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The Second Coming of Virtual Worlds

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the when-someone-asks-if-you're-a-god-you-say-yes dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Things have been a bit quiet on the virtual world front recently, but according to an article in Silicon.com, things are about to change. Apparently it's only now that virtual worlds are really going to become a force to be reckoned with. 'Now experts predict the virtual world phenomenon is entering a second phase in which businesses will become shrewder about their involvement in such environments and look more carefully at the tangible benefits they can realize. Emerging technology specialist at IBM, Robert Smart, is confident virtual worlds will become more important to businesses in the coming years.'"

2 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. An Honest Question.... by DavidD_CA · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Has any business, anywhere, recieved any tangible benefit from their participation in Second Life?*

    I hear about all these businesses and universities spending so much money on virtual places that are lucky to get a dozen "hits" a month. Are any of these visitors buying a product, becoming more brand-loyal, or spreading the word?

    *Linden Labs and Second Life developers not included.

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    -David
  2. The economics of a virtual world. by Rothron+the+Wise · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The economics of virtual worlds are driven by synthetic scarcity. Indeed, any digital product is subject to imposed scarcity as an infinite amount of copies could be created at practically no cost.

    A big difference is that with virtual worlds, copy control and usage control can be enforced more rigorously to drive up prices. This is why you see people paying for virtual gifts on Facebook. $1 for the right to give a worthless icon to a friend. Here, the value of the product is not the product's uniqueness, but the product in conjunction with the limitations of use. You are buying back a freedom that was taken away from you by the implementation.

    Second Life allows users to create and sellp roducts and take advantage of the imposed scarcity, but will skim profits by controlling the
    conversion rate between linden dollars and USD. It looks like a real economy, but it's more like a pyramid scheme, as the profits will inevitably trickle up. It's like a casino. The house cannot lose as long as people keep coming.

    I suppose the positive side of this is that if people are happy spending real money on virtual objects, then they probably have enough money.

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    A witty .sig proves nothing