3. The commercial advantages of dTowns for users, services and developers

As we already know, all modules in dTowns affect each other, and by being active in one module the user gain dTowns currency which can be used for other purposes, including different services and applications.
This ability makes users more interested in using multiple modules and using them more and more intensively.
One of important policies of dTowns is to prevent developers from charging real money from users that use their modules. Instead of it, developers can use their module’s popularity to earn money by placing advertisements and referral to other applications. However, this does not necessarily refer to real world services, available via dTowns.

Let’s see all this on an example: in one of our massive conceptual modules, called “City”, users can “walk” in a schematic view of their own or another city, purchase goods from shops and supermarkets, which are directly connected to an online department of that shop or supermarket in the real world. When a user purchases something from a shop, the module gives him or her a bonus of dTowns currency, and it’s relevant not to the amount of real money spent, but to that of the lost energy. Because of these bonuses, users are interested in using corresponding modules for purchasing goods and so on, and also developers might take some percent of income for every referring customer.
Using this method of shopping has advantages for shops and supermarkets, too, because they will be much closer to their clients, and they also can advertise products in the applications much cheaper than in the physical world with an almost unlimited amount of virtual advertising space and much more people, who will see their ads.









Users get a confident account, with both real-world and dTowns law protecting them; currency, that can be spent on site bonuses; a variety of native and third-party modules, designed to fulfill each and every need a user might have on dTowns.


Services will be just a few clicks away from their user, and also there will be a much greater level of user awareness throughout the social network. This is achieved through various forms of ethical advertising.

Developers will have an open SDK and also a freedom of choice, when it concerns to what they are creating, as long as they follow dTowns law. They will gain both site and real world bonuses for creating popular modules.

2. What difference does dTowns make?

Some might ask: what is the key difference, that dTowns makes? No, really, when we have so many social networking pages, both specialized and common usage ones, each one offering more and more advantages, why should we need yet another one?

The key differences between “dTowns” and other social networks are the following:
• Synergy inside the network. In other social networking systems, there is no developed model of synergy between third-party modules. They work separately, which means the users experiencing or contributing them gain advantages only inside the limited domain of the module, or maybe just a series of modules by the same or cooperating developers. For example, when we use a photo album application on Facebook and add pictures to it, our friends can comment on them or “tag” (mark the people on the photo with a square) them, and the only outcome will be a message on the profile – that someone has commented on your photo or someone has tagged you on a photo. In dTowns, we have a different picture – personal and global currency. Personal currency is what we call “energy”. A user spends it, when he performs actions. Energy restores over time, but it can be restored using other conditional means, like energy drinks and so on. By the way, this is another way to place advertisements – but without annoying ads and banners with possible security flaws. This energy stuff is to prevent site abuse, spamming and flooding, but the most important part is – to maintain balance, which is really important everywhere, where MMORPG elements are used. Global currency is, as in a real society, a mean of trade – this is what people receive for their jobs, this is what they pay for their services. So, when someone votes for a picture you placed on a gallery module, his energy decreases, as he has performed an action, and your picture’s activity rises, too, thus earning you points. This allows modules, even third-party ones, interact.
• Cooperation with real-life services. Imagine, someone located in dTowns-Yerevan, would be able to order food deliveries from a real Yerevan supermarket or Chinese restaurant! Do not forget, dTowns is not a game, it is to make services you need just clicks away from you. We are planning to cooperate with shops, cinemas, theatres and exhibitions to provide the information and services that the client requires. More, it might enable organizations, providing services, form “virtual departments” – dPartments, to work with dTowns clients, and recruit employees from dTowns users. This would give dTowns the possibility to exchange dTowns currency to real-world money and vice-versa.
• A higher level of user security. dTowns will have a law enforcement system, and users will not be banned at the will of the administration. They will have rights, responsibilities and law. Those, who violate the law, will be punished accordingly. Those tried and found innocent will be rehabilitated in full rights and dTowns property. Punishment varies from fines to public service and temporary or permanent ban from the site. This is to prevent vandalism, violation of rights and other criminal activities, while still maintaining a friendly interaction with the user – not giving a second chance only in extreme cases.
As you can see from what was said above, this is a completely new level of social networking, where the user will value his account and will have confidence, that he won’t lose it for no reason.
There is another couple of concepts we’d like to introduce, too: they aren’t new, but are not widely used in social networking. One is interaction with existing web services, instead of concurrence. For example, instead of developing an internal radio service, we let third party radio stations work with dTowns, letting benefit both the station, dTowns and the users, who are now able to continue listening to their favorite internet radio station without leaving the social networking page. And yet another concept is the “feedback system”, so successfully used in E-Bay and neglected in social networking pages: it is, when users can give positive or negative feedbacks to each other, when an interaction occurs. This is most usable, when a business transaction takes place.

1. Why dTowns?

The first question is - why did we choose the name “dTowns” for the project? “dTowns” stands for “Digital Towns”, and it means, that the project is a model internet society, built around the principle of a real town. The social network is actually broken into structured internet towns, which themselves have streets, apartments, sights and services – even full job and law-enforcement systems. This is, to let the user have a full virtual life experience and enjoy the comforts that the internet offers.


However, it would be terribly wrong to consider dTowns as a replacement for real life: it is just a way to make internet more comfortable and a step more convenient, make e-services and entertainment just clicks away from the customer.
The main purpose of having model digital towns is - that each user has the opportunity to replace his internet experience of complicated, distinct and sometimes untrustworthy services with a simple and user-friendly interface with all the aspects of a real society.
Just look at the modern internet this way: imagine if you had to use different currency and language for each shop, and the shops were trailers like those of the gypsies, so that they could disappear at any moment, without fulfilling their duties. Imagine thousands of such trailers in one place, both with honest merchants and pranksters, children playing merchants, people wanting to rob you of your money – also with real customers and people not that honest.
It is evident, that some innovative, structured form of an e-society is needed, to filter and put everything into, at least, a relative state of order.
To put it simple - we can say that the first concept of “dTowns” is a mixture of a complete modular social network, a mass multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) and an online life simulation, but instead of using NPCs and AI, it is users that take the roles, just the way the real society works. But, due to its modularity and open-source SDK, the next step lets the user experience full Web 2 experience.