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From Real to Virtual and Back Again: The Use and Potential of Virtual Social Worlds within the IT Industry
Abstract
Researchers and practitioners alike have speculated that virtual social worlds and social gaming will likely be major platforms for business operations in the future. This chapter shows how major IT companies make use of virtual social worlds (esp. the online application Second Life), focusing on the examples of Dell, Hewlett-Packard, International Business Machines (IBM) and Microsoft. Specifically, the authors investigate whether and how corporate presences within Second Life can be used as platforms to distribute Real Life products and services, so-called virtual commerce (v-Commerce). They show that although the four firms included in our analysis all have a different perspective on the potential of virtual social worlds, each of them made an active and conscious choice about how to use this medium. With regard to v-Commerce, their results indicate that although the short-term profit potential of this form of distribution is still limited, Second Life residents perceive the idea of buying products through in-world stores as positive and exciting. Based on these results, they derive a set of key insights regarding the business potential of virtual social worlds, consumers’ reactions towards corporate presences within Second Life, and advice for firms planning to enter this type of application.
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