Second and Final Call (Till May 30) Virtual Worlds: Technology, Economy, and Standards (Journal of Virtual Worlds Research)

30-May-2009 – You submit an updated or new abstract.
15-Jun-2009 – We send initial response.
All the deadlines and technical detailes are listed here: www.metaverse-labs.com/tes

Issue Editors

• Dr. Yesha Y. Sivan, Metaverse-Labs Ltd. and Shenkar College
• J.H.A. (Jean) Gelissen, Philips Research
• Prof. Robert Bloomfield, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University

From the first call we got (and tentativly accapted) papers re:

• Langauge Standards in virtual worlds.
• What technology and standards we need for virtual labratories.
• The economy of Piracy vs Control: Various Models of Virtual World Governance and their impact on Player Experience
• Virtual Worlds Standards : do we need them?
• World of Warcraft, AOL, and the Disneyization of a Niche Market
• Payback of Mining Activities Within Entropia Universe.
• Measuring aggregate production in a virtual economy using log data.
• Virtual Worlds standards: view from the trenches (of someone who is doing it).
• and more… (Note: All first call authors were notified already).

Format

We are relatively open re the abstract format:

• Make it 1-3 pages (1 full page in condense form is fine… but do not limit yourself).
• Use the first page to tell us the gist of your submission
• what is the format (“full research papers, research-in-brief papers, “think-pieces,” essays, monographs, interactive online exhibits with accompanying detailed descriptions, and other forms of scholarship).
• Try to answer how your proposed work relates to the concepts of Technology, Economy, and Standards.
• List other relevant papers or theories.
• Try to share what is unique about this submission.
• Overview

We assume that:
1. Virtual Worlds are destined to become big; big in the sense of meaningful, influential, and making money for various current and new players. Every aspect of our lives will be affected by virtual worlds. Beyond being another media, Virtual Worlds will be part of our regular lives, they are going to enhance, improve, and better our quality of life. Much like the internet, virtual worlds will allow us to do “traditional” things more effectively, and do other things anew.

2. Real Virtual Worlds are defined as an integration of four factors: 3D view of the world Community, Creation, and Commerce (AKA 3D3C). The more we have of these factors the closer we get to real virtual worlds. In that sense IMVU, Second Life, and Entropia are more Real Virtual Worlds than Club Penguin, World of Warcraft, and SIMS on-line.

3. “Standards” as a concept and mechanism are often misunderstood. People often link standards with competing concepts: open and free on one hand and propriety patents, limitation of creativity on the other hand. Like many other human constructs, standards are not inherently good or bad – what you do with a standard gives them value: be it good or bad.

4. Currently the virtual worlds industry operates more like the Computer Gaming Industry than like the internet industry. Each developer, be it private (e.g., Linden, Forterra) or an open source (e.g., Sun Darkstar, OpenSim) is developing its own server, client, and rules of engagement. The inherent rationale of these efforts is a combination of “we know best” and “we will conquer the world.” While this may be the case (see Microsoft Windows, Apple iPod, or Google search), the common public good calls for a connected system like the internet, where different forces can innovate in particular spots of the value chain.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Specific standards or family of standards that can impact virtual worlds.
• Economic analysis of specific standards for specific firms.
• Discussion on Privacy, Authentication, and related issue (for example Open ID).
• Legal Aspects of virtual worlds that can be set in the technical specs.
• Review of relevant technology platforms, their pros, and cons.
• Case studies of large-scale standardization efforts (Windows, Linux, GSM) and the lesson learned from them to virtual worlds.
• Visions of the virtual world’s universal access system (network and station).
• Comparing related terms such as working code, for and not-for-profit efforts, open source, formal systems.
• Key places were standards matter (looking for the mouse and windows of virtual worlds) in other words the interfaces to and from the real (physical) world.
• Economic analysis of various externalities in the field.
• Winning stories of standards in the field (be it private, public, open, etc).
• Example of wrong standards, failed standards, and other things to learn from.
• Short term winnings (VRML) vs. Long term value.
• What do we need to add to current standards so they will be used in virtual worlds (ISBN 3D? OpenID3D? etc).
• The impact of open standards on close systems (Android); the impact of propriety technology (iPhone).
• Connection various legal formats (GPL, LGPL) and new technologies (i.e., Grid/cloud for virtual worlds).

Spirit
The editors of this issue specifically encourage short papers on specific examples (past, present, or future). If you need to use Jargon or acronyms please spell them and explain. Assume the readers are versed with various aspects of virtual worlds and not necessary with economy, technology or standards. The link to real virtual worlds should be clearly spelled. Papers will influence the development of MPEG-V (the official ISO effort to develop global standards between real and virtual worlds.

Guidelines and Deadlines 

We welcome submissions in the form of full research papers, research-in-brief papers, “think-pieces,” essays, monographs, interactive online exhibits with accompanying detailed descriptions, and other forms of scholarship.

All the deadlines and technical detailes are listed here: www.metaverse-labs.com/tes