Guest Editor's Introduction

Journal of Virtual Worlds Research--Editor's introduction 2 billboards) in-world, only to have residents flatly reject them.In essence they do not understand how individuals use these environments and how to harness the unique characteristics of the space to offer a compelling experience to their customers.So what, do we need to do differently in virtual worlds than we do in the real world in order to achieve success?To be able to answer this question we need to first explore what, if any, differences exist between real world and virtual world consumer behavior.In this, the second issue of Journal of Virtual Worlds Research we aim to stimulate dialogue on the topic of in-world consumer behavior.In the first set of papers those active in virtual worlds share with us their response to the question "Consumer behavior in virtual worlds, is it really any different to the real world, or is it simply a case of 'old wine in a new bottle'?"From here we present a series of papers addressing different facets of virtual consumer behavior.From body image to virtual goods to brand value each of these papers offers unique and valuable insight swhich will benefit both academics and practitioners alike and inspire ongoing dialog and research in this area

Computer Science · Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification · Digital Games and Media · Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts