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  4. Virtual consumerism research at HIIT

Virtual consumerism research at HIIT

Research

See also: Virtual Economy Research Network

Research on virtual consumerism issues began at HIIT in 2004 during the MC2 project, where real-money trade of virtual assets ('RMT') was studied from the point of view of virtual world operators. Extensive data was also collected on the users of Habbo Hotel, a service based on selling virtual items to its users. In fall 2006, a proposed research project called DOTORI is intended to continue the work, focusing on business scenarios, consumer behaviour and legal issues. DOTORI is part of HIIT's Network Society research program.

People

  • Mikael Johnson, researcher [home page]
  • Kai Kuikkaniemi, researcher
  • Vili Lehdonvirta, researcher [home page]
  • Marko Turpeinen, principal scientist
  • Perttu Virtanen, researcher [home page]

Partners

Introduction

In the modern consumer society, one of the building blocks of social identity, status and organisation is the ownership and display of consumer goods. On the other hand, more and more aspects of human life from work to leisure are carried out online. Social relations in particular are conducted through email, mobile phones, web sites and online services. The concept of consumption is alien to this virtual domain, since bits of information can be reproduced freely. But even in cyberspace, some assets are inherently rivalrous. Common examples of such virtual property are domain names and email accounts. Other examples are the virtual clothes, characters, and castles found in massively-multiplayer online games ('MMORPG').

Our research focuses on a phenomenon we call virtual consumerism, where people invest significant sums of real money to obtain virtual property. Major questions include what motivates this behaviour, to what extent can it substitute physical forms of consumption, and what is the legal status of virtual property. One of our hypotheses is that people spend money on virtual property largely for the same reasons as they consume real property. Currently virtual consumerism is mostly observed in various games and virtual worlds, but as part of our research we will also experiment with introducing it to new platforms and audiences.

Resources

Virtual Economies: An Annotated Bibliography

Virtual Assets, Real Value – A basic presentation on real-money trade of virtual assets

MC2 SIG on Virtual Consumerism – seminar materials

Publications

Publications related to virtual consumerism produced during earlier HIIT research projects

Lehdonvirta, Vili. Real-Money Trade of Virtual Assets: Ten Different User Perceptions. Proceedings of DAC 2005, IT University of Copenhagen, 1-3 December 2005.

Lehdonvirta, Vili. Real-Money Trade of Virtual Assets: New Strategies for Virtual World Operators. Proceedings of Future Play 2005, Michigan State University, 13-15 October 2005.

Lehdonvirta, Vili. Virtual Economics: Applying Economics to the Study of Game Worlds. Proceedings of Future Play 2005, Michigan State University, 13-15 October 2005.

Johnson, M., Toiskallio, K. Fansites as Sources for User Research: Case Habbo Hotel. Proceedings of IRIS’28, August 6-9, 2005.

Lehdonvirta, Vili. Economic Integration Strategies for Virtual World Operators. Master's thesis, Helsinki University of Technology, 31 May 2005.

In the media

HIIT virtual consumerism research appearing in mainstream media reports

Airikka Mannerkoski, Ylen aikainen, Radio Suomi, 8 August 2006.

Tuomo Väliaho, "Sammon takojat", HS Nyt, 5 May 2006.

"Virtuaaliesinekauppa", Tilt.tv Gamestyle 14 & 15, MTV3, April 2006.

Terhi Pietikäinen, "Unelmakämppä", Image 3/2006, April 2006.

Annamari Nurminen, "Virtuaalisia tavaroita oikealla rahalla", Turun Sanomat, 12 March 2006.

Mikko Torikka, "Vain muutaman pikselin tähden", Tekniikka & Talous, 23 February 2006.

"Mikä virtuaalimaailmoissa viehättää", YLE Aamu-TV, 23 February 2006.

Last updated on 1 Dec 2008 by WWW administrator - Page created on 13 Jan 2007 by Webmaster