, sports and leisure industries are strong performers, I don't think Taiwan is no match for Korea when it comes to software development. We might have started late but the possibilities are endless. As the representative of the gaming industry, the responsibility falls on Gamania to help build up Taiwan's reputation as a gaming brand and help Taiwanese brands go international." As for sustainable brand development, Ceng offered his own unique insight: "Corporate culture is about what you promise to employees and shareholders. Gamania has a great corporate culture, and if this corporate culture can be transformed into the brand culture to continue giving consumers real brand commitment, consumers will be able to experience fun through Gamania, and experience Gamania through fun. If this can be achieved, I am sure that Gamania will soon become a world famous brand!"

Examples of Superior Brand winners from past years

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GAMANIA

Project

Taiwan Index Games Its Way to New Marketing Strategy! Named as a Microsoft Case Study of the Year

After the success of Red Cliff, Gamania subsidiary "Taiwan Index" launched the summer's cutest oriental-style online game CU Online in August and successfully boosted revenues for the summer game season. To build on the cute craze, "Taiwan Index" partnered with Microsoft on an digital marketing campaign, not only successfully creating another great result but was also chosen by Microsoft as a Case Study. The Gamania Group's creativity has been proven once again!

About the "Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions" In the past, it was enough for advertising to mainly focus on conventional mediums such as TV, radio, newspaper and magazine. Modern consumers are no longer passive recipients of information provided by a brand or media. They can now use a variety of digital devices and platforms such as mobile phones or gaming devices to extend their online experience. For advertising buyers, they can no longer reach

all of their target audience through just one media alone. Nor can they rely on just one advertising approach to deliver their brand message. In response to the challenges of an evolving advertising market and buyer needs, Microsoft offers the "Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions" with allnew *Rich Media advertising layouts. When coupled with a staggering monthly user base of

465 million subscribers on MSN, this offers advertising clients with easy access to their desired consumer market. In an effort to provide even better solutions and demonstrate the strengths of a digital advertising strategy, Microsoft established a program of collecting the best case studies from around the world in marketing.

*Note: Rich Media: Rich Media is a type of online media presentation that contains animation, sound, video and interactivity. Rich Media can be used in all kinds of online services include website design, e-mail, banners, buttons, pop-up advertising and inserts.

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Be surprised at CU Online The reason why CU Online was selected for the Microsoft Case Study program this year was that "Taiwan Index" thought about how every detail from the layout choices to creative design fitted in with the overall strategy and remained consistent.

Combination of different advertising spots

The Today focus advertising on MSN

In the past, businesses ordered advertising spots based on consistent flow and click-through rate. With Rich Media however, everything hinged on the presentation of materials and how they fit in with the layout. CU Online chose to break with tradition and make extensive use of Rich Media spots because "COCO Bunny", the game mascot, was a very effective element. By using Rich Media to reinforce the launch and then maintaining daily exposure through popular spots, the end result was high click-through rates as expected by Microsoft.

MSN Messenger chat window text and banner ad

MSN games window billboard

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GAMANIA

Project Eye-catching creativity In the past, game companies would only buy homepage banner ads to build their exposure when launching new products. The ads themselves were basic graphics or text. When "Taiwan Index" contacted Microsoft, they immediately said they wanted to break with the gaming industry convention and do something novel. To this end, the CU Online marketing theme "Get Surprised!" was carried through to all aspects of the game's advertising be it online, through the TV or other media. For example, when you log into MSN you will first see a small ad for CU Online. On mouse-over it expands to give gamers a surprise through the dynamic advertising effect.

MSN homepage gets a makeover

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Multimedia bubble ad


Perfect integration of virtual spokesperson MSN occasionally partners with celebrities on making emoticons for download. "Taiwan Index" however was the first to offer a game company's virtual mascot as downloadable emoticons for MSN. The MSN little green person and the COCO bunny showed up together on every layout as well, successfully catching web users' attention. COCO Bunny MSN emoticon downloads

The MSN little green person and COCO bunny are everywhere

First in the industry For this campaign, "Taiwan Index" set many industry firsts: the first game company to partner with MSN on emoticon downloads, and the first Taiwanese game company to be chosen for the MSN Global Case Studies. The marketing efforts of "Taiwan Index" have always been an impressive tour de force. Apart from its own solid project setup, on this occasion "Taiwan Index" made good use of advertising spots and MSN Messenger downloads

to exploit the potential of digital advertising. The advertising spots also performed twice as well as the average. Unless another game company comes up with something original before the end of the year, "Taiwan Index" will be the only company in Taiwan – and also the only company from the gaming industry – to be chosen for the Case Studies. Let's hear a round of applause for "Taiwan index"!

