Virtual Worlds and E-Commerce: Technologies and Applications for Building Customer Relationships (Premier Reference Source)

✍ Scribed by Barbara Ciaramitaro

• Publisher: Business Science Reference
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 398
• Series: Premier Reference Source
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

With the rise of the collaborative Web 2.0 technologies, the face of e-commerce has evolved from a static presentation of products and services to an interactive participatory relationship with customers. Virtual Worlds and E-Commerce: Technologies and Applications for Building Customer Relationships presents various opinions, judgments, and ideas on how the use of digitally created worlds is changing the face of e-commerce and extending the use of internet technologies to create a more immersive experience for customers. Containing current research on various aspects of the use of virtual worlds, this book includes a discussion of the elements of virtual worlds; the evolution of e-commerce to virtual commerce (v-commerce); the convergence of online games and virtual worlds; current examples of virtual worlds in use by various businesses, the military, and educational institutions; the economics of virtual worlds: discussions on legal, security and technological issues facing virtual worlds; a review of some human factor issues in virtual worlds; and the future of virtual worlds and e-commerce.

✦ Table of Contents

Title
......Page 2
Table of Contents......Page 4
Detailed Table of Contents......Page 7
Foreword......Page 14
Preface......Page 16
Acknowledgment......Page 21
Virtual Worlds: Definition, History and the Elements that Compose Them......Page 24
3D3C Real Virtual Worlds Defined: The Commerce Challenge......Page 39
From E-Commerce to V-Commerce......Page 65
Convergence of Online Gaming and E-Commerce......Page 84
Evolution of Business in Virtual Environments......Page 113
Company-Specific Virtual Worlds......Page 126
Virtual Worlds and the Military......Page 150
Virtual Education......Page 167
Virtual Market Economies and the Business of Virtual Worlds......Page 183
Legal Issues in the Virtual World and E-Commerce......Page 209
Achieving Realism in 3D Interactive Systems: Technological Issues......Page 228
Learning Space in Virtual Environments: Understanding the Factors Influencing Training Time......Page 239
Opening the Content Pipeline for Open Sim-Based Virtual Worlds......Page 254
Security and Privacy Concerns of Virtual Worlds......Page 267
The Role of Standards for E-Commerce in Virtual Worlds......Page 280
Culture-Sensitive Virtual E-Commerce Design with Reference to Female Consumers in Saudi Arabia......Page 290
The Future of Virtual Worlds in E-Commerce......Page 313
Virtual Worlds: Good Enough Substitute?......Page 332
Compilation of References......Page 351
About the Contributors......Page 383
Index......Page 389