Can Web-Based Worlds Teach Us About the Real One?

This article considers whether real-world predictions can be made from researching virtual worlds. Because, as stated here, immersive online worlds, such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, attract large populations of users that outnumber, for example, the population of Sweden, scientists are studying the actions of players to tap into an estimated 73 million online gamers.

It was proposed among United States (US) economists and university researchers that economists create their own immersive environments, designing two identical worlds with the same virtual currency and testing differing economic theories. However, a lack of funding for creating this virtual experimental laboratory sent researchers to the already existing commercial virtual worlds. Published studies by educators and epidemiologists using these online worlds as data sets describe how players react to pandemics in World of Warcraft and to teen social settings in the social game Whyville. IBM, a private computer firm, cited research findings that team captains in fast-paced fantasy games develop strong leadership skills. By combing through data from a virtual stock exchange within the online virtual world Second Life, economist Robert Bloomfield is studying how unregulated markets behave.

As stated here, skeptics differ in opinion on the authenticity of results from research based on existing virtual worlds. First, they point out that the motivations and incentives of the players are skewed towards entertainment. Second, they present statistics on the age profile of those using the online worlds, criticising the research data available as coming from a limited age group. According to researchers, there is a concentration of young people, average age 26 - 28 years old.

A number of researchers are trying to document how closely the virtual world reactions parallel the real world, such as documenting supply and demand in a digital world as compared to the real world, in hopes of authenticating the gaming world as research terrain. Due to the possibility of having 11.7 million avatars (computer generated personalities used by participants in virtual worlds) that can be scanned for data, as in Second Life, rather than the 1,000 respondents considered to be sufficient by major national polls, research on the validity of using the gaming population to offer real world experimental data is under ongoing scrutiny.