Abstract
The Chinese burgeoning Internet population will soon have an array of 3D virtual worlds in which to work and play. Second Life, a particularly well-known 3D virtual world, is also present in the Chinese market. However, Second Life faces some dilemmas in Mainland China; especially since its western model has not been widely accepted by Chinese users. It also faces a challenge from the Chinese local virtual world, HiPiHi. The many stories about the demise of foreign companies are a warning that the western Internet business may not succeed in China, although some local competitors may survive, such as Taobao in e-commerce and QQ in the instant message field. Which virtual worlds will succeed in China in the long run This chapter compares the different strategies between Second Life and HiPiHi, and explores how these different strategies impact on user acceptance in the Chinese environment. Finally, we discuss how the emerging 3D virtual worlds are likely to develop in China.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Gartner Group, April 2007, http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp id=503861
- 2.
China Internet Network Information Center, December 2007, http://www.cnnic.cn
- 3.
QianJia Second Life Insights, http://www.qianjia.com
- 4.
- 5.
“What is HiPiHi”, http://www.hipihi.com/index_english.html
- 6.
Linden Lab Research, http://www.secondlife.com/whatis
- 7.
Fittkau&Maass’s Second Life Report, http://www.handelsblatt.com
- 8.
Interview to Philip Rosedale, .Net Magazine, 2 August 2007, http://www.netmag.co.uk/zine/discover-interview/philip-rosedale
References
Fetscherin, M.Lattemann, C. (2007) User Acceptance of Virtual Worlds: An Explorative Study about Second Life Second Life Research Team. http://www.secondliferesearch.blogspot.com. Accessed 10 January 2008
Ou, X.Davison, R. (2007) IM in C2C Markets: A Translucent Technology Designed to Facilitate Interactions. Proceedings of Twenty Eighth International Conference on Information Systems, Montreal, 2007
Allen, D. (2007) New Virtual Worlds to Conquer in China. Asia Times
Hayes, G. (2006) From Web 1.0 to Web 3.D. http://blog.kunzelnick.de/category/second-life/. Accessed 10 January 2008
Baker, S. (2007) Web 3.0. BusinessWeek October 24:
Terdiman, D. (2006) A Brief History of the Virtual World. CNET News.com November 9:
Bainbridge, E. G. (2007) History of Virtual Worlds. http://www.avatarplanet.com/ history.php. Accessed 10 Jan 2008
Ondrejka, C. (2005) Changing Realities: User Creation, Communication, and Innovation in Digitial Worlds Linden Lab.
Zhu, M. (2007) Hipihi is opening the Door of 3D Experience. New Economics (in China)
Davis, F. D. (1989) Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology. MIS Quarterly 13: 319-340
Lou, H., Luo, W., Strong, D. (2000) Perceived Critical Mass Effect on Groupware Acceptance. European Journal of Information Systems 9: 91-103
Gefen, D., Karahanna, E., Straub, D. (2003) Trust and TAM in Online Shopping: An Integrated Model. MIS Quarterly 27: 51-90
Koufaris, M. (2002) Applying the Technology Acceptance Model and Flow Theory to Online Consumer Behavior. Information Systems Research 13: 205-223
Hsu, C. L.Lu, H. P. (2004) Why DO People Play On-line Games? An Extended TAM with Social Influences and Flow Experience. Informaton & Management 41: 853-868
Hwang, Y. (2005) Investigating Enterprise Systems Adoption: Uncertainty Avoidance, Intrinsic Motivation, and the Technology Acceptance Model. European Journal of Information Systems 14: 150-161
Ha, I., Yoon, Y., Choi, M. (2007) Determinants of Adoption of Mobile Games Under Mobile Broadband Wirelesss Access Environment. Information & Management 44: 276-286
Legris, P., Ingham, J., Collerette, P. (2003) Why do People Use Information Technology? A Critical Review of the Technology Acceptance Model. Information & Management 40: 191-204
Szajna, B. (1996) Empirical Evaluation of the Revised Technology Acceptance Model. Management Science 42: 85-92
Venkatesh, V.Morris, M. (2000) Why Don't Men Ever Stop to Ask for Directions? Gender, Social Influence, and Their Role in Technology Acceptance and User Behavior. MIS Quarterly 24: 115-139
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., et al. (2003) User Acceptance of Informaiton Technology: Toward a Unified View. MIS Quarterly 27: 425-478
LindenResearch (2006) What is Second Life? Secondlife.com. http://secondlife.com/whatis/. Accessed 10 January 2008
Tesch, R. (1990) Qualitative Research: Analysis Types and Software Tools. Falmer, New York
Hofstede, G. (1980) Culture's Consequences: International Difference in Work-related Values. Sage, Beverly Hills, CA
Eliens, A., Feldberg, F., Konijn, E., et al. (2007) VU@Second Life-Creating a Virtual Community of Leaners. 1-8
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Zhang, X., Chen, Z., Vogel, D., Zhou, Z. (2009). Virtual Worlds Success in Mainland. In: Ordóñez de Pablos, P., Lytras, M. (eds) The China Information Technology Handbook. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77743-6_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77743-6_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-77742-9
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-77743-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)