Leveraging Virtual Worlds For Real Organizational Communication

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.