Have you heard the words online credits floating around? Do you wonder what online credits are? Online credits mean different things to different people. Often, online credits are monetary, but they sometimes have different uses. Below, I will try to decipher what some people mean when they say online credits.
In monetary terms, online credits are credits extended to you for shopping at a particular website. Older readers may know the concept of in store credit. Back before credit cards came about, department stores would extend credit to shop in their store. Often, you would approach the credit desk and the downtown department store, and they would see if you qualified for credit to shop there. To keep credit easy and informal, the credit was only extended for in store sales.
Online credits work the same way for retail websites. These credits allow you to shop only on a website, only with a much higher degree of verification than older forms of credit had. In fact, many stores that extend physical credit also let this credit transfer online.
The term online credits also has an academic meaning. These credits are gained by taking online courses, and having the registrar of the college verify that you took an online course. Of course, these credits may only exist online. Sometimes, these credits do not transfer to real schools.
One other use I have discerned is from a game called Anarchy Online. Anarchy Online credits is a massive multi player online role playing game that involves people from many different countries. These credits are part of their rudimentary in game monetary system, although this has no application outside of cyberspace.
Online credits mean different things to different people. To some, it is monetary credit. To others, it is academic. Others consider it completely frivolous. Whatever the meaning, the fact that the term has currency shows that each meaning is important to someone.
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