Business
商业
Fashion retailers and social media
时装零售和社交媒体
The buying game
购物游戏
Can play shopping transform the real thing?
在线玩购物能改变零售业的现状吗？
A LUXURY handbag by Stella McCartney worth ￡600 ($960) is the prize in an online game to design the best virtual outfit featuring the accessory, using real items on sale in Matches, a real store.
价值600英镑（960美元）的斯特拉?麦卡特尼名牌手提包，这是一个在线游戏针对设计出最佳的虚拟服装配饰的奖励，而这些配饰在实物店Matches都有销售。
Players of a game created by Fantasy Shopper will pick the winner.
在这个Fantasy Shopper网站所设计的线上游戏里，赢家由玩家们自己挑选产生。
The firm is a pioneer of "relevant social gaming". This combines features of online games such as FarmVille and World of Warcraft with data and deeds from the real world.
作为"相关社交游戏"领域的先驱，该网站把像开心农场和魔兽世界等线上游戏的特点与现实生活中的实际情况整合成了这样一个游戏。
"Gamification" is an ugly word, but it sounds like money to some.
"实业游戏化"的字眼并不讨喜，但是对某些人而言却是商机。
Online games are fun.
在线游戏很有趣。
Why not borrow some of that fun and apply it to real life?
为什么我们不把游戏中的一些乐趣带到现实生活中了？
This can be hard.
这确实还是有困难的。
Plenty of firms have flopped by trying to bolt a gaming element unconvincingly onto a boring pre-existing website.
有不少公司贸然将游戏元素与已有的内容乏味的网站勉强结合在一起，但这些尝试均以失败告终。
Fantasy Shopper was designed from the start as a hybrid between game and real-world activity says its founder, Chris Prescott.
据Fantasy Shopper网站创始人普雷斯科特称，其建设的初衷就是一个游戏和现实生活行为结合的产物。
Players visit a city (London for now, New York and others to follow) and compete to find bargains and assemble the best outfits using virtual money to spend on goods actually sold in shops there.
在线玩家选择购物城市（暂时只有伦敦，稍后纽约和其他城市会陆续开放），然后竞相去淘一些特价时装，接着用服装配饰自行服装搭配，而且这些配饰商品都可以在该城市的线下商店使用虚拟金币购买。
The choices can be published on Facebook news feeds, where other players vote on the looks on offer.
每件创意搭配组合都会发布到脸谱网（Facebook）的新闻提要，供其他玩家参看投票。
Besides the occasional shot at winning an expensive handbag, players are rewarded virtually, with badges and the like to show off to friends, and vouchers they can use at real shops.
除了有机会赢得名牌手提包，玩家们还会得到虚拟荣誉勋章和可供炫耀的"赞"，当然还有实物店的代金券。
Mr Prescott reckons that Fantasy Shopper will appeal to those who shop as much for the fun of the chase as for the kill.
普雷斯科特认为，Fantasy Shopper将会吸引那些喜欢竞争和过关斩将的人们。
The game already has an enthusiastic following among girls aged 20-25, he says.
他还说，这游戏已经吸引了一批年龄在20岁到25岁之间的女性追随者。
Retailers have been quick to team up with the firm because it helps with promoting products and gives instant feedback from potential customers about what is likely to sell.
一些零售商也已很快地和Fantasy Shopper搭成了合作协议，因为该网站除了能够帮助他们推销商品之外，还能让他们得到一些潜在客户的及时反馈，让他们知道应该卖什么样的商品。
Soon it is likely to offer stores the ability to lure in players as they pass by with offers on their mobile phones.
很快，这样商家就有可能通过发布整合后的商品信息从而吸引在网上浏览的玩家。
The main appeal of Fantasy Shopper and similar "social shopping" firms is their potential to transform fashion retailing by generating vast amounts of data on shoppers' tastes.
Fantasy Shopper以及类似的"社交购物"网站公司最大的吸引力在于通过充分让经销商们了解消费者的需求，从而潜在地改变着时装零售业。
The trick will be to keep adding new players and, even harder, to keep existing ones fully engaged.
这个游戏将需要更多新玩家的参与，更困难的是让现有的玩家全身心地投入。
For Fantasy Shopper, the big test will come when it opens in America, probably within weeks.
对Fantasy Shopper网站而言，当其在美国开通时最大的考验可能就在数周内。
So far it has played a deft hand.
目前为止， Fantasy Shopper运营甚好。
In November, one month after launching, Fantasy Shopper beat 1,500 rivals to win the Amazon Global Start-up Challenge.
去年十一月，在投入运营一个月之后，该网站一举击败了其他1500名竞争对手，摘得了"亚马逊全球创业挑战赛"的冠军。
It is rumoured to have turned down an offer from Amazon.
据说，该网站的创始人拒绝了到亚马逊旗下发展的邀请。
In January the company secured funding from Accel Partners and NEA, two Silicon Valley venture-capital outfits.
而今年一月份，该网站公司分别获得了硅谷两家风险投资基金—阿塞尔合作基金（Accel Partners）和恩颐（NEA）的注资。
Yet Fantasy Shopper is based far from any high-tech hub, in the English town of Exeter.
但是Fantasy Shopper公司在埃克塞特德文郡的一个小镇，离任何一个高科技核心区都很远。
Thanks to the ubiquity of cloud computing, entrepreneurs can start firms anywhere, says Mr Prescott. Even in Devon, a county better known for cream teas than digital cookies.
普雷斯科特这样称，云计算的普及，任何地方都可以创业，即便是在德文郡这样以奶油下午茶闻名而不是数码产品的地方。
It is not just traditional shopaholics who may get hooked on Fantasy Shopper.
其实， 吸引在Fantasy Shopper网站上的玩家不仅仅是那些传统的购物狂们。
Mr Prescott claims that the male geeks in his office have realised that they can reduce the risk of being laughed at for their fashion choices by posting pictures of clothes they want to buy in advance, to see what reaction they get before they splash the cash.
普雷斯科特表示，他公司里的极客们（书呆男们）也已经意识到，他们可以通过事先把所欲购买的服饰的图片上传至网络，在掏钱购买之前先看看别人的反应，从而降低因为不懂时尚而遭嘲笑的风险。
For fashion victims of every kind, "pre-purchase validation" could be a game-changer.
对于所有的时装奴而言，"购前验效"的做法将会成为游戏的变革者。