Following our Second Life experience I decided to research a little deeper into the virtual economy within this online community. Being a Business Administration, I guess you could say I was curious learn about the monies exchanged, Linden Dollars, and the idea of businesses being established within Second Life. Also, I was curious to see if the characteristics of the virtual economy differed from our current economic struggles. Much of Second Life’s economy is directed towards socializing which is a characteristic we learned through our Literature Review reading. The more members want to socialize, the more money they are likely to spend in the virtual attempting to fit in with the online society. The article I discovered has many different interesting perspectives from CEO Matt Kingdon on the future and maturity of Second Life.
Similar to other products, Second Life’s hype is beginning to settle down and many of the members are beginning to look at the long term success of this virtual community. From a business standpoint this is completely normal for a product to be highly anticipated and then begin to mature. Although Second Life has followed this pattern, their software and products must remain innovative to expand their target audience.
Second Life is remaining innovative because businesses such as Best Buy are purchasing real estate to advertise and creating informational kiosks that can be utilized in this virtual world. Surprisingly the influence of businesses does not stop here. According to the article, businesses are also using this virtual community as method of recruiting, product demonstrations and training sessions. It appears that the line between the real world and virtual world is blurred with the expanding capabilities of Second Life.
Businesses are enhancing their CMC through Second Life. They are beginning to conduct virtual meetings and workshops in order to develop prototype products. Virtual conferencing does provide several advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is the possibility of synchronous communication that we discussed in Successful Strategies in Online Education, because conversations occur from various locations simultaneously. However it is difficult for businesses to adhere to their core values, ethics and quality through the method of Second Life virtual conferencing.
Our business world and more specifically our economy is under intense scrutiny and if businesses are not careful they can tarnish their reputation if they neglect to monitor their online activity. Overall it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Second Life and their developing economy.
Similar to other products, Second Life’s hype is beginning to settle down and many of the members are beginning to look at the long term success of this virtual community. From a business standpoint this is completely normal for a product to be highly anticipated and then begin to mature. Although Second Life has followed this pattern, their software and products must remain innovative to expand their target audience.
Second Life is remaining innovative because businesses such as Best Buy are purchasing real estate to advertise and creating informational kiosks that can be utilized in this virtual world. Surprisingly the influence of businesses does not stop here. According to the article, businesses are also using this virtual community as method of recruiting, product demonstrations and training sessions. It appears that the line between the real world and virtual world is blurred with the expanding capabilities of Second Life.
Businesses are enhancing their CMC through Second Life. They are beginning to conduct virtual meetings and workshops in order to develop prototype products. Virtual conferencing does provide several advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is the possibility of synchronous communication that we discussed in Successful Strategies in Online Education, because conversations occur from various locations simultaneously. However it is difficult for businesses to adhere to their core values, ethics and quality through the method of Second Life virtual conferencing.
Our business world and more specifically our economy is under intense scrutiny and if businesses are not careful they can tarnish their reputation if they neglect to monitor their online activity. Overall it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Second Life and their developing economy.
1 comment:
I wrote a similar blog post last week on a company who has made real money from linden dollars and second life. I think it is a good way for companies to reach out to their customers and step away from "corporate sterotypes". Though many people may disagree with second life, and think it is an unpopular way to communicate, the innovations with the internet and advances must not be overseen.
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