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Philips Design finds the key to understanding Virtual Worlds
Philips Design's Co-Creation Experience in Second Life has resulted in a wealth
of input regarding people's values and motivations in virtual immersive environments.
Dialogue between Philips Design and the so-called ‘Philips Design Friends Group'
shows that Second Life residents have a greater than average interest in interactive
participation and co-creation activities. The insights from the research also reveal
how communication and the unwritten rules of engagement used in virtual spaces are
enabling people to become more societal in their real lives. Feedback from companies
and stakeholders show an increased interest from businesses to enter these worlds
for a multitude of reasons. This can be characterized as a Second Wave of Business
involvement. The focus is thereby shifting to engagement with people, internal business
collaboration, more enhanced brand experiences, and more interest from a Business
to Business perspective.
Far from fading out, as some media reports indicate, Philips Design believes that
there is serious attention being paid to virtual immersive spaces, like Second Life,
as dialogue with virtual world residents uncovers what companies can achieve above
and beyond public relations and branding activities. Justin Bovington, Chief Executive
Officer of Philips Design partner Rivers Run Red, one of the most experienced virtual
world creation agencies, adds, "The Second Wave builds on relevance and returns
thus creating richer experiences and meaningful connections between people in one
go. This is a win - win both for business and for SL residents."
"I will take this study that Philips is doing as an example. It's a pretty good
idea and makes people engaged with the brand and interested in acquiring more information
about that specific brand." Second Life resident.
Philips Design's establishment of the Co-creation Experience has helped the company
develop a personal connection with members of the ‘Philips Design Friends Group',
now comprising more than 200 people who proactively offer insights and ideas including
ongoing dialogue concerning their habits and behaviors in this virtual space. Philips
Design has held a series of gatherings and presentations within Second Life introducing
a number of themes that promote discussion and dialogue within the ‘Philips Design
Friends Group'. A specific study gathered valuable information on a continuous basis
via a flexible on-line blogging tool to which participants add their own thoughts
and ideas, and can ask additional questions of the group, at their own convenience.
Members of the group report enjoying their involvement in this method of research,
continuing to provide feedback even after one study ended.
"One of the most sticking insights working with Philips Design Friends was that
even though Second Life is sometimes considered a virtual game, in fact it is a
very serious extension of peoples lives. People spend many hours online and invest
energy, time, money and even passion into it," says Slava Kozlov, Senior Research
Consultant with Philips Design. He adds, "You cannot simply copy the real world
but we see that behavior in Second Life has an effect on how people act the real
world. For example, there was one participant who is quite introvert by nature,
who became more interactive with people in the real world because of the communication
skills he learned in Second Life."
In terms of corporate representation in Second Life, resident feedback suggests
that it should be interactive, educational and fun rather than unimaginative with
no experience exchange, or simply advertising. "Companies currently active in this
virtual space are increasingly experimenting with different approaches and starting
to engage and interact with its inhabitants, a crucial approach in virtual spaces,"
says Dolf Wittkämper, Senior Design Account Director.
In conjunction with Rivers Run Red, Philips Design Consulting is developing an international
design offering based on research insights and customer needs analysis. This offering
comprises a suite of services in the areas of people engagement and brand immersion
and is being delivered to clients from studios in Atlanta, Eindhoven, London and
Singapore. It will help companies, governments and NGO's to explore and leverage
on the potential of virtual worlds, moving engagement from simply 'presence' into
highly engaging and truly immersive spaces that will bring companies and people
closer together in many and varied ways.
Source: Philips Design News Center
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