There is one core reason: currency inflation.

For example, if you have a single currency, ‘coins’, and you sell 1,000 ‘coins’ for $1, then a new or early stage user may find it to be a good value to spend $10 to buy 10,000 ‘coins’. Once that user has spent those ‘coins’, they would have leveled up considerably, and are now in a position where they could earn 50,000 ‘coins’ a day. Once they reach this level they will no longer be motivated to buy more ‘coins’. It would now cost them $50 to earn what they could get for free every day.

In this same example, if a publisher now introduces a second currency, let’s call it ‘gold’, and a user visits the Super Rewards offer wall to buy 10 ‘gold’ for $1, then the game publisher can put in an individualized exchange rate.  For example, the user that is at level 5 and gets 10,000 ‘coins’ per day for their daily allotment, can now exchange 10 ‘gold’ for 10,000 ‘coins’ and a user who is at level 50 and gets 500,000 ‘coins’ per day would be able to exchange 10 ‘gold’ for 500,000 ‘coins’.  As the first company to enter the virtual currency monetization space, the Super Rewards team has consulted with hundreds of game developers to effectively implement this dual currency model. The model works because it motivates new users to purchase currency, and also helps maintain motivation for aggressive users who like to climb that leader-board making it so they too continue to buy currency. This dual currency model is a winning combination for improving user retention rates, enhancing the overall game experience, while driving sustainable and significant revenue for the publisher.

You will find real world examples of this dual currency in action in most of the mafia RPG games that are in the marketplace today.  In these games, a user earns ‘Favor Points’ for completing offers or making a purchase through a microtransaction provider, such as Paypal.  The user can then convert their ‘Favor Points’ into various things, including the main currency, Money or Cash.  The exchange rate is determined by the user’s current daily income, for example, 5 Favor Points = 1x their daily income; 10 FP = 2x daily income; 15 FP = 3x daily income. Super Rewards has been consulting and working with one of the top mafia RPGs, Mob Wars, on Facebook, since it’s inception almost two years ago. Below you will see a perfect example of this dual currency model in play on Mob Wars.

http://apps.facebook.com/mobwars/godfather/

This is the most compelling reason for a developer to implement multiple currencies. Without this model in place there will be an extreme lack of motivation for your high level users to spend real money to advance in the game. Contact info@srpoints.com if you would like a Super Rewards game analyst to assist you in effectively implementing this dual currency model into your game today!

–

Jason Bailey

GM of Virtual Currencies, Adknowledge Inc.

http://SRpoints.com

http://Adknowledge.com

To designers and developers, SNAP Summit: FailCon poses this question: “What’s gone wrong and did you fix it?” A compelling question from an unusual conference. It focuses on mistakes, challenges and failures. But it provides answers with an impressive list of speakers and panel participants. The goal? To offer practical and actionable advice on how to build a great customer experience, how to avoid common start-up mistakes, and how not to build a social application.

Be sure not to make the mistake of passing up this conference. It’s a one-day event that takes place in San Francisco. Come see us there. As a sponsor, we’ll be one of the exhibiting companies. Hope to see you there!

What: SNAP Summit: FailCon (http://www.snapsummit.com)
When: Oct 27th
Where: Hotel Kabuki, 1625 Post Street, San Francisco
Who: for designers, developers, investors, founders, entrepreneurs

Super Rewards is headed to San Francisco on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 29-30, for the Virtual Goods Summit. This two-day event focuses on the emerging market opportunity for virtual goods and economies. Super Rewards is a sponsor of the event, and we will be exhibiting on both days of the show with a table, giveaways, and a grand prize drawing. Our Vice President, Adam Caplan, is speaking on a panel: “The Payments Landscape – Virtual Goods Payment Options.” You won’t want to miss it, and you won’t want to miss our party!

Come join us for the official After-Party on Thurs, Oct. 29th, from 6:30 – 9 p.m. The party will be held at ThirstyBear Brewing Company.

Bring your VGSU or VGS badge to get in for a fun night of free food and drinks. Come taste some of ThirstyBear’s famous beer blends to see which you like best, and challenge a friend to a game of pool or darts. The location is 661 Howard Street, just a few blocks from the Westin.

The Virtual Goods Summit is going to be a great event. Remember to bring your registration badge to get into the Super Rewards party. See you there!

Super Rewards hosted an amazing Ace Developer Casino Night Event on Friday, October 9, 2009.  It was a first-class VIP publisher event filled with hot cuisine, cold drinks, spectacular games, and world class developers!  Developers flew in from around the country and Brett Brewer, co-founder of Myspace, flew in from LA all to join in the Super Rewards festivities;  guests arrived wearing their game faces, and were ready to take over the poker and blackjack tables!  The night was filled with casino games, a putting green contest, trivia contests, ping pong tournaments and prizes galore!  The fun-filled night carried into the morning with the discovery of hot new talent (ok and some hilarious entertainment) on the karaoke machine!  Congratulations to all of the winners, and a special thanks to EA, Kirigin Cellars, Royal Casinos, Fundamental Gourmet, and all of our publisher friends that attended and created such a memorable and spectacular event!

Straight from Justin Smith at InsideFacebook.com comes this observation: “While virtual goods have been driving revenues in Asia and Europe for years, 2009 will be remembered as the year virtual goods-based businesses began to scale in the United States. Virtual goods may be bringing the largest disruption entertainment, communication, and e-commerce infrastructure companies have seen for a long time.”

Justin’s comment is contained in an extensive study that he recently released in conjunction with Charles Hudson of Serious Business. They have published a lengthy review of the U.S. Virtual Goods Market, and their study estimates that market revenues will rise from $400 million in 2008 to $1.6 billion in 2010.

Justin and Charles reviewed social networks, applications, games, MMOs, virtual worlds, and free-to-play games in their study. They also looked at emerging areas such as iPhones.

Mark Walsh of MediaPost interviewed Justin and came away concluding there is a “perfect storm boosting demand for virtual goods.” Mark cited Super Rewards as one of the companies succeeding in this space. To view this post, go here: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=115398

To purchase the U.S. Virtual Goods Market report, click here: http://www.insidevirtualgoods.com/us-virtual-goods