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Virtual Currency

Analysis: Kohls Stardoll Promotion Case Study

Authored by Heather Hopkins on August 28, 2008 - 6:09am.

Virtual worlds are hugely popular online but retailers still often struggle with how to market via these worlds. As marketing budgets are being cut, retailers need to make an ever stronger case for new initiatives. The recent promotion that Kohls has run with Stardoll offers an interesting example of how to tap into this audience.

tags: Games | Deals | Marketing | Virtual Currency | Stardoll | Virtual Words | Kohls | Retails |

DMW Vlog: PlaySpan's Tony Colafrancesco on Trading Virtual Goods

Authored by Jay Baage on June 24, 2008 - 7:21am.

The market for virtual goods and currency in games such as World of Warcraft is booming and some analysts estimate that it's worth approximately $1.5 billion. I caught up with PlaySpan's Tony Colafrancesco in between panels at our recent LA Games Conference and asked him some questions about the current problems users run into when trying to trade virtual goods or currency, including gold miners and virtual gangsters, and how Playspan is working to bring some order to the chaos. Playspan claims to be the first publisher-sponsored in-game commerce network for microtransactions with a combined user base of over 10 million gamers.
tags: Games | Virtual Currency | MMORG | World of Warcraft | Virtual Worlds | LA Games Conference | PlaySpan | Tony Colafrancesco |

Facebook Virtual Currency Acebucks Raises $1.5 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 24, 2007 - 8:59am.

New York - Acebucks, a developer of virtual currency used within the Facebook online social network, has raised $1.5 million in new financing, AllFacebook reported.

tags: Deals | VC | Social Networking | Facebook | Virtual Currency | Acebucks | Buddy Media |

Gamer Files Class Action Against "World of Warcraft" Gold Farmer

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 7, 2007 - 10:56am.

Irvine, Calif. - A class action suit has been filed by a veteran player of Blizzard Entertainment's "World of Warcraft" (WoW) multiplayer game against a company called IGE, a "gold farmer" that recruits players to accrue virtual gold to sell to WoW players for real-world money, The Escapist reported.

tags: Games | Lawsuits | Virtual Currency | Blizzard | WoW | MMOG | Antonion Hernandez |

N.Y. Times: Online Game "Entropia Universe" Launches Real-World ATM Cards

Authored by dmw on May 2, 2006 - 10:12am.
New York - The New York Times on Tuesday reported on a new feature in the online game "Entropia Universe" that will let players withdraw cash from real-world ATM machines, which will draw on virtual currency stored in their online game accounts. Launched in 2003 by Sweden-based developer MindArk, the game counts 250,000 players who generated an estimated $165 million in total economic activity within the game last year. "We want this game to be a full second reality," MindArk CEO Jan Welter told The Times. "We want you to be able to have fun, make friends, make a business, enjoy music and art and do it in our game. The ATM card is a big step toward bringing people into our world because they can have comfort that they can access their virtual funds immediately."
tags: Games | Launches | Payments | Commerce | Online Games | Virtual Currency | MindArk | Entropia |