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Cooperative virtual worlds—a viable eCollaboration pathway or merely a gaming trend?

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Abstract

With research and technology advances in networking and computer graphics, cooperative virtual environments (CVEs), 3D virtual worlds, which can be used by multiple persons that are represented in the virtual world through avatars, are becoming increasingly popular. In this short position paper we discuss whether or not CVEs are a lasting phenomenon with impact on eCollabopration practice and CSCW research or just an isolated phenomenon in the gaming community. In doing so, this paper outlines four application areas that CVEs are successful in (games, leisure, education, business) and presents opportunities, risks and research challenges that are associated with using CVEs as eCollaboration tools.

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Notes

  1. http://eu.blizzard.com/en/press/081223.html (accessed August 25, 2009)

  2. http://secondlife.com/statistics/economy-data.php (accessed August 25, 2009)

  3. http://secondlife.com/ (accessed August 25, 2009)

  4. http://www.whyville.net/smmk/nice (accessed August 25, 2009)

  5. http://www.duke.edu/~julian/Cobalt/Home.html (accessed August 25, 2009)

  6. https://lg3d-wonderland.dev.java.net/ (accessed August 25, 2009)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, Clausthal University of Technology, Julius-Albert-Str. 4, 38678, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany

    Niels Pinkwart & Hannes Olivier

Authors
  1. Niels Pinkwart
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  2. Hannes Olivier
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Correspondence to Niels Pinkwart.

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Responsible editor: Kai Riemer

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Pinkwart, N., Olivier, H. Cooperative virtual worlds—a viable eCollaboration pathway or merely a gaming trend?. Electron Markets 19, 233–236 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-009-0022-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-009-0022-2

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