A Typology of Virtual Worlds: Historical Overview and Future Directions

1. Description

This paper provides historical background on virtual worlds, their evolution and possible future directions. It creates a typology that distinguishes different types of virtual worlds according to five distinct elements: (1) purpose (content of interaction), (2) place (location of interaction), (3) platform (design of interaction), (4) population (participants in the interaction), and (5) profit model (return on interaction). Paper states, that because of the growth of consumer participation in virtual worlds, firms will need to learn to manage the utilization of these worlds for various business decisions. In the end, author uses his typology to identify future applications and research topics such as uncovering new purposes for virtual worlds, new places for utilizing virtual worlds, new functionalities in the platform, new target population segments, and new profit models.

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Key Words: Motivation, Typology, Virtual Worlds

2. Quotes

The five elements of the proposed typology include (1) purpose (content of interaction), (2) place (location of interaction), (3) platform (design of interaction), (4) population (participants in the interaction), and (5) profit model (return on interaction). We argue that this five-element typology facilitates identification of (a) the historic antecedents of virtual worlds in gaming and social networking, (b) future applications of virtual worlds for society, education, and business; and (c) topics for future research.

According to one estimate, 20 to 30 million people regularly participated in virtual worlds in 2006, spending an average of almost twenty-two hours per week within these spaces (Balkin & Noveck, 2006).

For those who participate in them, the names of these worlds are household words, including (adult worlds such as) Second Life, World of Warcraft, Kaneva, Entropia Universe, Google Earth; (children’s worlds, such as) Webkinz, Neopets, Club Penguin, Habbo, Whyville, TyGirlz, and RuneScape; (community-specific worlds, such as) Cyworld, HiPiHi; (media-focused worlds, such as) vSide; (and educational worlds such as) ActiveWorlds, there.com, and Forterra Systems.

According to research firm Gartner, Inc., “by the end of 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users (and Fortune 500 enterprises) will have a ‘second life’” (i.e., an avatar or presence in a virtual community like Second Life; Gartner, 2007).

Some authors even suggest that the 3-D Internet will become as important to companies in five years as the Web is now (Driver et al. 2008).

The purpose of this essay is to facilitate study of these worlds by proposing a typology of virtual worlds, adapted from C. Porter’s (2004) typology of virtual communities. We support the relevance of this typology by arguing that each of the five elements of the typology played critical roles in the historic evolution of gaming and social networking at pivotal times in this evolution. We then argue that recognizing these five elements is helpful for identifying future applications and research questions.

 Open or unstructured virtual worlds represent a blending of the elements of immersive 3D gaming environments, developed in the gaming industry over the last 25 years, together with elements of online social networking. This conclusion can be seen by tracing the development of electronic gaming since the 1970s, including (a) arcade games, (b) console games, (c) LAN games with more players, (d) games with Internet connectivity, (e) unstructured games with many players, (f) massive games with user-generated content, and (g) immersive 3D worlds with designer-provided objectives. Open virtual worlds combine the last three items with elements of web-based social networking. Open virtual worlds, thus, consist of massively multiplayer gaming platforms with unstructured objectives, user-generated content, immersive 3D virtual reality shared environments, and social networking elements used between people through their avatars.

Although not gaming, per se, social networking sites influenced the development of virtual worlds. These environments support members pursuing their own objectives of socializing and sharing of textual and pictorial content (and, increasingly, audio and video content).

Open Virtual Worlds. The distinctive feature of open virtual worlds is the social interaction among people and their avatars that occurs in a 3D immersive shared environment with user-chosen objectives, user-generated content, and social networking tools. Virtual worlds, thus, combine the previous four elements described above. In these worlds, people can form relationships as friends, romantic partners, virtual family members, business partners, team members, group members, and online community members. They can also create things, and save, give, or sell what they created to other people. And, as the objects that are created might be desired by others, they suddenly have value in the real-world economy (Lederman, 2007; Lastowka & Hunter, 2006). These various features make virtual worlds as desirable virtual spaces for collaborative play, learning, and work. According to Bartle (2006, page 31), "[f]rom their humble beginnings, virtual worlds have evolved to become major hubs of entertainment, education, and community." And further, according to Balkin & Noveck (2006) "[a]though the development of these virtual worlds has been driven by the game industry, by now these worlds are used for far more than play, and soon they will be widely adopted as spaces for research, education, politics, and work."

But beyond the realm of entertainment, much activity in virtual worlds is growing in the realms of business, education, and culture. Concerning advertising and promotions, S. Barnes (2007) provides a list of 126 prominent real life brands in Second Life as of August 31, 2007, including IBM, Mercedes, Pontiac, Nissan, Dell, BMG (in the media Sector), and PA Consulting (in management consulting). Concerning retailing and service businesses, in February 2007, there were 25,365 business owners in Second Life (DMD et al., 2007), most of whom owned stores, rented real estate, or managed clubs. Concerning education, over 150 universities have a presence in SL, and some of them actually use SL for classes and other education purpose (Graves 2008). Business, public organizations, and cultural groups are using the environment for conferencing, public meetings, delivering informational services, and performances or exhibits.

Virtual worlds are increasingly perceived as an opportunity for economic activity, and many retail and service organizations, as well as some governments, have established a presence in these worlds. Despite receptive coverage in the press, it is not yet entirely clear, however, what value virtual worlds add to more traditional e-commerce and e- government, or how organizations and individuals can harness this value. One question involves identifying which virtual worlds are appropriate for which activities and why.

Applications. Future applications of virtual worlds may be suggested by the proposed five typology elements. Some possibilities include uncovering new purposes for virtual worlds (e.g., mechanisms to facilitate supplier-manufacture or manufacturer-retailer relationships), new places for utilizing virtual worlds (e.g., mobile devices), new functionalities in the platform (e.g., improving avatar’s gestures and facial expressions as a means of communication), new target population segments (e.g., new mothers), and new profit models (e.g., bundling virtual world memberships with Internet service).

In addition, because of the growth of consumer participation in virtual worlds, firms will need to learn to manage the utilization of these worlds for the following business decisions:
(1) Choosing in which worlds to promote, advertise or engage in other communications;
(2) Selecting in which worlds to open e-commerce stores, e-government activities, and virtual service offices;
(3) Choosing in which worlds to offer classes; and
(4) Choosing in which worlds to perform market research, such as focus groups, surveys, and test markets.

3. BibTeX

@article{JVWR291,
 author = {Paul Messinger and Eleni Stroulia and Kelly Lyons},
 title = {A Typology of Virtual Worlds: Historical Overview and Future Directions},
 journal = {Journal of Virtual Worlds Research},
 volume = {1},
 number = {1},
 year = {2008},
 keywords = {virtual worlds, typology, electronic gaming, online social networking},
 abstract = {Virtual worlds constitute a growing space for collaborative play, learning, work, and e-commerce.  To promote study of this emerging realm of activity, we suggest a typology adapted from C. Porter’s (2004) typology of virtual communities.  The five elements of the proposed typology include (1) purpose (content of interaction), (2) place (location of interaction), (3) platform (design of interaction), (4) population (participants in the interaction), and (5) profit model (return on interaction).  We argue that this five-element typology facilitates identification of (a) the historic antecedents of virtual worlds in gaming and social networking, (b) future applications of virtual worlds for society, education, and business; and (c) topics for future research.},
 issn = {1941-8477},
 url = {http://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/article/view/291/245}
}