Market research within 3D virtual worlds: an examination of pertinent issues
Tracy G. Harwood
De Montfort University
Janet Ward
University of Leicester
Introduction
Virtual worlds have become popular cyberspaces where multiple participants can simultaneously experience a rich 3D environment for play and more serious commercial endeavours (Ciaramitaro 2010). They represent an important new market research area, as:
- they represent a substantial international market
- they have created a new place to enact the social (after Law & Urry 2004)
- due to convergence, virtual worlds are moving into new areas such as mobile
- aspects of virtual world technology are increasingly being used...