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GAMANIA

Events

s e t i R a m a G ia Celebrates n Gama ch Harvest a Ri mn u t u A for Mid

Gamania Taiwan always hosts a large mid-autumn event on the even of the Mid-Autumn Festival every year. In Chinese tradition, the full moon is time for a full family gathering. It's therefore natural for all Gamanians to get together to feast and be merry on a day like MidAutumn Festival which symbolizes family reunion. So, what interesting things happened at this year's Gama Rites in addition t o the usual barbecue?

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This year's mid-autumn event, the "Gama Rites", was held at Green Bay in Wanli. Based on the "Harvest Festival" of the indigenous people, a large campfire was lit for the Gama Festival while Albert, William and Hank, in their capacity as the heads of the Gamania family, dressed up as the chiefs of the Gamania tribe. They were then carried on sedan chairs on to the grounds with much ado to open the festivities. The three chiefs then led all of the Gamanians in a prayer for good fortune. This not only celebrated the Gamania Group's great harvest in the first half of the year but also prayed for business to continue to prosper in the second half of the year. Just as Gamanians were about to fall upon the barbecue, indigenous teachers invited by the Employee Welfare Committee took up the hands of little Gamanians and began dancing to indigenous music around the campfire in a celebration of the harvest and to pray for good fortune. Gamanians also have a love for water and pranks, so water gun battles were on even as they challenged each other to beer drinking competitions.


Mid-Autumn Festival Gift – A Full Moon from Gamania to You!

Many Gamanians brought their families along for the Gama Rites so Albert's dream of turning Gamania into a big happy family has once again come true at a gathering of Gamanians. Finally, sky lanterns with blessings written all over them gradually floated into the air as all of the Gamanians looked on. This was followed by a show of fireworks, bringing this year's Gama Festival to a perfect conclusion!

What to give for Mid-Autumn Festival? Moon cakes? Pomelos? Gift boxes? Why not give friends a full moon so they can enjoy some serious moon watching? This year Gamania prepared "Moons" as gifts for our partners so they know that Gamania not only cares, but to also give them a taste of Gamania's creativity! For 2009, Gamania's creativity came up with a Mid-Autumn Festival gift from outer space – the Moon Lamp. With the Moon Lamp, you can enjoy moon watching during the Mid-Autumn Festival with ease! The small exquisite lamp stand not only offers a beautiful sight when placed on the desk but also adds interest to the humdrum of everyday life. There's no need to worry about the weather if you want to go moon watching. You don't need a highpowered telescope either. Thanks to the Moon Lamp, you can admire the full moon at any time.

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GAMANIA

Events

26

Learn

Keywords for

Gama Day

The annual Gamania Festival is upon us once more. Last year, G!Voice took everyone on a retrospective of Gama Day from previous years through a photo album. But Gama Day is not just a day of fun-ďŹ lled activities. It represents and conveys a message about Gamania style and culture. On the even of this important festival, G!Voice will introduce the culture at Gamania through 26 keywords from A thr ough to Z !

Albert

Albert is not only responsible for decision-making and strategy direction at the Gamania Group, he is also the spiritual leader of Gamania culture. Albert is always there on all the important days in the Gamania calendar.

Born on 4/1

On April 1, 1995, Albert and several game-loving friends founded two companies: "Full Studio" for R&D, and "Fullsoft" for marketing. This was the beginning of the Gamania way of living for fun and dreams.

Cosplay

Cosplay is everywhere in Gamania culture from the Gama Day Cosplay Competition, customer service's monthly Cosplay Challenge to top managers like Albert and William dressing up for cosplay at the annual dinner.

2008 Gamania HK Christmas

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2006 Gamania Taiwan annual dinner


Dress Code

The Gamania calendar is filled with different festivals. The festivals all have different themes each year and the dress code changes as well. If you are really not sure, you can't go wrong with the Gama T-shirt!

Encourage

"Work hard, play hard" has always been an important part of the Gamanian spirit. This is why Gamania has a Gama Island as well. At Gamania, there's nothing wrong with having fun. So, everyone should finish their work as soon as possible so they can start having fun!

