Derek Poppink
ABSTRACT
The last five years have seen a rapid proliferation of graphical avatar-based virtual worlds and communities for entertainment and commercial purposes. Examples include worlds created by Microsoft, Sony, IBM, and others. Although these companies are trying to create new global forums for commerce, social interaction, and cooperative endeavors, there has been little analysis of how these worlds facilitate or constrain the participation of international users. The success of the virtual worlds is contingent upon the quality of the user's interactions, and the benefits of an internationally sensitive design include enhanced usability and larger markets. In this paper, I give a brief overview of virtual worlds and literature on cross-cultural comparisons, propose a set of variables for analyzing their cultural affordances, and make observations of selected virtual communities.
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