Introduction to the Work and Play in Virtual Worlds Minitrack

Abstract

In his famous science-fiction novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson envisioned the evolution of the Internet into what he called a Metaverse, a three dimensional (3D) virtual reality-based space where people interacted with each other through their avatars (i.e. graphical representation of themselves) and manipulated virtual artifacts. Since the last few years, Metaverses have become a reality with the development of virtual/mixed reality applications, called 3D virtual worlds. A growing and strong interest has emerged in the field of information systems (IS) around the characteristics and possibilities of these virtual worlds. worlds have now evolved into sophisticated social systems, such as Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), where millions of people chat, collaborate and compete with each other through their avatars. According to Gartner Group, 80% of active Internet users will use a virtual world by the end of 2011. Beyond the entertainment and game play features, virtual worlds are evolving towards business needs, where social, organizational and economic interactions are the main drivers. In fact, today's virtual worlds bring a variety of opportunities to organizations with respect to collaborative value creation and team work. Several companies such as IBM, Intel, Cisco, Microsoft, e-Bay, Accenture, and others are already using virtual worlds for their team processes -- meetings, seminars (internal or with partners), training/certification, recruitment, or simply for socialization (virtual events). As collaboration has become the predominant modus in which organizations accomplish work, recent surveys show that collaboration is a key driver in organizational performance and may contribute more to organizational performance than strategic orientation. Therefore it is important to understand how virtual worlds can best be used as an environment for organizational collaboration and co-creation. Thus this minitrack covers collaboration issues in virtual worlds and metaverses. This year, five papers were selected for inclusion in the proceedings. The first paper, Fostering Group In Worlds, by de Nobrega and Rutkowski examines the challenge of team building in virtual worlds. They discuss a set of eight team building activities and analyze their experiences through surveys and interviews. The second paper by Fuller, Muller, Hutter, Matzler, and Hautz, Virtual Worlds as Collaborative Innovation and Knowledge Platform, addresses the use of virtual worlds to support teams that engage in innovation projects. Through a field study at IBM, the authors identify lessons learned and critical considerations to support global innovation teams. The third paper, Social Worlds' Success Factors: Four Studies' Insights for the Tourism Supply and Demand Side by Stangl, Kastner, and Polsterer investigate success factors related to attracting users of virtual worlds. Through four studies in the tourism domain, the authors identify reasons for users to visit virtual worlds and gain value from their interactions. The fourth paper by Stieglitz and Brockmann, Virtual Worlds as Platforms for Customer Integration, address the collaboration between customers and product developers to support co-creation. The authors discuss characteristics of virtual worlds and their impact on customer integration. The final paper, Collaboration in Worlds: The Role of the Facilitator by Wigert, Vreede, Boughzala, and Bououd, explores the role of facilitation in virtual world collaboration. Through a series of interviews with virtual world experts, the authors derive a number of insights and guidelines on virtual world facilitation that can serve to initiate future research in this area. The papers in this minitrack discuss different aspects of collaboration and team work in virtual worlds. Each offers a unique contribution to our understanding of how virtual worlds could be used to support processes within and between organizations and individuals. We commend them to your reading, and hope they will inspire your research and practice.