Entrepreneurship in Virtual Worlds
November 2011www.nordicworlds.net
Programme 10:30 Welcome and Presentation
− Virtual Worlds: Just a game or what? 11:00 Presentation of a Pan-Nordic Research Project
− Professor Robin Teigland (Stockholm School of Economics, UiA) presents the project “NVWN - The Nordic Virtual Worlds Network”
Showcases 11:30 RunAlong
− Entrepreneur Heidi Harman presents her experiences with the running initiative, RunAlong in Second Life
11:45 Virtex
− Founder Sverre Lunøe-Nielsen presents Virtex, a company developing software applications for interactive data visualization
12:00 ICYou Group
− Project Manager Serdar Temiz presents ICYou, a company that develops interactive media platforms
12:15 Lunch
Bjørn-Tore FlåtenBear-Toru Floresby in SL
Centre for EntrepreneurshipAgder University
Virtual Worlds: Just a game or what?
Entrepreneurship in Virtual WorldsNovember 2011
Jack
Welc
h
...when the rate of change outside an
organization is greater than the rate of change
inside, the end is near......
7
Social Media
Increase in integration and rapidly more interactivity
Characterised by user participation, openness, and network effects (Musser and O’Reilly, 2006)
Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2011)
Definition
Social media
Drivers of changeIn
crease
dIn
tera
ctivity
DiGangi 2010
Types of Social Media
Shneor 2011, Kaplan & Haenlein 2011
Social Presence/ Media Richness
Low Medium High
High Blogs Social Networking Sites
Virtual Social Worlds
Low Collaborative Projects
Content Communities
Virtual Game Worlds
Self
-p
resen
tati
on
/ S
elf
-dis
clo
su
re
What are Virtual Worlds?
• Persistent, computer-simulated, 3D immersive environments
• Shared space/interactivity with others• In some cases, ability to manipulate/create content
• In some cases, virtual economy and currencyTeigland 2010
Learning virtual
teaming skills
Mahaley & Teigland 2009, http://bit.ly/rUMfcO
Tomorrow’s education?
3D Avatar School
Flåten & Hansen 2011
VWs moving out of “Gartner Hype Cycle” trough
Virtual World
s today
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1447613
>1.2 bln
users
May 2006
July 2007
Teigland 2011
970 mln VW accounts under age 16
http://www.slideshare.net/nicmitham/kzero-universe-q2-2011 Teigland 2011
“Clearly, if social activity migrates to synthetic worlds, economic activity
will go there as well.” Castronova, 2006
Teigland 2011
Pay through PayPal and have delivered to any virtual world
http://www.totalavatarshop.comTeigland 2011
US$ 635,000 for a virtual asteroid!
http://blogs.forbes.com/oliverchiang/2010/11/13/meet-the-man-who-just-made-a-cool-half-million-from-the-sale-of-virtual-property/
• US$ 500,000 profit in 5 years by Jon “Neverdie”
Jacobs• Entropia Universe with GDP
>US$ 440 mlnTeigland 2011
HP rolls out virtual banking with Avaya’s Web.alive
http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2011/04/hp-rolls-out-virtual-banking-with-avayas-web-alive/Teigland 2011
Welch et al 2010
Merck’s Global R&D
IBM’s Innovation Jam
Virtual Collaboration
Teigland 2011
Increasing pace of VW/3Di development
VWs on stick
Browser-based VWs/hyperlinked
3D
Seamlessness between VWs
http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2009/05/hypergrid-101-why-its-good-for-business/http://mediagrid.org/groups/technology/OFF.TWG/
"Create Once, Experience
Everywhere” Expanding uses
For smart phones and tablet PCs
Teigland 2011
http://www.slideshare.net/helgetenno/post-digital-marketing-200922
Moving into the Experience Economy
Pine Jr. & Gilmore 1998, 1999; DiGangi 2010
Hooker et al 2010, Teigland 2011
State of flow- Greater purchase
intent - Positive brand attitudes
Armed with new connective tools, consumers want to interact and co-create value...
Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2003
„“
Slide from Kohler 2011
Exploring VW affordances
Teigland et al 2010
SimulationAvatar
design
Multi-modal
communication
Co-creationArchiving
Immersion
As soon as the Facebook generation wakes up and
embraces virtual reality, we are going to see a giant wave of virtual world millionaires.
Jon “Neverdie” JacobsTeigland 2011
RobinTeiglandKarinda Rhode in SLStockholm School of Economicswww.knowledgenetworking.orgnordicworlds.net
November 2011
Some “Nordic” players
International, multidisciplinary team
− Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, USA
− Academia, Industry, Public Sector
Objectives− To explore how entrepreneurs and SMEs can
use VWs to improve competitiveness
− To create a Virtual Center for VW Entrepreneurship & Innovation
March 2010 to February 2012
Two primary levels of investigation
“Platform business”Providing a platform
for a virtual world
“User business”Using a virtual world for
business purposes
A spectrum of business virtuality
Virtuality
Fully real Fully virtual
NO activities conducted in-
world
ALL activities conducted in-
world
Entrepreneur
& RL firm
uses
VW tech
nology
as tool
Avapreneur &
VW firm part
of
VW ecosy
stem of
economic
activity
A spectrum of business virtuality
Virtuality
Fully real Fully virtual
NO activities conducted in-
world
ALL activities conducted in-
world
Entrepreneur
& RL firm
uses
VW tech
nology
as tool
Avapreneur &
VW firm part
of
VW ecosy
stem of
economic
activity
VWs as tool for RL firms for design, training,….
