ohai, founded and headed up by angel investor, former VC, and serial entrepreneur Susan Wu, launched its first game, City of Eternals, a few months ago. The game combines some of the viral features and monetization strategies of traditional Facebook games with gameplay elements of massively-multiplayer online roleplaying games.

Oh Nick Saint, you are a saint. We’re aiming to shape the future of social games, so we appreciate the shout-out. And we’re honored to be mentioned alongside Stewart Butterfield and Sid Meier, two dudes we totally admire. Now to keep earning that accolade with more kickass games, starting soon with (drum roll) Project Unicorn Parade!

Social Games Level Up!
What’s next for social games? What does it take to build an MMO that everyone will play? Can you teach Farmville fans how to play an MMO? Or get devoted World of Warcraft players passionate about a social network game? Susan Wu, CEO and co-founder of gaming industry pioneer, ohai!, shares 5 key lessons learned from launching the company’s first next-generation social MMO, City of Eternals.

For Twitter updates, follow @ohai or Susan @sw. The Austin Chronicle, by the way, includes Susan among its “People to follow on Twitter during SXSW Interactive“.

Then on March 11th at The Box from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm., she’ll be at the Cha-Ching! Workshop: Realizing Revenues Through Virtual Economies.

Speaking of GDC, we’re having an office party to celebrate the beta release of our first MMO, City of Eternals, and give folks a sneek peek of our next game, Project Unicorn Parade. Here’s info on requesting an invite!

Here’s what she understood early on about the value of virtual goods: In the real world, we have all sorts of intangible interactions, from shaking hands to smiling to offering blessings. The value of virtual goods is not about the object, but rather its ability to express an emotion or feeling in a way that has value. “Sending someone a virtual beer is not about the beer,” Wu told me. “It’s a way to show, ‘I have an affection for you.’”

Much more here.

[T]ypically when you play a game like WOW there is a pretty long wrap-up process — you either have to go to the store or download offline and it takes hours and hours and hours. Then you have to customize your avatar. Then you have to go through this arduous process of deciding what class you want to be. Then you have to research what the implications of being that class are. Then you finally get into the game after multiple hours if you’re lucky. Then you have to figure out how to move around the world. Then you have to figure out the menu system and how it works. In our game, you basically log into your Facebook, you’re in game within a minute or two and are put right in the middle of some action.

Read the rest here.

We’ve been building out the core technology for about a year now. City of Eternals went into production about 9 months ago, incorporating a few design elements from our early social games from 2007, and from our even earlier work developing the world’s very first MMOs back in the 1990s. I’m proud to say that ohai team members were leading innovators and developers of text-based MUDs and large scale game franchises such as Everquest, Everquest 2, PlanetSide, Asheron’s Call, Star Wars Galaxies, Second Life, Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Second Life and Free Realms. I’m honored to be working with this fantastic team.

With City of Eternals, we’re taking social games and MMOs to their next stage of evolution: An action-filled, web-based experience with 3D graphics playable not just within Facebook, but anywhere on the web, starting with CityofEternals.com, and soon, anywhere you can host the game’s Flash client, such as blogs and social network pages.

In New Valencia, your vampire will battle powerful monsters, uncover mysteries and secrets, and earn a place among many rival vampire Houses fighting to control this secret society of Immortals. But that’s just the start: Fall in love with a fellow Vampire, lead your own personal coven (which we call your “House”), customize your home and avatar look, and much more. Choose the way you want to play a Vampire! Over the next few months, we’ll continue adding features and new content, so our world can better reflect the big diverse culture of the bloodthirsty undead.

Our game is still growing and improving, and we’d love your feedback to make it better. Meantime, look for me in New Valencia — my avatar is also named Susan, a Vampire dressed in hot red boots (I wish I had these in real life!) If you spot me, please say hello.

This is just ohai’s first MMO, by the way, with many more of all varieties to come. Meanwhile, see you in the City of Eternals!

- Susan, chief ohai