Here’s a quick follow-up post to something I’ve mentioned earlier - the WoW VISA Credit Card is go! Nerds can now impress their nerdette dates by paying for both Big Macs with an Orc encrusted badge of merit.
Last time I checked, WoW had something like 7 million registered users all paying AU$10/month to get their virtual thrills… and it’s not hard to see why. The game is totally impressive both visually and technically and is overwhelmingly immersive and addictive. The only problem is that players have to regularly venture out into the ‘real’ world and put their latest quest on hold whilst they visit the loo, get a sandwich or, God forbid, go outside.
Well, unplugging from one’s virtual self just became a little easier now that groceries translate into free game time…
The WoW card offers subscribers a free month of play with their first purchase and an ongoing rewards programme thereafter. The card doesn’t allow you to swap points for their cyber gold, but apparently the black market is alive and well and it wouldn’t be too hard to make the trade.
The idea has been kicking around for a while now and I’m not sure exactly when the WoW card became available… though more than this implementation, the exciting thing is that this sets the scene for other online blue chips to follow suit… and indeed they have. I’ve listed in the footnotes, links to all of the branded VISA I could find.
This raises a series of questions:
- How much do these branded card programmes cost for the vendor? (um, I’ll pay for that with my FootLooseMooseCard, thanks)
- Does the vendor need to have a virtual rewards programme or is the idea of having a VISA with a picture of your avatar on it enough of a carrot?
- What are the ethical implications of promoting credit cards to an online genre that contains a large percentage of children? Should WoW also be required to offer education on the possible pitfalls of credit card debt, and moreover, fraud?
Here are the movers and shakers that I’ve found:
I propose that any online community would do well to implement a similar scheme, for example:
- The Second Life Credit Card - why hasn’t this been done already?
- The Digg Credit Card - all they need to do is create a marketplace and their audience is ripe for the pickings
- The Technorati Credit Card - Hello! A card that helps individuals advertise their blog is big business! Apparently there are over 70 million blogs out there… kaching! Where do I sign up?
- Google, Yahoo, Facebook, MyBlogLog… where will it end???
Perhaps the WoW card should come with a complimentary set of Intimate Controllers to keep everyone happy?
