Frequently Asked Questions
Who is involved in Currency Connect?
The initial parties involved in Currency Connect are myYearbook and IMVU, with additional parties to roll out throughout 2010.
What is Currency Connect?
Currency Connect is a service that allows virtual world and social networking site members to exchange virtual currency among partner websites. In the real world, currency exchanges exist as a way for people to move their money from one country’s currency to another. Someone living in France who vacations in the US might wish to visit the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before she can do this, she must first convert some amount of Euros into US Dollars in order to pay for her visit. Currency Connect works the same way. It allows visitors from other websites to exchange currency in order to perform activities on the site they are visiting.
Why would sites want to participate in Currency Connect? Won’t I lose site traffic?
Currency Connect provides value to the entire virtual currency ecosystem. Sites connected through Currency Connect see higher engagement and more new users registering every day. Currency Connect gives users an additional way to spend the currency they’ve earned on their favorite site. This in turn creates continued opportunities for them to buy or earn more currency. We don’t believe social media is a zero sum game. The end result is hundreds of thousands to millions of new members per year.
Currency Connect partner sites have multiple opportunities to move a user along their retention funnel by incenting the user to join, make a friend, engage in activities, etc. Eventually the user begins to look like a normal site user, or better.
What are the immediate and long-term benefits to members of your community?
Currency Connect drives registrations and daily active users for partner sites. Anyone can incent a one-time registration, but the benefit won’t be fully realized because the visitor is unlikely to come back. The currency exchange provides new avenues for earning and spending the virtual currency of Currency Connect partners every day, providing rich opportunities for expanded partnership and higher levels of engagement and membership for all parties.
Can I add additional partners?
Partners are free to decide which sites their members can exchange currency into. We encourage partner sites to find other sites that fit within their ecosystem.
Who sets the exchange rate?
The exchange rate is set based on agreements between participating parties. Most virtual economies have a dollar value associated to their currency. We use that as well as other factors in setting a rate.
Where do users go to exchange currency?
Users can access the currency exchange system via a widget which partner sites embed. This widget is included as part of the partner API.
Are you creating a single currency?
No, this is an exchange. Members on partner sites work with their native currency. For example, myYearbook members work with Lunch Money, the myYearbook virtual currency. When myYearbook users go to a partner site, they transfer Lunch Money into the native currency of the partner site.
How do you prevent “gaming” of the currencies?
Gaming is the act of exploiting loop holes in a system in order to give someone an unfair advantage. Sites that support virtual currencies go through effort to prevent malicious users from performing activities, which could adversely affect the site economy. Currency Connect works to prevent gaming through secure, auditable transactions and a daily limit on currency exchanged by a visitor between sites.