Family Member

When people see the word "family ” , they immediately think of Gamania's "F.A.M.I.L.Y." values. But exactly how many people are in the Gamania family? When you count Asia, Europe and America, the Gamania family now has 1,291 members. This will only continue to grow in the future! What a sight!

Game Day

Gamania started out as a game developer so the April 1 Founding Day has become Gamania's "Game Day". To celebrate the birth of Gamania, we host the "Gama Cup" sports festival so all Gamanians can get out from in front of the computer and "play" together.

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GAMANIA

Events

Home Sweet Home

Albert treats employees like family and his dream is for every Gamanian to "feel at home". Gamania not only provides food and games but also a nursing room where Gamanian mothers can take care of their babies.

Idea Show

Bold creativity has always been a Gamania trait. Creativity is encouraged at the office as well. The recent "Have a good IDEA!" challenge for example was successful in bringing the company a lot of useful ideas.

Join Together

Albert once said that he was very moved when he saw Gamanians bringing their families to company events because it means Gamania is really like a big family. Be it the annual dinner, sports carnival or Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, Gamania hopes everyone will bring their family and join in the fun.

KUSO

Normal people blow out candles and eat cakes for a heart-warming birthday. At Gamania, birthdays must be kuso! The more crazy and kuso the better!

L ove

The fun gene in Gamanians means they love all kinds of culture. Gamanians don't just have fun however, they are also very caring people. Apart from supporting youths through the "Gamania Cheer Up Foundation" in Taiwan, Gamanians are also passionate supporters of charitable causes in their spare time.

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Mixed  Match

As the Gamania Family grew, company events are no longer a competition between departments. As departments are broken up and recombined, they've emerged all the stronger and the bonds between the departments have become closer as well.

Name

"Gamania" is, in fact, a combination of Game + Mania. We are sure that everyone knows how this name came about. The name "Fullsoft" was a little too staid for a group of young people who love to have fun. In 1999, the company was officially renamed "Gamania" to re-define the corporate culture.

Open Mind

An enterprise with a closed mine is not only deaf to employee ideas but will find it impossible to build cohesion. Gamania is so tightly knit because we are an "Open Mind" company with zero barriers to communication. At the "Gamania Conference", Albert took the time to read every QA form written out by Gamanians to answer their questions and make their dreams come true. This is the best proof that we keep an open mind!

Passion

The primary color of the Gamania logo represents p a s s i o n a n d v i t a l i t y. Gamanians are also young people filled with fun and passion as well. It's not just internal Gamania events. Gamanians can get really crazy and passionate at outside events as well!

Question Mark

Since Gamania was created many people in the industry have asked Gamania "Why?". Why make online games? Why build a server center? Why set up a foundation? Why, why, why? But Gamania always turns "question marks" into "exclamation marks" even as it pioneers the next industry innovation.

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GAMANIA

Events

Recycle

Gamania dreams of "creating a paradise filled with happiness for everyone" so it's now quietly going about doing its part for protecting the planet. Gamania designed and manufactured the company's own "EcoFriendly Travel Cup" and this has triggered a buying frenzy within the company. Many Gamanians now take their cup to Gama Island to buy drinks so they can help the environment in their own little way.

Sharing

The mandarin orange is a fruit that invites sharing. Sharing is a major part of the Gamania culture as well. Apart from hosting seminars with famous artists at SPACE 17, the monthly "Have a SPEECH" event hosted by HR each month offers a chance for Gamanians to share their thoughts about work.

Talent

Having fun is encouraged at Gamania and so is learning skills through play. Inside Gamania, you will ďŹ nd magicians, saxophone players, ďŹ gure sculptors, break dancers and more. So, what's your special talent as a Gamanian?

Victory

A year after Gamania was founded the company began hosting all kinds of inter-department competitions. Whenever a PK challenge is on, each unit comes together like a family and focuses on "winning". Their goal is to win laurels for the department.

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Universal

Gamania has always insisted on going international. Albert encourages Gamanians to broaden their international horizons as well, so the company is quite willing to let employees travel overseas and meet with foreign suppliers. This means Gamanians must also be very receptive to cultural differences as well.


Zero to Hero

Warm

For important festivals, Gamania is sure to present a creative gift designed in-house to its business partners. This not only makes business partners feel appreciated but also makes them say: "Gamania really cares!"

XXOO

"Naughts and crosses" is a game that everyone has played to pas the time. Whether your are here for a meeting, to see a friend or just plain lost, Gamania's "OOXX" always wishes you: "Have a good GAME!"

