A virtual world is an online community that takes the form of a
computer-based simulated environment through which users can
interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has
become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments,
where the users take the form of avatars visible to others.
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Historical View The first virtual worlds presented on the
Internet were communities and chat rooms, some of which evolved
into MUDs and MUSHes. The first MUD, known as MUD1, was released in
1978. MUD refers to Multi-User Dungeon/Dimension /Domain.MUD1 The
early versions were text-based, offering only limited graphical
representation and often using a Command Line Interface
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MUSHes is Multi User Shared Hallucination, Multi- User Shared
Hack, Habitat, and Holodeck. Text-based online social medium to
which multiple users are connected at the same time. BIG BANG
THEORY SHELDON GAMING EPISODE
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Once again What is Virtual World? Virtual worlds, where
thousands of people can interact simultaneously within the same
simulated three- dimensional space Members of a virtual world
(through their avatars) can engage in rich interactions with each
other: they can Exchange messages, objects, and money; Communicate
through voice over a headset and microphone; Build and own things
Dress, change their avatars' shapes, play sports, drive vehicles
dance and even hug other mates
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Advancement of todays virtual worlds On-line gaming and
social-networking have led to the advent of today's virtual worlds
Online Gaming Progress in electronic games on next slide
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Progress in electronic games Bulky Coin Operated Arcade Games
Smaller Console Systems Single person applications on PC And then
to LANs And Finally to internet
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Progress in Games Contd Games themselves also grew to include
progressively Less structured environments Greater player freedom
to pursue Self-dened objectives And the ability to create their own
content. Early games such as Super Mario Brothers involve Players
making choices or moving their avatars along preset paths to
achieve predetermined objectives. Subsequent gaming developments
allowed for more freedom, realism, and creativity. Grand Theft Auto
series Offer realistic worlds that are large (although still
geographically bounded), Easy to explore And traversable based on
the player's own whims rather than a preset path Sims Claims that
over 80% of the games content is made by user
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Important Point Not to miss The development of the electronic
gaming industry led to a progression of socio-technical innovations
that set the stage for virtual worlds. These innovations include
the development of User controlled avatars Multi-user interaction
3D animation And user-generated content
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How Social Networking helped Amazing Fact: Internet was
commercialized in 1995 First social networking application was
started in 1997 SixDegrees.com Features of Social Networking
websites: Add friends Tag photos Upload Videos
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Interesting Trends and events in the history of the social
networking Some SN sites have been aimed at membership within a:
Geographical location Cyworld was initially launched in South Korea
in 1999 Specic demographic prole. There are many web sites for
children, such as neopets.com. Facebook was initially conceived as
a forum for Harvard students. Designed to support a particular
activity or theme YouTube was designed for video sharing
Muslimspace.com are faith-based
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Important Point Not to miss Like gaming, the emergence of
social networking introduced innovations and practices that have
come to be adopted within virtual worlds. These innovations and
social practices include easily created proles textual and
pictorial information Support for audio and video content A trusted
circle of friends Capabilities for both public and private message
dissemination Structure of various classes of social networks
(geography-based, demographic-based, theme-based, etc.). Overall,
the combined innovations in electronic gaming and social networking
made virtual worlds possible.
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Virtual worlds has progressed Participation in v irtual worlds
has progressed due to Improvements in virtual-reality technology
(adapted from electronic gaming) Continued drops in PC prices,
Increases in computing capacity And greater broadband network
access
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Techniques of Classification Five elements of the Taxonomy
Purpose People can explore behaviors and activities untypical of
their real self. Focus on education and training, offer virtual
opportunities and social networks for people to augment their real-
world activities and social networks. Place Whether members are
geographically collocated or dispersed in reality Platform Whether
the client is available on a browser or requires a special
download-and-install process denes Population Size of the group and
the types of social ties among the group members. Distinguishing
characteristics of the target user market, in terms of its age,
gender and geography demographics. Profit Model A single purchase
price or registration fee Fee per use Subscription based
Advertising-based Pay-as-you-go extras (virtual assets including
clothing, land, and software)
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Techniques of Classification Contd
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Types of Virtual Worlds Education-focused virtual worlds
provide training in such areas as architecture and design,
procedural skill development, and language learning. Forterra
virtual worlds are designed to support training-through-simulation
for military, healthcare, and entertainment industries. Community
specic virtual worlds target membership within a particular country
or geographical region HiPiHi is an open world designed after
Second Life, in Mandarin, targeting users from China. More
signicantly, Cyworld, which has features of both a social-
networking site and a virtual world, targets South Korean
users
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Types of Virtual Worlds Contd Children focused virtual world
Barbie games A distinct feature of children's virtual worlds is
that most of them are visually simpler Self-determined (or
open-objective) virtual worlds Kaneva (denotes creativity) Each
registered member has an avatar, a prole and a home, which they can
decorate by importing content they may have in other sites. Second
Life, however, is the premier virtual world in this category, and
perhaps the most important current virtual world.
