Third Places Take First Place in Second Life: Developing a Scale to Measure the

Authors

  • Wade Halvorson Lule

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v3i3.1563

Keywords:

virtual world site, stickiness, customer retention, third place, scales

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine what drives visitor retention in successful businesses operating in online virtual world environments. The study draws motivation from increasing anecdotal evidence reporting on high profile corporate brands withdrawing from operations in Second Life - citing low visitor traffic as their motivation. Early adopter corporations that established business operations in Second Life did so anticipating benefits from the new technology akin to the quantum leap made when they embraced the World Wide Web. While disappointingly low visitor numbers left many virtual world operations looking like desolate ghost towns, there are businesses enjoying active repeat customers. Drawing on Oldenburg

Downloads

Published

2010-11-13