You are about to have a business meeting in Second Life, and you are wondering… what to wear! Well, wonder no more! Check out Ophelia Gaze’s recommendations and dress for success.

Click here for the real metaverse (and here for Linden Labs’ response). Enjoy!

I put together a directory of real companies in Second Life. If you know of any other please leave a comment!

Electronic Commerce Research: Special Issue Call on Metaverses 

I HAVE AN AVATAR THEREFORE I EXIST: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN METAVERSES

Millions of users from around the globe participate in massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG), such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, 3D worlds that are often considered the next generation Web. With their user base growing at an exponential rate we are already experiencing the development of a phenomenon that may be as significant as the Web itself. The rapid development of MMORPGs and metaverses is likely to bring about significant business as well as social, legal, policy, methodological and technological opportunities and challenges. This special issue aims to explore these and contribute to this rapidly expanding field by focusing on issues relevant to electronic business and management.

For more information please visit: www.ebusiness-newcastle.com

The following paper was accepted to the 1st Biannual International Conference “Strategic Developments in Services Marketing“. The paper is very topical as recently a number of real and virtual banks have appeared in metaverses. For example, MindArk auctioned five licences for Project Entropia, one of which was bought by Anshe Chung. The most interesting thing here is that they aim to offer the first financial market and financial services infrastructure that spans multiple virtual worlds.

Banking in Second Life: Marketing Opportunities and Repercussions

Savvas Papagiannidis, Michael Bourlakis, Michalis Vafopoulos

ABSTRACT
This paper presents two cases of real banks operating in metaverses, and more specifically within Second Life, in order to highlight the potential of such worlds as business and marketing platforms. We present the way the selected banks develop a business and marketing presence in the three dimensional environment by looking at the similarities and differences among their approaches. Subsequently, we emphasise the marketing implications of their approaches by examining the customer relationship management repercussions. At the end we provide further insights into this evolving and dynamic business phenomenon, highlighting specific avenues for future research.

Key Words: virtual worlds, electronic marketing, banks, customer relationship management, metaverses, Second Life

I came across a post at Shaping Thoughts pointing to a video clip of a demonstration of how e-CRM could be done in the future (well why not now?). Then again, thinking about it, visiting shops in SL only to find there is no customer representative there feels the same as the ‘All our representatives are currently offline’ buttons you often come across on contact pages. The web allows your site to be online 24/7, but not you!

The Internet had a great impact on (often resulting in a total reconfiguration) value chain of the so-called creative industries. In the process, fans and artists came closer, and in many case very close indeed! SL could not be an exception and the Bruce Willis interview for his latest movie, Die Hard 4, is a prime example of this.

The Technological Forecasting and Social Change entitled: “Making real money in virtual worlds: MMORPGs and emerging business opportunities, challenges and ethical implications in metaverses” is now available for download (as a corrected proof) from the ScienceDirect web site.

A US judge has ruled that Linden Lab’s terms of service for Second Life residents are not legally binding, according to court papers filed on Wednesday.

The following paper has been accepted for presentation as a round the table paper for the British Academy of Management (BAM) 2007 Conference.

From E-retailing to Meta-retailing: Evolution or Revolution?

Savvas Papagiannidis, Michael Bourlakis, Feng Li

Abstract

In this paper we examine one facet of the emerging phenomenon of metaverses, that of retailing, and consider whether the attributes of virtual environments result in evolutionary or revolutionary changes. The discussion is undertaken within the context set by Second Life, one of the most popular metaverses.

Keyword: e-retail, meta-retail, metaverses, Second Life

Do you have what it takes to stand out from the crowd when it comes to designing and scripting in Second Life? If yes, then prove it by entering the Ebusiness Island Second Life Competition. As this is a competition sponsored by the Ebusiness@Newcastle research group the competition has two themes: Ebusiness and the North East of England. Your creation must be inspired by one or both of the themes.

DEADLINE: You must submit your entry by 1st of July 2007.

The winners will be announced on 1st of July at an event that will be held at the Ebusiness Island during which the winning creations will be unveiled. The winners will also be presented with the following prizes:

• First prize:       25000 Linden Dollars
• Second prize: 15000 Linden Dollars
• Third prize:      7500 Linden Dollars

(more…)

The Money Programme is apparently the first BBC programme that was shown in full in a virtual world. The programme entitled ‘Money Programme: Virtual World, Real Millions’ was broadcasted on the 1st of June at 19:00 UK time, and then again at 20:00 and 21:00. By virtual world they really mean metaverses, as the BBC has broadcasted its programme before on the web (e.g. the World Cup games). Isn’t the web as virtual or real as Second Life is? This raises an important issue over the definitions and the terminology used. The word virtual refers to things that live in our imagination. Well ‘traditionally’, in human imagination, I am an avatar remember? Metaverses may be projections of the imagination, but they are real. I have an identity which is real and hence I am real, right? Referring to them as ‘virtual’ misses some of their ‘real’ essence. Personally, I prefer using the word metaverse which implies a synthetic world, highlighting the fact that these worlds are digital artifacts of human actions.

Maldives or Sweden? Does it matter who came first in Second Life? The important thing is that governments have started recognising that e-government is not only 2d, and can be 3d too. I paid a quick visit to the House of Sweden and first impressions were positive. It was particularly interesting to see the flag of the European Union, Sweden and… Second Life next to each other! If you visit the island have a look at Raoul Wallenberg’s office, a prime example of what metaverses are all about.