35
Interested in joining a
workshop?
Please register at
tiny.cc/t4c or email me
Kohler, Teigland, Giovacchini 2010
…and co-creation
A spectrum of business virtuality
Virtuality
Fully real Fully virtual
NO activities conducted in-
world
ALL activities conducted in-
world
Entrepreneur
& RL firm
uses
VW tech
nology
as tool Avapreneur &
VW firm part
of
VW ecosy
stem
of eco
nomic
activity
BOSL & CO
Web Radio
Beauty Pageant
Lifestyle Magazine
Auditorium
Model Agency
Shopping Mall
Modelling Academy
Lindqvist 2011
Clothes/shoes
MODELLING AGENCIES
Topmodels
Photo-graphers
Photo studio makers
Modelling furniture
Poses and animations
Furniture
HairSkins
Event builders
MAGAZINES
MODELLINGSCHOOLS
Shop builders
Accessories
Body shapes
DJs
Viachka, Giovacchini, Teigland, Lindqvist 2011
Virtual fashion
ecosystem
But few firms span the RL/VW boundary
Virtuality
Fully real Fully virtual
NO activities conducted in-
world
ALL activities conducted in-
world
Entrepreneur
& RL firm
uses
VW tech
nology
as tool
Avapreneur &
VW firm part
of
VW ecosy
stem
of eco
nomic
activity
Why?
Lack of ……economies of scale?
…economies of scope?
Different consumer
groups between RL & VW
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/MG-Dungeon-Lord-black-male-coat-outfit-by-Marlene/1447251
Two primary levels of investigation
“Platform business”Providing a platform
for a virtual world
“User business”Using a virtual world for
business purposes
“Opposing” forces: Current business models
limit overall VW industry growth
VW platform provider
s
“Closed”
business
models
SMEs Need for
seamlessness between
VWs
Income model
RL entrepreneurs keeping out…….
“I’m not going to risk my money and
time…..”
“The modeling and simulation technology is
crap…”
But it is only a matter of time….
O’Driscoll 2009
Open source VW platforms growing
OurBricks
Charities bridging RL/VW boundary
Teigland 2010
Core teamMembers
Meetings
$$
“Fashion allowsfor self-identification
and is driver for economic value”
Fashion industry leading the way....
“Entertainment more meaningful than real life”
“Meaningful interactionsbetween real peoplecreates real value”
Eyjólfur Guðmundsson, CCP Games, 2011
Stardoll launches JC Penney clothes line
http://socialtimes.com/stardoll-online-fashion-community-launches-jc-penney-clothes-line_b38360
970 mln VW accounts under age 16
http://www.slideshare.net/nicmitham/kzero-universe-q2-2011
My 10 year old cousin is addicted to Stardoll and doesn’t see why I
like Facebook since I can only read what other people send me. For her it is just natural for all her
friends to be moving around the Stardoll website.
- Masters Student at Stockholm School of
Economics
Tomorrow’s international entrepreneurs?
The rise of Avapreneurs and Born Virtuals?
Leveraging global reach−Microemployees and pro-ams
−Global markets and local market knowledge
Challenging multinational corporations’ traditional resource
advantage?Teigland 2010
“Avapreneur” = Avatar + entrepreneur
Pine Jr. & Gilmore 1998, 1999; DiGangi 2010
From the mobility of goods to the mobility of financial capital to …
...the “mobility” of labor?
Karinda Rhode
aka Robin [email protected]
www.knowledgenetworking.org
www.slideshare.net/eteigland
www.nordicworlds.net RobinTeigland
Photo: Lindholm, Metro
Photo: Nordenskiöld
Photo: Lindqvist
“We ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
Programme 10:30 Welcome and Presentation
− Virtual Worlds: Just a game or what? 11:00 Presentation of a Pan-Nordic Research Project
− Professor Robin Teigland (Stockholm School of Economics, UiA) presents the project “NVWN - The Nordic Virtual Worlds Network”
Showcases 11:30 RunAlong
− Entrepreneur Heidi Harman presents her experiences with the running initiative, RunAlong in Second Life
11:45 Virtex
− Founder Sverre Lunøe-Nielsen presents Virtex, a company developing software applications for interactive data visualization
12:00 ICYou Group
− Project Manager Serdar Temiz presents ICYou, a company that develops interactive media platforms
12:15 Lunch