IMVU, Inc. (Not an acronym [2]) is an online social entertainment website founded in 2004,[1] in which members use 3D avatars to meet new people, chat, create, and play games.[3][4] IMVU has over 100 million registered users, 10 million unique visitors per month and three million monthly active users[citation needed]. IMVU has the world’s largest virtual goods catalog[5] of more than 10 million items[citation needed] (some hidden by their creators), almost all of which are created by its own members. IMVU is backed by venture investors Menlo Ventures, Allegis Capital, Bridgescale Partners, and Best Buy Capital and is located in Mountain View, California.
Membership
Basic IMVU access is free, but users may choose to purchase gift cards or pay with a credit card to obtain virtual credits (often referred to as the freemium business model).[6] Free memberships allow users to register a "Guest_" avatar name, make use of the chat service, purchase virtual content, and create a personal homepage. Buying a name removes "Guest_" from the avatar name and removes non-IMVU advertising, also enables access to additional forum sections. However, some features require further payment such as VIP to receive a monthly credit allowance as well as free virtual products. By being a VIP member on Imvu you can also have the ability to create up to 10 of your own unique rooms.
Content creation program
A primary focus of IMVU is its member-developed content. IMVU encourages the members to participate in content creation. Members who purchase a VIP can have their previously Guest_ removed from their name (by paying) can become "Content Creators" and can create and sell virtual products. Developers have access to the IMVU software Create Mode located in the 3D client itself used in creating and submitting new virtual products and can sell their products by listing them in the online IMVU product catalog.
A member must also have enough credits in their account for "derivation" and submission fees in order to become a content creator. IMVU uses its own proprietary Cal3D format consisted of .xcf (eXperimental Computing Facility) subformats.
Content creators may use programs such as 3ds Max, Sketchup, or Blender to create IMVU's 3D assets.
If Content creators leave their products as "derivable," other creators can change the image assets and turn it into a brand new product to sell in the 3D catalog, so a room originally appearing blue can be effectively made into a red room for example, by applying different texture maps,known as texture mapping.
Each product has pairs of jpeg images. They are preferred to be sized to a combination of pixel width/height of 32, 64, 128, 256, 512. One image is the image,the other is the opacity. If the opacity is left blank then the program automatically assumes it is totally white. The opacity is a gray scale version of the texture. The regions coloured white are shown on the item, gray gives an transparent effect, and black the texture is not shown. The black opacity combined with the 'skin' option allows regions of a clothes mesh to be replaced by the avatar skin allowing infinite variations of the same dress mesh.
Some content creators are 'textures' effectively they do not make the original meshes but specialize in re-texturing other meshes. Other creators make original meshes for others to specifically texture, while some do both the meshing and texturing.
Economy
IMVU contains its own economy with a currency system based on IMVU "credits" and "promotional credits." A third form of currency also exists for members who sell custom-made items, "developer tokens," which are earned when a user purchases an item with "promo credits," also known as "predits." Credits can be purchased online using actual currency either directly from IMVU or from third party resellers. Credits may also be purchased on IMVU gift cards available from retail outlets such as department stores. Credits may not be transferred back from IMVU to actual currency but can be sold to registered resellers who will purchase them for real-world currency. The credits are used by members to purchase virtual items like fashion pieces (hair, clothes, skins, and accessories), pets, and 3D scenes such as homes, clubs and open landscapes. Furniture can also be purchased the same way and placed into unlocked rooms, but there are also rooms that have some furniture included in them as well as locked rooms that include furniture that can not be removed.
Promotional credits, abbreviated to "promo-credits" or "predits," are a second form of currency distributed to members by IMVU and can be obtained by participating in various "Partner" promotions as well as a few activities the IMVU provides. With relation to a standard free or full member, promo-credits are similar to standard credits. A given number of credits equates , promo-credits cannot be used to purchase items as gifts for other members and may not be traded back to an IMVU reseller for actual currency. Promo-credits used to purchase a virtual product are exchanged into "Developer Tokens," also known as "Dev Tokens." The purchase transfers the Predits into Dev Tokens but nets a single developer token per purchase when predits are used regardless of the price of the product purchased.Cite error: A set of <ref> tags are missing the closing </ref>; see the help page.
See also
References
- ^ a b "About: IMVU", IMVU website
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature= player_embedded&v=5ia0nhmQybs#t=2 1m48s.
- ^ Oliver Chiang (2010-09-21). "3-D Avatars Get Their Own Farmvilles In IMVU - Forbes". Blogs.forbes.com. Retrieved 2011-11-13.
- ^ Mar 11th, 2011 (2011-03-11). "IMVU Games Taking Advantage of Strong Growth". Insidesocialgames.com. Retrieved 2011-11-13.
- ^ January 31, 2011 (2011-01-31). "IMVU Announces Growth, Promotion". Engage Digital. Retrieved 2011-11-13.
- ^ Evans, Jenny (2011-01-14). "Is IMVU Appropriate for Your Kids?". uKnowKids. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
Further reading
External links
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