Working and Learning in Virtual Worlds - Day 3

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WORKING AND LEARNING IN VIRTUAL WORLDS – DAY 3William Barnett, Ph.D.Entergy Endowed Professor of CISCollege of Business Administration, University of Louisiana at Monroe

1. How can business use the Metaverse as part of their ongoing operations?

2. What kinds of opportunities can an entrepreneur/organization pursue?

3. How do I plan for providing goods and services in the Metaverse?

4. What are some things to remember about running a venture in the Metaverse?

Doing Business in the Metaverse

Doing Business in the Virtual World Virtual Worlds have wide capabilities for

commerce and supply chain support What happens when Globalization goes

Meta? Additional layer – Meta or Virtual layer Customers have distance problems too

Economies and Support Ecologies expand into the Virtual World

Virtual World Enabled Economies

Virtual WorldPayments

Real WorldPaymentsReal WorldPayments

Real WorldSvc/Delivery

Virtual WorldSvc/DeliveryVirtual WorldSvc/Delivery

Sales and MarketingSales and Marketing

Support EcologySupport Ecology

Virtual WorldTradeVirtual WorldTrade

Source: Second Life Virtual Worlds and v-Commerce, Daden Ltd. 2007

Planning for the Virtual World Organizational entry into the Metaverse

should support goals and objectives A Virtual World project starts like any

systems project Establish Goals Identify Constraints

Organizational Technological

General Categories of Goals

Exploration – Work out issues early Improve Effectiveness and Efficiency

Support internal/partner communication Concept Development and Design Training Recruitment

Support societal initiatives (compliance too)

Generate Revenue!!Adapted from: Virtual Worlds and Serious Business, Daden Ltd. 2007

Identify Market/Audience

Who is this presence for? Internal or External Focus Mass Market versus Market Niche

Virtual World Marketing must focus on the AVATAR Avatars are connected to People People have MONEY

Must think of avatar motivations as much or more than demographics

Choose a Platform

Virtual World versus Virtual Platform Virtual World – exists and is generally

populated Virtual Platform – must build world

Public versus Private Worlds Gain control and security in Private World Must also recruit your audience if not

internally focused

Develop Marketing Plan

“Build it and they will come”….NOT!! Based on target audience, may need to

develop awareness and loyalty Strategies:

In World Hybrid Real World

Manage the Implementation

Developing a Virtual World presence has many of the implementation issues as other software and web projects Build versus Buy versus Contract Grand Design versus Pilot Projects

Must consider design metaphor True Virtual Worlds are Open Metaphor use can convey roles and

procedures

Manage your Community

Most critical success factor is to manage presence as a Community

Virtual worlds are about interaction You MUST connect with the community that

you are trying to attract Web models may not transfer directly Have a plan for interacting with visitors

Manage your presence Update content – provide a reason to come

Any final thoughts, questions, or ideas?

Faculty, Administration, and Students of PULV@NickWilson, @Intellagirl, and @BevanWhitfield for all their informative TweetsDaden Limited for their support for sharing knowledge

Acknowledgements

“No teacher ever starts out to a mediocre job…sometimes it just works out that way.”

Please feel free to IM, Tweet, email me comments and suggestions to improve the quality of this seminar.

Comments and Suggestions

Everywhere and Nowhere…

Email: barnett@ulm.edu Second Life - Liam Gunes OpenLife – Liam Gunes (Norrington Region) Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/liamgunes

Follow Me! Give me some good information, I’ll follow you

back Facebook – William Barnett (surprise)

Working and Learning in Virtual Worlds - Day 3

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