Academic Second Life Studies

• SL Survey: Resident profile, gambling & engagement by Angelica Ortiz and Pierre-Etienne Noble, August 2007

This survey of about 600 Second Life users in the spring of 2007 looks at demographics of Second Life users, usage of Second Life, investment and return from Second Life, attitudes and use of Gambling in Second Life, engagement (behaviors) associated with Second Life, and perception of SL. Several of the questions ask about the impact of Second Life on real-life behaviors. The results are summarized in the Full Paper. James Au's summaryReuters summary

• User Acceptance of Virtual Worlds by Marc Fetscherin and C. Lattemann, June 2007

An Explorative Study about Second Life

Our report assesses the user acceptance of Virtual Worlds, specifically Second Life. By means of a survey with almost 250 respondents this report provides first empirical results of the user acceptance of Second Life. The data has been gathered during spring 2007. Our results show that 90% of respondents have less than a year experience, 70% access Second Life from home and 54% with a desktop. There are 67% of respondents who are not afraid of giving personal information. Almost 60% are very likely to buy virtual goods from Second Life, and 42% are willing to use their credit card to purchase on Second Life. About 70% perceive Second Life improves collaboration and communication, and more than 60% perceive that it improves cooperation between people. 56% of respondents perceive Second life as easy to use. Finally, our results indicate that people are using Second Life not to change their identity, but rather to explore and visit new places and meet people.

• The Unbearable Likeness of Being Digital: The Persistence of Nonverbal Social Norms in Online Virtual Environments, Nick Yee, Jeremy N. Bailenson, Mark Urbanek (Department of Communication, Stanford University), Francis Chung (Department of Computer Science, Portland State University) and Dan Merget (Department of Computer Science, Stanford University) Summer 2006

This study basically says that avatars display the same interpersonal distance characteristics as real people, and similar eye contact. It implies that people treat their avatars as an extension of themselves, not as a puppet or external object.

• Stanford U's MediaX Project Website

• Market Truths Entertainment in Second Life (US$50)

This report provides a snapshot of the Second Life (SL) entertainment market* as of the second quarter of 2007. It discusses the amount of time respondents spend on entertainment — including SL as well as other forms of computer-based entertainment and non computer-based entertainment — and the types of entertainment respondents engage in within SL and in real life (RL). It also discusses preferences between RL and SL participation in the same activity, barriers to RL participation, and interest in participating in new forms of entertainment in SL. Suggestions are offered for adding to the entertainment options available within SL. While the title is "Entertainment", the categories of Entertainment cover much of how Residents spend their time in Second Life, and thus are a good guide for those devising ways to interact with Residents.

• Excluding gambling and adult entertainment.

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