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Last Updated: 15:00 03 Oct 2006
B$ Help: Chips
« Voting - Basic Information | Help Index | Getting Noticed »What are Chips
Chips are the social currency of BlogShares. You can earn them in various ways, and they have numerous uses in the game. A secondary market sprung up in the summer of 2004 in the forums called the Chip Marketplace for player-to-player chip dealing. There is also a page dedicated to the top chip holders.
Earning Chips
Voting: Chips can be earned by correctly voting blogs into Industries. Please see the voting documentation for more information on how to do so. When you know what industry (or industries) the blog belongs in, click the "Vote on industries for this blog" link on the blog's page. Then you can vote in the pop-up window. Once a moderator approves one of your votes, you will gain 1 karma point yielding you 5-35 chips, based on the depth of the industry voted for in the index. Votes for Politics or Music, for example, are votes for 1st level industries, and reward a correct moderated vote 5 chips. 50's Music or Political Parties votes will yield 10 chips, and so on.
Survey Questions: Answering survey questions will also earn you chips. Surveys appear on the right side of the page between the text ad and the Members Area box. You should note that there are only so many survey questions. And please, while answering them, -- give honest responses. Each survey response rewards you 5 chips.
Referrals:Yet another way to earn chips is through referral credit. Refer your viewers to BlogShares and QuackTrack with a link like this:
http://blogshares.com/?referer=YOURUSERID
http://quacktrack.com/?referer=YOURUSERID
For example, Island Dave, BlogShares Director, would use http://blogshares.com/?referer=16398 for referral links. Lead Admin MrPilot would use http://blogshares.com/?referer=8832. (Find your User ID in the Members Area box on the right-hand side of the page under your User Name.)
You can place this address in the claim button or as a linked item on your blog, or on any website. Each referral gives you 5 chips.
Purchase: You can also purchase chips via the Chip Marketplace area in the forums. These can only be player-to-player deals, so buyer beware! More information is available on the Chip Marketplace below.
Missions: Take part in player-sponsored Missions to earn chips.
Using Chips
Raffles: Chips can be used to purchase tickets in BlogShares raffles on a 1 chip = 1 ticket ratio. These raffles offer prizes ranging from 10K chips and weblogging software, to hosting packages and gift certificates.
Text Ads: Chips can also be spent purchasing text ads. Each chip yields 20 text ad impressions (hits). One thing to note on text ads: the more ads in rotation, the longer your ad will last. Every time a page is loaded at BS one text ad impression is used. So if 100K pages load in a day, 100K text ad impressions will be consumed. It is easy to see how quickly your text ad will disappear if it is the only one in rotation. With 30 ads in rotation it will last quite a bit longer as the site will also pull the other ads on page load. Please read the Rules governing text ads!
Multiple text ads can be bought at the same time. If you want to have multiple messages that all have the same message, title, and number of impressions then simply hit "Refresh" on your browser after buying the first one, or press "Back" and buy again. Each text ad you buy that is an exact copy of the previous one will be added into another "slot". So if you see an ad that has 2876 impressions remaining in 3 slots, that means the same ad was purchased by one person three times and the actual number of impressions is 2876 PER slot.
Gifting: You can gift chips to another player as well. To do this, click on the chips button on the left hand menu. Enter the ID number of the player you wish to send the chips to, and the amount, then click "Transfer Chips". A confirmation screen will then come up where you can enter an optional note to the receiving player for the transfer. Once you are satisfied with the player name, ID number, note, and amount of chips, and you've typed in your password, click "Confirm Transfer". You can click "Cancel" at any time to abort the transfer. The player whom you gift will receive a message in the game indicating that you have sent chips. The message includes the number of chips, any message you have included, and a link to your player profile.
Sponsor Missions: Use your chips for anything you would like another player to do. Offer a bounty of chips for web design help, games, research, or most any other activity. Caution: Mission chips are non-refundable. Once you put them in, you can't get them back. Payouts to oneself are not allowed.
The Chip Marketplace
In order to buy or sell chips, you need another player who is willing to deal. The place to go is the Chip Marketplace board in the forums. From here you can post requests to buy or sell chips. You can also start or participate in auctions for chips.
Since cash cannot be transferred directly from player to player, chip transfers will require two steps to finish the buying/selling process. First, the player selling the chips will need the buying player's ID in order to gift the chips to the buyer. Second, the buying player will need to place a sell order.
Placing a Sell Order: Select any blog you own shares in, or pick up a share in a cheap blog. (Stock Tips is the easiest place to find them.) Scroll down to the "Share Market" and click on the link for "Sell Order". On this page, select the number of shares you wish to sell (when dealing for chips, most players select 1 share for simplicity). In the next box, select the price you require per share. In the third box, enter the same amount. You should get a confirmation that the sell order was created successfully after you select the "Place Sell Order" button.
Once you have successfully set up your sell order, you will need to send a link for the blog to the other player in the deal. To do this, copy the URL from the address bar on your browser OR right-click, select properties, and then copy-and-paste the URL as it is listed. You may need to highlight and scroll down to get the full URL. Send this URL to another player by going to that player's profile and selecting the Message tab or by posting it in the appropriate thread in the forums.
To Sell Chips: Make a deal in private or place an advertisement in the Chip Marketplace in the forums. In your ad, you need to list how much you want for your chips in BlogShare dollars, either per chip or for the entire lot. You can also begin an auction for your chips, simply choose a starting bid and choose the minimum increments.
You also need to include the URL for the blog with your sell order. This should be included in the original post for a player-to-player sale or in the post announcing the winner in the auction sale. Once the sell order is purchased, gift your chips to that player as described above.
To Buy Chips: Go to the Chip Marketplace and look through the posts to find an offer you like, or make one on your own in private messages. If you find one you like, simply follow the seller's instructions, if provided. The seller will need to set up the sell order as described above. Once you have the link to the sell order, go there and purchase the sell order, but be certain that the amount of the order is correct.
NOTE: You will need to give the chip seller your player ID number so that the chips can be gifted to you as described above.
For more information on Market Orders, see Advanced Shares: P/E, Orders, Pricing, Artefacts.
WARNING: Private player deals and transactions are not monitored by the BSEC. All private transactions are kept as such and are performed at your own risk. However, the BSEC and administrators may step in at any time in the case of malicious fraud or other serious situation. Play nice.
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