Virtual worlds as adjustable environments for immersion in business meetings

Managing modern organizations requires innovative measures to facilitate interaction. In this paper, we focus on interaction mechanisms, such as business meetings. We attempt to highlight the possible contributions of virtual worlds in terms of such organizational mechanisms. This original work presents a review of the literature about business meetings and their structural properties. It also presents the specific properties of virtual worlds that serve as a mechanism for facilitating the interaction of multiple participants. Our research demonstrates that immersion is a property common to both meetings and virtual worlds. This immersion is expressed in a wide range of forms that are described in this paper

Seeking the Entanglement of Immersion and Emergence: Reflections from an Analysis of the State of IS Research on Virtual Worlds

This paper critically reviews the state of virtual world research within the Information Systems field; revealing areas of interest evident in research studies between 2007-2011, the methods employed to conduct such research, the theories/frameworks used to ground VW research, as well as reoccurring memes/concepts. We argue that virtual worlds are best interpreted as both an immersive and emergent co-creative process, ‘performed’ by users’ actions and interactions both with other users and with artifacts such as virtual goods. Nevertheless, our analysis reveals a near neglect of the substantive nature of digital materiality and of the emergent nature of virtual worlds. We conclude that this ‘human-centric’ stance has taken focus away from the unique nature of the virtual world artifact itself, and posit a research agenda that focuses on virtual world objects as well as the immersive and emergent activities of ‘world-builders’ as necessary to advance virtual world research

Metaverse as a disruptive technology revolutionising tourism management and marketing

Metaverse is the next disruptive technology that will impact society in the coming decades, by enabling immersive experiences in both virtual and physical environments. Although still conceptual, Metaverse converges the physical and digital universe, allowing users to seamlessly traverse between them. Digital immersion offers opportunities for people to travel in time, supporting users to experience virtually ancient encounters, space explorations or dangerous natural phenomena, such as volcano eruptions. Users can explore immersive environments for working, learning, transacting, exploring interests and socialising with others. This is already evident in gaming ecosystems, where gamers effectively interact in the metaverse. Although still experimental, Metaverse is expected to revolutionize travel and tourism management and marketing. It empowers destination awareness, positioning and branding, as well as coordination and management, through digital twins. Metaverse provides opportunities to support trip planning, interaction and engagement, effectively transforming consumer behaviour. Visiting and engaging with destinations virtually is expected to motivate real travel, rather than replace it. This paper provides a vision of how Metaverse can revolutionize tourism experiences and transform tourism management and marketing. Drawing on a systematic review of scholarly works, articles from media and industry reports, this study defines and conceptualizes the Metaverse ecosystem for tourism and travel. It explores the foundations of the disruptions that Metaverse brings to tourism destinations and organisations and identifies the building blocks of Metaverse tourism. The study outlines research directions so that the tourism industry can take full advantage of the Metaverse capabilities and opportunities emerging as well as identify challenges for the future

Innovation Gaming: An Immersive Experience Environment Enabling Co-creation

A number of existing innovation paradigms and design approaches such as Open Innovation (Chesbrough, 2003), User Experience (Hassenzahl & Tractinsky, 2006) and User-Centred Design (Von Hippel, 2005), as well as User-Centred Open Innovation Ecosystems (Pallot, 2009a) are promoting distributed collaboration among organisations and user communities. However, project stakeholders are mainly trained for improving their individual skills through learning experience (i.e. practical exercises, role playing game) rather than getting a live user experience through immersive environments (e.g. Virtual Reality, Serious Games) that could unleash their creativity potential. This chapter introduces the findings of a study on serious gaming, which discusses various aspects of games and explores a number of issues related to the use of innovation games for enabling user co-creation in the context of collaborative innovation and experiential Living Labs

