Last week Zwinky announced the addition of real money transactions to its economy. Since the launch of the virtual world, users have spent over 5 million ZBucks that they earned for free, reports Techcrunch. Now users can add ZBucks to their ZCard via credit card or PayPal at the rate of around 2000 ZBucks for $10 in three packages, Bargain Shopper, Big Spender, and Shopaholic. Users can still earn ZBucks for free, so it will be interesting to see how many opt for buying their way in. However, some "premium" items are only available for purchase, making sure that at least some users are driven to load up their ZCard.
It's interesting how close Zwinky's explanation to its users hews to more academic discussions about the value of real money transactions:
Don't worry, your regular ZBucks aren't going anywhere. You'll still be able to earn and use them everywhere you could before. But now, you can give your shopping power a quick boost by adding ZBucks to your ZCard using most major credit cards or even PayPal.
That's pretty similar to the concept of appealing to both time-rich and money-rich players, although with a hefty dose of encouragement. Zwinky also brought out personal dorm rooms for users to decorate and create a private space in. With the two releases pushing through the gate at the same time, that's just one more strong move to get users switching over to the cash economy to quickly buy and spruce up rooms.
One more key bit from the TechCrunch article: "They currently have over 9.5 million registered users with 4.6 million active users per month that spend an average of 64 minutes a day in their virtual world, Zwinktopia." That's a lot of potential buyers.
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