IMVU, The Site That Makes Instant Messaging Interesting.
For some time now I had seen many adverts on numerous different sites talking about A site called “IMVU”. Though I considered it, I passed it on by despite the tens of times I had seen it. I received an E-mail from A friend of mine, claiming that IMVU was one of the only ways she chose to communicate with anyone anymore, so alas, I decided I’d give it a shot.
Now at this point you re probably wondering what this “IMVU” deal is, maybe you’ve even seen the advertisements yourself. IMVU is a consumer internet startup in downtown Palo Alto. IMVU makes the world’s best 3D instant messenger, which is now in beta testing with more than 1 million customers around the world (I myself am one of the many many happy users). The service lets users express themselves by creating and customizing a 3D avatar with a wide variety of clothes, accessories, pets, scenes, movements, actions, moods and lots more. The service has been live for several years, and it is generating a rapidly growing revenue stream from the sale of virtual currency(extremely so). IMVU’s culture is maniacally focused on rapidly developing and testing features and business ideas to learn from our customers what will make a great business. IMVU has top tier venture investors and an extraordinarily talented team with deep experience in games and virtual worlds.
IMVU has Plenty to offer the consumer (you and I!)
For example….
* Games – play using a 3D avatar that you’ve customized and dressed the way you want.
* Platforms – They are actively porting IMVU to as many IM networks, clients, and operating systems as possible, and plan to bring avatars to other devices like cellphones and portable game consoles. They will eventually ship a Macintosh port.
* Brands and celebrities – Imagine chatting with your friends using IMVU, dressed up as your favorite movie star, singer, or sport hero, or wearing your favorite brand-name clothes or accessories.
* Freedom of expression – In order to support all kinds of content in IMVU, and to build a marketplace and environment where everyone is comfortable. We are committed to providing the necessary controls and ratings systems to support the needs of the general audience and the holders of brands and franchises. We are also committed to providing a safe and fun experience for both our teen users and our adult users.
A good example of the teen opposed to adult user is the fact that adults have the option of purchasing an “Access Pass” Letting them View and purchase X-rated content… Its actually a frequent must.
How do money and credits work? Simple.
Imvu gives about 3,000 Promo credits to their new users, that way you can download the client, buy the things that you would like on your avatar, meet some people and just give it an all out test drive. There are numerous ways to earn Free credits, but there are limits on what you can do with them (meaning with free credits you cannot buy a friend or stranger anything with them).
Credits as a whole can be bought very cheap from reselling developers at all times (I’ve looked into it myself, you can buy 30,000 for $15, and with 30,000 credits, the possibilities go a long way). It took me a while to invest actual money, but then i realized how much more fun it was when I did. I purchased my Avatar name (They often have deal on purchasing avatar names and they usually throw in 10,000-20,000 credits for $10.99) Once you get your avatar name you can become a developer, which means you can make all the crazy, unique, and amazing items you see in their catalog. (I personally have bought credits just to make items because of the fun and creative outlet it gives me) You earn credits or a dev token back for each time someone else purchases one of your items, and if you end up having an over abundant amount of credits you can sell them for actual money.
There’s a million Reasons through and through to Join IMVU….Why haven’t you?
Since IMVU depends on their developers (People who make their 3-D items for the avatars of the masses)
