So how do Zwinkies Earn ZBucks?

Zwinky avatars can move around their own virtual universe, and the main purpose of the site is for users to interact with other Zwinkies, play games and purchase digital goods. You can make new friends or see a list of the ones you already have by clicking on the “View/Add Friends” button at the bottom of the interface. To move a Zwinky from one place to the next in a specific area, members simply use the mouse to point and click.

Users can also buy food and drinks at The Caf or at Java Jolt. But it’s a little bit more than a place to gather and talk. Dorm rooms are particularly expensive — they’ll cost Zwinkies 1,250 ZBucks — and they’re located in the ZSU Quad. And don’t forget that you can also purchase and decorate a dorm room at ZSU. Like most social networking Web sites, Zwinky allows its users to make friends, chat and socialize from their desktop or laptop computers.

When you’ve successfully installed the Zwinky program and opened up the program window, it’s time to customize your Zwinky character. You can manipulate a Zwinky’s appearance to make it look however you want, and users choose traits including gender, skin tone, hair style and color, and more. Every Zwinky has a personal wardrobe, which users can access by clicking on the “Open Wardrobe” button near the bottom of the screen.

The portable aspect of Zwinktopia — the option of importing Zwinky avatars onto other Web sites — has made it both flexible and popular for users. Speaking of Zwinktopia, Zwinky is similar in fashion to Club Penguin (blog bangkok.thaibounty.com), the Disney-owned social networking world where users create and control their own penguin avatars. The introduction of Zwinktopia has added a completely different virtual aspect to the service. Club Penguin is aimed more at a younger demographic — generally children between the ages of 6 and 12 — while Zwinky’s age group has to be older than 13 to join, but the features and objectives of both sites are nearly the same.

There’s also Java Jolt, a coffee house that has games inside. You can access any of these places by clicking on them from the main Zwinktopia map. In some of these locations you’ll spend ZBucks, in others you’ll earn them. ZBucks are the preferred virtual tender used by Zwinky users, and people use them to purchase goods and services around the Zwinktopia virtual world. But, how do ZBucks and the Zwinky Zcard work? All Zwinky users start off with 100 ZBucks, and these funds can be put on a Zcard account. The Zcard is somewhat like a debit card in the real world — it’s used to buy any item in Zwinktopia, along with special premium items that users can get only with the Zcard. Most civilizations develop their own currencies, and Zwinktopia is no different.