Experiential Perspectives on Sound and Music for Virtual Reality Technologies

This thesis examines the intersection of sound, music, and virtuality within current and next-generation virtual reality technologies, with a specific focus on exploring the experiential perspectives of users and participants within virtual experiences. The first half of the thesis constructs a new theoretical model for examining intersections of sound and virtual experience. In Chapter 1, a new framework for virtual experience is constructed consisting of three key elements: virtual hardware (e.g., displays, speakers); virtual software (e.g., rules and systems of interaction); and virtual externalities (i.e., physical spaces used for engaging in virtual experiences). Through using and applying this new model, methodical examinations of complex virtual experiences are possible. Chapter 2 examines the second axis of the thesis through constructing an understanding of how sound is designed, implemented, and received within virtual reality. The concept of soundscapes is explored in the context of experiential perspectives, serving as a useful approach for describing received auditory phenomena. Auditory environments are proposed as a new model for exploring how auditory phenomena can be broadcast to audiences. Chapter 3 explores how inauthenticity within sound can impact users in virtual experience and uses authenticity to critically examine challenges surrounding sound in virtual reality. Constructions of authenticity in music performance are used to illustrate how authenticity is constructed within virtual experience. Chapter 4 integrates music into the understanding of auditory phenomena constructed throughout the thesis: music is rarely part of the created world in a virtual experience. Rather, it is typically something which only the audience – as external observers of the created world – can hear. Therefore, music within immersive virtual reality may be challenging as the audience is placed within the created world.The second half of this thesis uses this theoretical model to consider contemporary and future approaches to virtual experiences. Chapter 5 constructs a series of case studies to demonstrate the use of the framework as a trans-medial and intra/inter-contextual tool of analysis. Through use of the framework, varying approaches to implementation of sound and music in virtual reality technologies are considered, which reveals trans-medial commonalities of immersion and engagement with virtual experiences through sound. Chapter 6 examines near-future technologies, including brain-computer interfaces and other full-immersion technologies, to identify key issues in the design and implementation of future virtual experiences and suggest how interdisciplinary collaboration may help to develop solutions to these issues. Chapter 7 considers how the proposed model for virtuality might allow for methodical examination of similar issues within other fields, such as acoustics and architecture, and examines the ethical considerations that may become relevant as virtual technology develops within the 21st Century.This research explores and rationalises theoretical models of virtuality and sound. This permits designers and developers to improve the implementation of sound and music in virtual experiences for the purpose of improving user outcomes.<br/

Collaborative virtual reality platform for visualizing space data and mission planning

This paper presents the system architecture of a collaborative virtual environment in which distributed multidisciplinary teams involved in space exploration activities come together and explore areas of scientific interest of a planet for future missions. The aim is to reduce the current challenges of distributed scientific and engineering meetings that prevent the exploitation of their collaborative potential, as, at present, expertise, tools and datasets are fragmented. This paper investigates the functional characteristics of a software framework that addresses these challenges following the design science research methodology in the context of the space industry and research. An implementation of the proposed architecture and a validation process with end users, based on the execution of different use cases, are described. These use cases cover relevant aspects of real science analysis and operation, including planetary data visualization, as the system aims at being used in future European missions. This validation suggests that the system has the potential to enhance the way space scientists will conduct space science research in the future