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Second Life (SL) Many residents are looking for an
entertainment escape from their everyday real life; hence the name
Second Life. Residents can: Trade objects and land for money Make
or purchase their own clothes Participate in group activities,
work, explore, play, and interact socially.
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About the game The client is free to download and the only
requirement for participants is a good computer graphics card and a
broadband Internet connection. The SL economy is based on Linden
Dollars SL gained substantial media attention when a resident,
Anshe Chung cashed out her Linden Dollar holdings in SL virtual
shopping malls, store chains, other real estate, and virtual
stock-market investments in SL businesses for more than one million
U.S. dollars.
http://secondlife.com/whatis/?lang=en-US#Make_Money
Slide 20
Contd A great variety of real-world organizations maintain a
presence in SL Several governments have embassies in SL's diplomacy
island (including Maldives, Sweden and Estonia). Many universities
own space that they use for course delivery, among them University
of Florida, Princeton, Vassar, the Open University (UK) There are
also a substantial number of companies with a presence in SL,
ranging from IT companies (IBM, Microsoft, SUN Microsystems), news
services (Reuters), motor companies (Toyota, Honda, Nissan), and
retailers (Sears). In December 2007, Islam Online, a popular,
Egyptian owned Muslim web site, purchased land in SL to allow
people to perform the ritual of Hajj.
Slide 21
Why participate in Second Life Reasons for participating
include Exploring the environment Sharing experiences with others
Meeting people and making friends Making things And engaging in
commercial activities
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Difference in SL and Other Virtual Worlds Thus, SL differs from
other worlds that appeal to non- technically oriented people who
wish to socialize in an already existing space Consumers must be
technology forward in their orientation and knowledge SL also
differs from World of Warcraft where participants have implied
objectives, pre-assigned roles, and evil monsters to shoot SL gives
users the chance to be creative, providing tools and an environment
where they can fulll their own vision
Slide 23
Businesses setting up in SL Business applications utilize SL in
multiple ways as a laboratory for market research a test market a
large market for advertising a retailing center a way to generate
trafc to eCommerce sites on the Internet SL acts as a test market,
there are several dozen real products that have been introduced in
SL as a way for residents to provide early feedback
Slide 24
Businesses setting up in SL Contd Trafc numbers (number of
minutes spent per week at a brand's SL site) Examples of
particularly innovative and popular brands include: Nissan, which
sells different kinds of virtual cars, including cars that y, from
an 8-story vending machine; Toyota, which not only sells virtual
cars but allows SL residents to customize them, even offering
classes on how to do so
Slide 25
Challenges for businesses Challenges in making brands available
in SL Must make stores and products relevant to the lives of people
in-world. Must recognize the need to educate newbies. Must promote
to residents in-world about new brands.
Slide 26
Video http://secondlife.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2yGqDecBzs
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Applications
Slide 28
Social 3D-Gaming, interactions, sense of accomplishment.
Systems that have been designed for a social application include:
1. Active Worlds 2. Twinity 3. Kaneva, 4. Smallworlds 5.
Onverse
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SORORIT Y LIFE WEBSITE
Slide 30
Medical Virtual worlds is also used by the Starlight Children's
Foundation, to help hospitalized children (suffering from painful
diseases) to create a comfortable and safe environment which can
expand their situation.Starlight Children's Foundation Disabled or
chronically invalided people of any age can also benefit enormously
from experiencing the mental and emotional freedom
Slide 31
COMMERCIAL Advertising Actual buying/selling Apple, Oakley etc.
Platform for viewing users feedback and reactions. Gathering place
for companies
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DELLS ISLAND IN SECOND LIFE
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EDUCATIONAL Shift from physical to online classes more
collaboration and students participation is possible. It allows
users to be able to carry out tasks that could be difficult in the
real world due to constraints and restrictions, such as cost,
scheduling or location. Social sciences
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Slide 36
Survey Toward this end, the authors concurrently ran two
different surveys (denoted Survey A and Survey B) The reason they
did not include all the questions in one long survey is that we
felt that such a survey would be too long for many respondents
After data cleaning, they had 97 completed responses to Survey A
and 100 completed responses to Survey B.
Slide 37
Survey Contd Each participant was paid $150 Linden Dollars
Limitation Surveys were conducted entirely in English
Slide 38
Results of Survey Real life brands that establish a virtual
presence are more likely to be remembered in the real world. If
subjects are satised with their experience in a store in SL, they
will be more likely to shop at the associated store in the real
world
Slide 39
Results of Survey Contd 57% of participants had purchased a
product within SL, but only 6% had purchased a product in real life
as a result of having seen it in SL or other virtual worlds. Thus,
the potential for taking advantage of potential crossovers between
SL and real life does not appear to have yet been fully
realized.