Gamania started with zero and through its hard work and perseverance, has created many impossible miracles along the way to become the leading brand in the market. To reward the heroes and warriors battling away on the frontline for the company, Gamania runs competitions and gives out rewards every month.

For this year's Gama Day, let's get together for some serious "Loving"! In April this year, Gamania hosted a "Charity Sale" that successfully helped many non-government organizations. This year has been a year of natural disasters for Taiwan, so to fulfill our CSR and help the people in need, Gamania has decided to host another charity sale. This will be held on an important event like Gama Day as well for everyone to get together and show their compassion. The Gamania Cheer Up Foundation approaches social welfare with a positive attitude. The welfare committee hopes this spirit can continue, so this charity sale will not be just about charity. On the day, each charity stall will have a different theme so Gamanians can unleash their creativity. The Gamanian passion and Kuso culture will be spread to everyone in the park area so they can not only support a charitable cause but also share in Gamania's happiness!

Young

The average age at Gamania is 29 years old, so Gamania may very well be the publicly listed company with the youngest employees. Gamania's youth means it doesn't set limits on itself, is curious about everything and is willing to try anything.

Members of the Gamania employee welfare committee

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GAMANIA

Events

SPACE 17 is the designated exhibition space for Gamanians that has been designed to facilitate cultural interactions within Gamania. It serves as the perfect venue for Gamanians to let loose their unlimited creativity and crazy ideas. Gamania hosts exhibitions and events on a monthly basis at SPACE 17 on top of irregularly inviting creative experts such as artists and designers to speak and exchange ideas with Gamanians. In the future, SPACE 17 plans to assist Gamanians to share even more of their creative thoughts and present more interesting person/incidents/objects within the company.

SPACE 17 Opens Up

"Travel Perspectives" through the Humanities In the early years, Gamania organized "group" tours for Gamanians. As the Gamania Group grew and the number of employees increased however, from 2003 onwards the company was forced to switch to "tour options and subsidies" approach so Gamanians can organize their own trips. Many Gamanians choose to take their holidays in fall as a way of rewarding themselves. SPACE 17 therefore organized an exhibition of the humanities titled "Travel Perspectives" in the hope that it will make Gamanians think about the purpose of their planned trip and gain more from it!

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Inside the latest SPACE 17 exhibition space, the suspended landscapes matched with famous sayings leaves a strong impression. These include the thoughts on travel of great contemporary personalities such as Andy Warhol, Susan Sontag, Le Corbusier, Haruki Murakami, Kenichi Ohmae and others. The organizers stated that they hoped these sayings would give Gamanians a better understanding and idea of travel. They also encouraged Gamanians to get out more so they can discover new experiences in different places and with different people. As architect Tadao Ando once said, "Even when knowledge is the same, if it is communicated through an abstract vocabulary and understood through personal experience, the resultant depth is completely different." This means that no matter how much you learn through books, it can't match the depth offered by experiencing something in person. "Traveling" is therefore a necessary part of the "learning" experience for every person. As pleasant autumn weather sets in, many Gamanians may have already planned their trips before the end of the year. If so, why not visit the SPACE 17 "Travel Perspectives" exhibition and think about what you can gain from the coming trip!

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GAMANIA

Events

3

"Must-See"

cities before the end of the year After thinking about the meaning of the travel, now let's find a reason to head out! G!Voice has invited Syu Yu-Hua, veteran traveler as well as the senior travel editor of GQ, to pick the three top "must-see" destinations for Gamanians this year!

1. Strasbourg Strasbourg is the capital of Europe and also the seat of the European Parliament. The historical city center has been named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and its famous "Christmas Market" has now been held for over 500 years. All kinds of Christmas decorations, crafts and foods are on sale at the market, making Strasbourg well worth a visit before the end of the year.

2. Zurich The international magazine Monocle picked Zurich as 1st out of the world's top 25 cities. Zurich not only takes greening very seriously but has also maintained its historic downtown area in the classical European style. Galleries, antique shops, themed restaurants and shops give the city a very fashionable and lively vibe.

3.Berlin This year marks the 20th anniversary for the fall of the Berlin Wall. Berlin has also been hosting a series of retrospective exhibitions and celebrations since the start of the year. On November 9, a new Berlin Wall will fall once again even as a grand ďŹ reworks display takes place over the city. This destination offers the chance to witness history be made again.

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