Second Life : representation and remediation of social space

Ao longo da última década os jogos online e as plataformas sociais têm-se tornado cada vez mais populares, tendo vindo a contribuir para o desenvolvimento da internet. Os jogos online multiplayer têm conquistado cada vez mais utilizadores. Estes têm como locus a realidade virtual e como objetivo a recriação de um novo mundo. Um exemplo deste tipo de jogos é o Second Life, um jogo social que conta com um elevado número de utilizadores – cerca de 31 milhões de utilizadores registados. Esta plataforma foi desenvolvida pela Linden Lab e reúne as características de um mundo virtual: é um cenário digital tridimensional, no qual utilizadores de todo o mundo, representados por avatares, interagem em tempo real formando diversos tipos de redes sociais. Uma das suas características distintivas é o facto de 99% do conteúdo existente dentro do espaço virtual ter sido desenvolvido pelos utilizadores. Os jogadores, denominados residentes, estão a contribuir não só na construção do espaço, mas também para o desenvolvimento social deste mundo virtual. Para além disto, existem mais quatro características que tornam o Second Life um objeto de estudo interessante: todos os avatares são controlados por seres humanos em tempo real; o reconhecimento de direitos de propriedade intelectual; a existência de uma micro-moeda – o Linden Dollar; e o facto de todos os jogadores terem acesso a ferramentas básicas de construção, e à linguagem de programação desenvolvida pela Linden Lab, a Linden Scripting Language, essenciais para criar objetos. O Second Life é um espaço colaborativo e participativo que, apesar de ser um jogo, oferece aos seus utilizadores uma experiência muito diferente da vivida nos videojogos tradicionais. Por ser um jogo do tipo caixa de areia os jogadores podem estabelecer uma relação diferente com esta plataforma, pois podem contribuir para as diversas dimensões da vida dentro do jogo. Devido às suas características, este mundo virtual tem despertado o interesse de investigadores de diferentes áreas que têm procurado perceber o seu impacto para a interação social, educação, economia, lei, e indústrias criativas. No entanto, tendo em conta que o ‘espaço’ é um elemento fulcral na investigação em Ciências Humanas e uma das áreas priveligiadas pela European Science Foundation para a investigação em Ciências Sociais e Humanas, há, ainda, a necessidade de perceber como é que este espaço digital está a ser desenvolvido, e que narrativas culturais o estão a moldar. Uma vez que o Second Life reflete a importância dos mundos virtuais para a interação online, torna-se fundamental compreender que impacto a virtualização das relações sociais pode ter para a interação interpessoal e para o desenvolvimento de um novo tipo de ‘comunidades imaginadas’. A presente investigação centra-se no Second Life e procura perceber de que forma poderá este novo espaço de interação estar a contribuir para o aparecimento de uma nova dimensão social. Uma dimensão resultante das possibilidades oferecidas por uma plataforma tecnológica apenas disponível através da internet, combinadas com o potencial criativo dos seus utilizadores. Com o intuito de contribuir para um melhor entendimento do potencial sociocultural deste mundo virtual, este estudo tem como base uma investigação empírica desenvolvida a partir de uma metodologia qualitativa específica para o estudo de comunidades online, a netnografia. Os métodos de recolha de dados adotados são: observação participante, auto-netnografia, entrevista e análise de conteúdo dos perfis dos utilizadores entrevistados. Os dados são analisados seguindo uma abordagem indutiva. A principal hipótese deste estudo centra-se na premissa que se o Second Life é um mundo virtual que está a ser coproduzido pela Linden Lab e pelos utilizadores, é provável que o envolvimento dos residentes com a realidade virtual resulte na criação de um sistema de representação re-mediado. Partindo desta hipótese, os objetivos principais desta investigação são confirmar se de facto os mundos virtuais estão a ser usados para representar e re-mediar o espaço social, e perceber que efeito isto tem nos jogadores. Uma das principais conclusões retiradas prende-se com o facto de os utilizadores estarem a tirar partido deste mundo virtual para renegociarem os modelos socioculturais que informam as suas ‘primeiras vidas’. Após a análise da relação que os utilizadores estabelecem com o espaço virtual, com os seus próprios avatares e entre si, concluiu-se que são três as principais narrativas culturais que estão a resultar das experiências vividas pelos residentes deste mundo virtual. As primeiras intrinsecamente relacionadas com a organização geográfica da vida humana – narrativas de espaço; as segundas, com a necessidade de nos compreendermos a nós mesmos, narrativas identitárias; e as terceiras, com o facto de os seres humanos serem na sua essência seres sociais, narrativas resultantes da interação social com outros residentes. A ‘re-mediação’ de narrativas culturais dentro de um ambiente online, anónimo e flexível evidencia a necessidade que os seres humanos têm de reconhecer os espaços sociais que frequentam, de modo a envolverem-se e atribuírem significado às experiências digitais vividas.Over the past decade online games and social platforms became very popular and contributed to the internet development. The massive multiplayer online games have conquered a high number of users. The locus of these games is virtual reality, and the main goal is the recreation of a new world. Second Life is one of these games, a tridimensional social platform which counts with a high number of users – around 31 million registered users. It was developed by Linden Lab and it assembles the main characteristics of a virtual worlds: it is a tridimensional digital setting where users from all over the world represented by avatars interact in real time, and develop diversified social networks. One of its main characteristics is the prevalence of prodused content – 99 per cent of the content existing in-world was created by residents. Players, designated residents, are not only contributing to the space construction, but also to the social development of this virtual world. Apart from this, there are four more characteristics that make this multiuser environment interesting as an object of study: all the avatars existent in-world are playing characters controlled by human beings in real time; the recognition of intellectual property rights; the existence of a micro-currency – the Linden Dollar; and all the players have access to simple building tools, and to the Linden Scripting Language, which are essential to create objects. Second Life is a collaborative and participative space that, despite being a game, offers its users a very different experience from that lived within traditional video games. Because it is a sandbox game players are able to establish a different kind of relationship with the platform, once they can contribute to the different dimensions of the life in-world. Due to its intrinsic characteristics, this virtual world has caught the attention of researchers from several areas that showed interest in understanding the impact this virtual world may have in social interaction, education, economy, law and creative industries. Notwithstanding, considering that ‘space’ is a key element in the Humanities, and one of the privileged areas by the European Science Foundation for the research in Social Sciences and Humanities, it is necessary to better understand how this digital space is being developed, and which cultural narratives are shaping it. Since Second Life reflects the relevance of virtual worlds to online interaction, it is essential to comprehend the impact that the ‘virtualization’ of social relationships may have for interpersonal interaction, and for the emergence of a new type of ‘imagined communities’. The present research is centered on Second Life and looks forward to understand how this new interaction space could be contributing to the emergence of a new social dimension. A dimension resulting from the possibilities offered by a technology platform only available through the internet, combined with the creative potential of its users. In order to contribute to a better understanding of the sociocultural potential of this virtual world, this study is grounded on an empirical research based on a specific qualitative methodology for studying online communities, the netnography. The methods adopted for data collection are: participant observation, auto-netnography, interview, and content analysis of the interviewees’ profiles. The data collected is analyzed through an inductive approach. The main hypothesis framing this research is the premise that if Second Life is a virtual world that is being prodused by its residents, it is probable that users’ involvement with the virtual reality would result in the creation of a remediated system of representation. Based on this hypothesis, the main goals then are to confirm if virtual worlds are indeed representing and remediating social space, and to understand the effect this has on players. One of the main conclusions reached is that the users are taking advantage of the affordances of this virtual world to renegotiate the sociocultural models that frame their first lives. Through the analysis of the relationship users are establishing with the virtual space, with their own avatars, and with each other, it is concluded that there are three main cultural narratives emerging from the in-world experience lived by the residents. The first intrinsically related with the geographical organization of human life – spatial narratives; the second, with the need to make sense of oneself – narratives of identity; and the third, with the fact that humans are social beings in essence – social interaction narratives resulting from the interaction with other residents. The remediation of cultural narratives into an online, anonymous, and flexible environment evinces the need humans have for recognizable social spaces in order to be able to get involved and attribute meaning to the lived digital experiences

