Empire Avenue
Encyclopedia
Empire Avenue is a stock market
simulation social network game
that allows users to buy and sell shares of people and websites. It started in February 2010 as an invitation-only closed beta before launching to the public in July 2010. Registration and game play is free.
. Players gain dividends from the other shares in players they invest in, which are counted as Credits.
Social networks supported by Empire Avenue currently include Facebook
, Twitter
, Flickr
, YouTube
, LinkedIn
, Foursquare, Instagram
, Wordpress
hosted blogs and the player's own blog
and RSS
feeds.
activity and social media interaction between the registered members. Players' value increases, in part, as a result activity on social media sites and their own verified blog
s and rss
feeds. In addition, a player's value increases through dividends paid-out by other members he or she has invested in. Thus, the social media activity of a player's investments also contributes to his or her game wealth. It is in players' self-interest to follow, favorite, or otherwise contribute to the social media activity of those they invest in.
called Eaves as a means of purchasing shares in other players, additional rights within the exchange, advertising and services. Eaves can be purchased with real-world currency via PayPal
, but cannot be exchanged for real-world currency. The founder and CEO of Empire Avenue said there are plans to introduce features that will allow players to exchange Eaves for real-world rewards.
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
simulation social network game
Social network game
A social network game is a type of online game that is played through social networks, and typically features multiplayer and asynchronous gameplay mechanics. Social network games are most often implemented as browser games, but can also be implemented on other platforms such as mobile devices...
that allows users to buy and sell shares of people and websites. It started in February 2010 as an invitation-only closed beta before launching to the public in July 2010. Registration and game play is free.
Gameplay
Players have their own portfolio in a virtual economy. The price of a player's share depends on the ticker's stock buying and selling, along with social networking activity. Players can choose their own ticker symbol. The players can have multiple investors, which will garner them a higher share price, and they can invest in other players. Players win Achievements for their actions, such as advertising and adding services such as TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
. Players gain dividends from the other shares in players they invest in, which are counted as Credits.
Social networks supported by Empire Avenue currently include Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, Flickr
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
, YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. , LinkedIn reports more than 120 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French,...
, Foursquare, Instagram
Instagram
Instagram is a free photo sharing application that allows users to take photos, apply a filter, and share it on the service or a variety of other social networking services, including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Flickr , and Posterous...
, Wordpress
WordPress
WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and publishing platform powered by PHP and MySQL. It is often customized into a content management system . It has many features including a plug-in architecture and a template system. WordPress is used by over 14.7% of Alexa Internet's "top 1...
hosted blogs and the player's own blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
and RSS
RSS
-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...
feeds.
Social media
Empire Avenue is designed to drive social mediaSocial media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
activity and social media interaction between the registered members. Players' value increases, in part, as a result activity on social media sites and their own verified blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s and rss
RSS
-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...
feeds. In addition, a player's value increases through dividends paid-out by other members he or she has invested in. Thus, the social media activity of a player's investments also contributes to his or her game wealth. It is in players' self-interest to follow, favorite, or otherwise contribute to the social media activity of those they invest in.
Virtual currency
Much like other social media games, Empire Avenue uses a strictly virtual currencyVirtual currency
Virtual currency is used to purchase virtual goods within a variety of online communities; which include social networking websites, virtual worlds and online gaming sites....
called Eaves as a means of purchasing shares in other players, additional rights within the exchange, advertising and services. Eaves can be purchased with real-world currency via PayPal
PayPal
PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....
, but cannot be exchanged for real-world currency. The founder and CEO of Empire Avenue said there are plans to introduce features that will allow players to exchange Eaves for real-world rewards.