The emergence of synthetic or virtual worlds as a viable communications medium brings together a host of fascinating groups and issues. Why would businesses, such as Toyota, Sun Microsystems, and Wells Fargo Bank, invest lots of money to create parallel universes? Is one environment more optimal than the other for certain business activities?  In “Reframing Online Games: Synthetic Worlds as Media for Organizational Communication,” Professor Ulrike Schultze of SMU Cox and co-author Julie Rennecker explore “game” environments and “virtual worlds” to better understand what communicative capabilities they afford businesses in the real world.

Synthetic Worlds - Work and/or Play? Reality and/or Virtuality?

Known in the gaming industry as “massively multi-player online games” (MMOGs), synthetic worlds are three-dimensional, virtual environments that may be populated by thousands of simultaneous participants who interact via their respective online representation or avatars.  Game themes and complexity range from war games, such as World of Warcraft with fantastical, designer-determined landscapes and player identities, to relatively unscripted and emergent spaces, such as Second Life, in which participants (called “members”) generate most of the virtual world’s content and are primarily engaged in economic activities and social interactions that mirror everyday, real life.  To help us appreciate the diversity of synthetic worlds, the authors develop a framework for classifying games into four categories: simulation games, fantasy games, virtual reality, and virtual fantasy.

Citing anthropological research and examples of entrepreneurs making a real living from the sales of virtual goods and services in these synthetic worlds, the authors intend to “debunk the mythical divide between technologies of work and technologies of play.”  Players are not only generating value through their participation in online games, but some also take on so much responsibility as guild leaders, for instance, that they experience burnout.  Commenting on Second Life, Schultze says, “The virtual reality space is a form of co-production, really peer-production, which enhances the value of the platform offered by the original creator of the world. Virtual reality worlds such as Second Life are analogous to e-Bay in that a platform or infrastructure is set up and people then create businesses on top of it.” 

Once we accept that some play is work (just as some work is play) and that events in virtual reality have real-life consequences, it is easier to comprehend why companies like Reuters, The Gap, and Nike are building a presence in virtual reality.  While some companies are using these virtual worlds for market research (e.g., American Apparel), others are exploring them as a new medium for organizational communication.  For instance, companies like IBM have held press conferences in Second Life, and are experimenting with hosting globally-distributed team meetings there.

Schultze and Rennecker focus on their current research on how businesses use simulated worlds for organizational communication. They pose the question: Why would a firm want to use a virtual reality world rather than the numerous other technologies, including videoconferencing? What do simulated worlds afford us?

Embodied Organizational Communication

The concept of affordances is derived from the design world and refers to the physical property of an object or a technology that influences how it is used.  The affordance that presents the most dramatic departure from more ‘traditional’ media is embodiment.  In synthetic worlds, participants take on a bodily form (their avatar), and, for the most part, objects obey physical laws such as gravity and opacity.  It is through embodiment that people, places, and things are made concrete and tangible, thus making an immersive experience possible.  Embodiment enables “practices of the body” such as body language and facial expressions, which are generally associated with more material worlds.  It also introduces placement, perspective, and presence into computer-mediated communication. 

“In avatar form, some people believe they can represent themselves better than their real body allows. They can express their inner selves more, their true self, which can be very powerful and liberating,” Schultze suggests. At the same time, if your boss, in dragon form, is sitting next to you in a virtual meeting, puffing out smoke, how distracting is that? Or, what if a colleague, with a girl-next-door look in real life, represents herself as a Lara-Croft-like avatar, believing it to be an expression of her true self?  How will these avatar choices affect organizational communication overall?  How will they affect the communicator and the audience?  What types of avatar-based forms of self-expression enable (or disrupt) organizational communication?

Avatars also offer a form of presence not available in more traditional media.  For instance, on a teleconference call, participants can leave their seat for a period, undetected by the other meeting attendees. In contrast, in virtual worlds such as Second Life, when the participant becomes inactive, the avatar’s head drops, appearing to sleep. “Avatars can thus make a statement that ‘I am here in the room paying attention,’” Schultze says. “We need to study these affordances and their implications for organizational communication more deeply.”

Final Remarks

Even though the authors maintain that the boundaries between work and play and between reality and virtuality are fluid, they nevertheless recognize the value of associating factuality and authenticity with technologies of work, versus fictional and simulated content with technologies of play.  Such socially-recognizable expectations or norms are necessary for efficiency in communication as they help the recipient interpret the intended meaning of a message.  What will the norms of embodied organizational communication – a mix of technologies of work and of play – look like?  While firms explore how to optimally use synthetic worlds for organizational communication, the authors believe that their research of virtual and simulated worlds can inform future usage and developments.

“Reframing Online Games: Synthetic Worlds as Media for Organizational Communication,” will be presented by ITOM Professor Ulrike Schultz at the IFIP Working Group 8.2 Working Conference on "Virtuality and Virtualization," to be held July 29-31, 2007 in Portland, Oregon.

Summary by Jennifer Warren