Stickiness is the amount of time that visitors spend at a Web site. If they just look at one or two pages and immediately click the Back button, they will get little benefit from your site, nor will you have much opportunity to engage them in commerce. A recent article in The Standard discusses how games can increase the stickiness of sites. "Custom-designed videogames can elicit a 30 percent to 50 percent response rate from customers, says Pete Callaro, account director at ad agency TBWA Chiat/Day in New York…. Games not only increase a site's stickiness and build community, but they can also be used for market research."

The goal of every Web site should be to engross users in the site experience so fully that they even forget about time. This results in a rewarding experience.

Simulations do this. SimHost simulations are interactive; visitors cannot remain passively watching. They are drawn into participating in the simulations. And simulations are surprising, a source of delight. Unlike animations, which always work the same way, simulations can behave differently every time they run. Visitors become curious about what will happen next.

Click anywhere in the game above, then use the arrow keys to move the little man around. Make him push the gold onto the palettes at the right. But beware, if two gold sacks end up together, they can't be pushed! Instead of gold, this game could easily be tailored to use items containing your corporate logo.

SimHost provides a breakthrough in the speed and ease with which simulations and games can be built. Instead of requiring months and hundreds of thousands of dollars, with SimHost simulations can be built in days. And without requiring skilled Java, C or Lingo programmers. It is now feasible for every Web site to have many interactive simulations and games.