Entries from October 2007 ↓

eLab City is currently in the planning stages. Construction to begin late 2007.

eLab City will be a two-island sim in Second Life. It is being developed by the University of California, Riverside, Sloan Center for Internet Retailing, for the purpose of studying consumer behavior in virtual worlds. eLab City will be a “live-work-play” community, providing a working laboratory and subject pool for academic research. Most academic sims in Second Life are “virtual campuses” oriented to classroom instruction and course support. There are, however, no academic Second Life projects that study how consumers behave in virtual worlds.

For further details, please visit:  http://elabcity.com/

Novak, Thomas P., "Consumer Behavior Research in Second Life:  Issues and Approaches," (October 2007).

Presented at the Association for Consumer Research Pre-Conference, "Consumer Online:  Ten Years Later," Memphis, TN, October 25, 2007.

Download powerpoint sldes (long version of presentation)

Among the 14 companies in the eLab eXchange Virtual Worlds prediction market,our panel of experts judged the Toyota Scion as having the greatest chance for success in Second Life.

Scion received the greatest number of positive tokens by eLab eXchange members, and was the selection of the expert judges.

The judges considered both traffic levels in Second Life as well as the strategic approach and implementation taken by the companies.

In terms of traffic, Mercedes-Benz topped the list, followed by Reebok, Coldwell Banker, and then Scion.

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