Slide 40
Results of Survey Contd 48% of the participants have visited 6
or more stores per month Majority of the stores visited in
SecondLife do not have real world counterparts.
Slide 41
Results of Survey Contd People were more likely to spend money
on their avatar's appearance or on acquiring/buying virtual objects
than on developing real estate A considerable number of
participants do not purchase Linden Dollars at all A small number
of the participants have purchased thousands, and even tens of
thousands of Linden Dollars. However, the majority of participants
spent little to nothing on the purchase of Linden dollars.
Slide 42
Results of Survey Contd Participants reported an average SL
session length of approximately 34 h Over 70% of participants do
not participate in other forms of online social networking like
Facebook or MySpace Survey Conclusion: There exists much potential
for business applications in virtual worlds. Even if most people
engage in SL for social reasons, they still interact with the
businesses there
Slide 43
DISADVANTAGES OF THE VIRTUAL WORLD People get away from
reality. Internet dating is misleading. Lag: Using virtual
environments as a collaborative tool is only as strong as the
weakest link. If one user has a slow connection, collaboration will
not be optimal. Very expensive technology for proper utilization
for businesses. Up till now the prime purpose is killing time and
entertainment. People moving away from traditional hobbies.
Slide 44
Research about social computing in virtual worlds Began in
computer science, engineering and, other applied technological
sciences: With focus on Creation and Enhancement of Virtual 3D
environment Soon potential applications in business and education
became apparent to practitioners and academics.
Slide 45
Research about social computing in virtual worlds Because of
the uniqueness of the subject, much of this work is still in
formative phase. The Research, on a broader level is categorized
into 2 areas: Research in Business Research in Education, Social
Sciences and humanities
Slide 46
Research in Business Important virtual worlds research revolves
around these key areas: Strategy-business models Market research
Advertising General marketing Retailing and services Organizational
management Management information systems Organizational
collaboration
Slide 47
Strategy-business models A fundamental issue for companies is
determining the most suitable business model that goes in line with
their virtual worlds objective. Example of Electronic gaming
industry: Up-front fixed fee Advertising Pay-as-you-go extras
Slide 48
Strategy-business models Electronic Arts decided to use a
business model based solely on advertising and pay-as-you-go extras
for their new game Battlefield Heroes in North America. This has
helped them in reducing piracy and giving customer a choice of when
to pay for upgrades and other features. 90% of 1500 gamers
indicated that they would be willing to watch ads if they could
play the game for free.(Survey)
Slide 49
Market Research Facilitated by easy access to large number of
consumers providing accurate information in virtual worlds about
their behaviors in the real world.
Slide 50
Market Research
Slide 51
Advertising Competitors of advertising in VW are Television and
Movies. Campaigns can be reinforced in VW. A number of companies
are present in Second Life.
Slide 52
Advertising Advantages: VW are populated by narrow and
targetable demographic in terms of age and technology acceptance.
The reach is potentially global. Thematic targeting to consumers of
particular lifestyles. Disadvantages: One should not overstate the
size of any virtual world as an advertizing market. Geographic
testing is much less possible
Slide 53
Advertising Reverse Placement and Commercial translation has
gone unnoticed since now. Researcher still know very little about
the best way to talk to consumers in online environment.
Slide 54
Marketing Management Not only are virtual worlds for market
research, they can be viewed as an entirely new markets. A key
issue concerns how consumer behavior and product acceptance differ
in-world from the real world. And does in-world experiences
influences real world decisions.
Slide 55
Retailing and E-commerce Stores in SL
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Retailing and E-commerce Sales Agent Avatar Example Good
looking Avatar (likeability) Expert-looking Avatar
(credibility)
Slide 57
Management Information Systems VW provide a space for an
on-going interface between customer and service personnel. Helpful
in creating vCRM.
Slide 58
Organizational and Collaboration Issues VW can influence how
and where works get done. It can bring together people virtually.
This support remote collaborative activities. (e.g. teams, medical
research) Concern with this is whether the VW will add to the
existing inter-firm communication system or replace it.
Slide 59
Research in Education Can overcome many of the limitations of
internet and television-based distance learning. Over 150
universities have a presence in SL and use it for classes and
tutorials. Libraries are also encouraging the use of VW.
Development of Arts and Humanities
Slide 60
Research in Social Sciences Norms, cultures and social behavior
in-world are different from those in physical world? Most VWs
permit user-generated content and have a in-world currency. They
also are linked to political, economic, legal and regulatory
environments. Basically they try to keep it as real as possible to
get exact information about consumers.
Slide 61
Conclusion The paper discusses about 6 things: Examines the
past, present and possible future of virtual worlds. History of
electronic gaming and social networking sites. The state of Virtual
worlds according to the five- element taxonomy. Description of
Second Life. Past and Future research in several business
disciplines. A cursory summary on research in education, social
sciences and humanities.