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Sometimes having a quality product and addictive game play won’t always lure or keep users. This can be attributed to a few factors – the huge selection gamers are faced with when figuring out which site or title suits them best, lack of funds to dedicate to one game specifically or not enough time for all the games they enjoy. If this hurdle was not already apparent, look at some of the tactics publishers are using to acquire new gamers and then keep them playing (and satisfied).

Funcom recently began a free trial program tied with virtual items for their game Age of Conan with the hope that users will be so hooked after they start playing that they must purchase the title. In addition to these perks, Funcom is offering free virtual items with the actual game purchase – a move likely to help new users adapt more quickly.

Earlier this week Electronic Arts announced they were giving away free tokens to players on their casual game site Pogo. These tokens can only be used for “cosmetic” uses to customize avatars, but still a step toward giving users a reason to stick around to play and deepen their social ties with the site.

Though these options might work great to hook people into falling for your game, the money to give away free tokens and let users play for free is coming from your pocket. Give players a way to “earn” virtual items before they decide to purchase and if they like it enough they will turn into a paying player. This doesn’t mean earn through game play (too much time) but earn through an Advertiser Supported Transaction model.

Sometrics AST platform helps users earn virtual items quickly which helps get them engaged in a game and turn them into paying users – providing publishers with money throughout the process.