Stepping into the Internet: New Ventures in Virtual Worlds

Abstract

When the call for papers for this special issue went out in the fall of 2007, there was a lot of hype around virtual worlds, with organizations such as Toyota, American Apparel, IBM, Reuters, Sun Microsystems, and Wells Fargo experimenting with Second Life as a potential platform to reach consumers. Anshe Chung was touted as the first online personality to exceed one million U.S. dollars from profits earned inside a virtual world. However, in accordance with Gartner's hype cycle, after the initial spike in hype in 2006, virtual worlds quickly entered into the phase Gartner refers to as the "trough of disillusionment." As enticing as the initial press reports were around the potential of virtual worlds for creating new forms of value, during the disillusionment phase individuals and organizations discovered what we have long known in MIS: if you build it, they will not necessarily come. With the publishing of this special issue in fall 2011, we are now, however, seeing the emergence of virtual worlds from the "trough of disillusionment" onto the "slope of enlightenment," entering a phase where real benefits, rather than hyped expectations, are starting to hit the mainstream with poten

From Knowing It to “Getting It”: Envisioning Practices in Computer Games Development

“…These challenges are well understood in relation to conventional software applications where the emphasis is on productive use within organizational settings with well-defined user roles (e.g., Boudreau and Robey 2005). However, this conventional understanding is arguably less relevant to the increasingly widespread uses of software that lie outside the organizational domain (Wasko et al 2011). Here, recent studies have contrasted what can broadly be termed the "experiential" use of software with its productive use centred on organizational control and efficiency (Hassenzahl andTractinsky 2006, Van der Heijden 2004).…”

“…This is because such software needs to be interactive, "immersive" and aesthetically pleasing to stimulate and engage the user (Lin and Bhattacherjee 2010), including "virtual worlds" or "hyperreal" environments that allow users Information Systems Research 24(4), pp. 933-955, © 2013 INFORMS to create new meanings through their use (Aoyama and Izushi 2003;Schultze and Orlikowski 2010;Wasko et al 2011;Schultze 2010Schultze , 2011.…”

Store selection criteria and sales prediction in virtual worlds

“…Furthermore, different branches of multinational companies can work together in a collaborative 3D environment. For instance, Kohler et al [40] investigated the design principles of co-creation within Second Life, presenting KTM and Philips among the companies engaged in such projects.Wasko et al [79] suggest that the adoption of VWs will be growing in the following years as the prevalent set of registered users in the first quarter of 2011 are between 10 and 15 years old. Consequently, it is expected that the maturity of VWs will be following the maturity of users, creating a need for further research in marketing, economics, international business and other fields in this novel empirical setting [79].…”

“…Wasko et al [79] suggest that the adoption of VWs will be growing in the following years as the prevalent set of registered users in the first quarter of 2011 are between 10 and 15 years old. Consequently, it is expected that the maturity of VWs will be following the maturity of users, creating a need for further research in marketing, economics, international business and other fields in this novel empirical setting [79].…”

“…Consequently, it is expected that the maturity of VWs will be following the maturity of users, creating a need for further research in marketing, economics, international business and other fields in this novel empirical setting [79]. Indicative directions for such research given in the extant literature include: security, privacy and virtual currency, in order to understand the users' 5 behavior [4]; factors that influence the shopping process within this context [24]; and consumer behavior in this new retail channel [78].…”