Ready Worker One? High-Res VR for the Home Office

Many employees prefer to work from home, yet struggle to squeeze their office into an already fully-utilized space. Virtual Reality (VR) seemingly offered a solution with its ability to transform even modest physical spaces into spacious, productive virtual offices, but hardware challenges---such as low resolution---have prevented this from becoming a reality. Now that hardware issues are being overcome, we are able to investigate the suitability of VR for daily work. To do so, we (1) studied the physical space that users typically dedicate to home offices and (2) conducted an exploratory study of users working in VR for one week. For (1) we used digital ethnography to study 430 self-published images of software developer workstations in the home, confirming that developers faced myriad space challenges. We used speculative design to re-envision these as VR workstations, eliminating many challenges. For (2) we asked 10 developers to work in their own home using VR for about two hours each day for four workdays, and then interviewed them. We found that working in VR improved focus and made mundane tasks more enjoyable. While some subjects reported issues---annoyances with the fit, weight, and umbilical cord of the headset---the vast majority of these issues seem to be addressable. Together, these studies show VR technology has the potential to address many key problems with home workstations, and, with continued improvements, may become an integral part of creating an effective workstation in the home

Innovation Gaming: An Immersive Experience Environment Enabling Co-creation

A number of existing innovation paradigms and design approaches such as Open Innovation (Chesbrough, 2003), User Experience (Hassenzahl & Tractinsky, 2006) and User-Centred Design (Von Hippel, 2005), as well as User-Centred Open Innovation Ecosystems (Pallot, 2009a) are promoting distributed collaboration among organisations and user communities. However, project stakeholders are mainly trained for improving their individual skills through learning experience (i.e. practical exercises, role playing game) rather than getting a live user experience through immersive environments (e.g. Virtual Reality, Serious Games) that could unleash their creativity potential. This chapter introduces the findings of a study on serious gaming, which discusses various aspects of games and explores a number of issues related to the use of innovation games for enabling user co-creation in the context of collaborative innovation and experiential Living Labs

Are secondary markets beneficial for a virtual world operator?

Selling virtual goods for real money has become the dominant business model for virtual worlds in the past decade. As the amount of money involved in virtual goods sales increases, market performance questions gain relevance. In this thesis, we examine the effects of secondary markets on the profitability of a virtual world service provider operating under a virtual goods sales model. More specifically, we ask whether the service provider should tolerate secondary markets or seek to kill them off. The structure of this thesis is as follows: we first review how virtual worlds operate as businesses and provide an analysis of the market conditions faced by a virtual world operator to provide sufficient context for the reader. We then examine the inner workings of virtual economies and review structures commonly encountered within them. Next, we conduct a literature review on real world secondary market models and analyses. Finally, we evaluate the implications of real world secondary market results on secondary markets for virtual goods. In the final section, we present conclusions and possible avenues for further study. We find that recent durable goods research suggests that a profit-maximizing monopolist will not shut down secondary markets, but will choose to reduce durability of goods instead and that these results can apply to virtual worlds as well. However, we also show that the question of allowing or not allowing secondary markets cannot be answered based on profitability alone and that service providers have to also account for externalities brought on by secondary markets