三維虛擬社會Second Life之經營模式與衍生商機

Abstract

近年來，虛擬世界的興起引起了各界熱烈的討論，許多報章媒體也紛紛加以報導，其中最引人注目的莫過於Second Life。於是本研究便以個案的方式探討Second Life之經營模式與衍生商機。

文獻探討部份，舉出了以前的報導與期刊，來說明虛擬世界的基本規則，更詳細的像是虛擬貨幣體制、虛擬物品的創作及物品交易平台則是留待後面的章節。在內容主體方面，除了Second Life之基本介紹外，還包括歷史背景、構成要素、營運模式，並以客觀的數據來說明其營運表現，接著還加入競爭者的分析比較，進一步釐清市場競爭態勢。

虛擬世界就像一個真實的經濟體系，有一套完整的運作系統，因此本研究便從經濟體系的角度出發，針對經濟體系內的貨幣體制以及相關的經濟活動進行研究。在分析虛擬經濟體系的同時，就等於在檢視一般使用者與現實企業在虛擬世界中有何發展的空間與機會。第五章則整理了一些研究報告再加上自己的看法，列出Second Life所面臨的問題與挑戰。

最後根據研究的結果，得到以下結論：

1.Second Life的本質是一個娛樂平台，雖然有許多的商業機會，但是一般人卻難以在虛擬世界中賺取大於現實社會的報酬。大多數的使用者都是以追求娛樂為目的，只有少數從事生產活動。儘管如此，虛擬世界還是一個絕佳的行銷平台，對企業來說，不管是進行品牌推廣或是經營顧客關係都是很好的管道。

2.從各個角度進行分析的結果，Second Life未來的發展還是相當看好的。由於整個市場處於快速成長的階段，預計以後將會形成大型與小型虛擬世界並存的現象，但同時也會有許多針對特殊需求的虛擬世界出現，而Second Life絕對是大型虛擬世界中的領導者。

In recent years, virtual worlds have become a hot topic of public discussion and showed up in the newspaper frequently. Among these virtual worlds, Second Life is like the spot light girl. Therefore, I do a case study of Second Life to figure out its business model and opportunities.

In literature review, i quote some jounals and studies to state the basic rules of virtual worlds. Basic introduction which includes history, constitunent elements, and business model is in the first half of thesis. Besides, virtual money, virtual goods, transaction platform, and some futher issues are in the second half. In order to show the performance of Second Life, statstic numbers are used. Meanwhile, I add the comparison between Second Life and its competitors. Hopefully this would clarify the situation of competition in the maket.

A virtual world just works like a real world so that I study the money system and other economic actities of Second Life from the perspective of economy. I am trying to see if there are any opportunities for common users and real corporations by analyzing the virtual economy. However, Second Life is not perfect. Problems and challenges are listed in chapter five.

According to the consequences of my study, the conclusion is as below:

1. The nature of Second Life is entertainment: Although there are a lot of business opportunities, it is difficult for users to make money in it more than they do in real life. Most of the users enter Second Life not to do the production activities but to entertain themselves. Despite that, virtual world is still a great platform for marketing. Business players could not only promote their brands but also manage the customer relationship.

2. According to the consequences of study, Second Life has a promising future. Due to the rapid growth in the virtual world market, there are spaces for more players to join this game. In the future, the market will consist of some big rivals and many small players which target special segaments. At that moment, Second Life will be the leader of big players definitely.