Second Life Virtual World - Case Study Example

Second Life Virtual World The virtual concept in Second life allows for the creation of any imaginable object, and one that is modifiable to suit any purpose and form that the creator prefers. Owing to this flexible property, many [business] organizations have indulged into the practice, using the concept for promotion, marketing, or conducting actual business. With that perception in mind, it is therefore justified for entrepreneurs to look into means of maximizing the use of virtual worlds to harness the most out of their businesses. This essay defines the possible directions that can be taken in enhancing business performances using the second life virtual world concepts. Virtual worlds in second life work by creation of Avatars who represent the user (residents) in the social networking programs created by Linden Labs. Why they are favorites for business is because they work just like real life, only giving one the ability to do things faster, or do things they would not do in real life. For instance, one can create an Avatar which teleports from Asia to the United Kingdom in milliseconds, and using virtual world currencies called Linden Dollars, buy some land there. The best part of this is that the Linden Dollars are redeemable for real cash on the Linden Labs’ official site. Better still, real businesses can create enterprises where they sell services and goods in exchange of Linden currency; and these do not have to be virtual since uploads of photographs, documents, music can also be sold in the virtual world (Cote, Kraemer, Nahl & Ashford, 2012). At this instance in time, several global enterprises are already applying second life virtual worlds in promoting and conducting businesses, in addition to interacting with [avatars] clients who are residents in the second life. These companies include Warner Bros, Weather Channel, Sony, BMW, IBM, and Calvin Klein to mention but a few. Warner Bros for instance stands out in applying the concept in what the president refers to as the chance to bring all their characters formally used in animations such as Flintstone, Batman, and Scooby doo into one world (Hyman, 2007). All these are interactive tools with potentials of nabbing more clients thus boosting business objectives. Second life supports Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) which are information processing paradigms which ape the functioning of biological brains and can process information by relying on pattern recognition and trend detection abilities. These abilities are enabled by networks of neurons which work together to identify and solve problems (Gunther & Fritsch, 2010). Owing to these abilities, they can be used in financial institutions to identify opportunities in financial markets. They do this by examining a stock market’s data history, thus creating conclusions and predictions that may assist in making timely decisions such as when to invest more or withdraw from a market. According to Klintong, Vadhanasindhu & Thawesaengskulthai (2012), ANN networks allow for decision supports systems (DSS) which are mechanisms that use history or prediction functions to make informed decisions concerning business trends. As such, varying markets such as Nike Fashions can use the DSS to tell when a change occurs due to a variation in the market, tell what results from a certain variable changes, and finally dictate what effective action should be taken to achieve business goals despite the variations. A further interesting feature of second life programs is that it monitors, captures and stores all virtual events and operations that happen in virtual worlds. These can be numbers of visiting clients, areas that attract most client views, the most purchased items, or total time spent at the “markets”. These teamed up create digital dashboards from which organizations such as apparels can improve their services for instance by providing more stock variety where most visits are observed, or improving “dull” display areas. The denoting of a service or good on offer as either dull or effective depends more on what clients think of them. What this means is that there must be a mechanism through which a company can get information to use in creating such conclusions. Second life supports this since it comes with customer feedback features through which one can raise concerns or give appraisal concerning an organization. Buyer and seller avatars can communicate one on one, thus express their views or give explanations thus creating a highly-effective customer service channel. The interactive features between residents of second life virtual worlds extend to processes concerned with order entry. Order entries should be fast and accurate so whatever the client requires can be processed in time while posing the minimum chances of loss. Second life order taking allows for fast order placements and processing, wherein payments are made through Linden dollars, virtual banks and credit cards. From recording transactions (demographics), a business entity can tell which promotions are effective or defective thus execute the corresponding actions; maintaining, improving or correcting. A final and very important aspect of second life as Koles & Nagy (2012) reveal is that just like in real life, the avatars created resemble the person controlling them in behavior and character, and that the relationships are almost similar as well. However, second life provides a better experience of these since it can keep records about a certain person or people of which their behaviors and preferences can be identified even before one interacts with them. Concisely, second life creates an intelligent system that can predict how someone prefers to be handled, thus reducing friction while fostering the involved relationships. As such, a company can keep records about an employee, business partner, or client and use it to define how best to deal with them thus maintain and attract more clients, keep employees and cohere with business partners. References Cote, D., Kraemer, B., Nahl., & Ashford, R. (2012). “Academic Librarians in Second Life.” Journal of Library Innovation, 3 (1), 20-43. Gunther, F., & Fritsch, S. (2010, June). “Neuralnet: Training of Neural Networks.” R Journal (2), 30-38. Hyman, P. (2007, October 15). “More Virtual Worlds: Yes, Really.” Business Week. Retrieved on March 30, 2014 from http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-10-15/more-virtual-worlds-yes-reallybusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice Klintong, N., Vadhanasindhu, P. & Thawesaengskulthai, N. (2012, March). “Decision Support System Using Artificial Neural Network for Managing Product Innovation.” International Journal of Computer Science Issues,9 (2), 114-122. Koles, B. & Nagy, P. (2012). “Virtual Customers behind Avatars: The Relationship between Virtual Identity and Virtual Consumption in Second Life.” Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, (7), 2, 57-105. Read More