Researchers have developed a way to measure how real online virtual worlds are, providing organizations with a way to gauge how effective such worlds can be for training and collaboration. Some see virtual worlds as a way for businesses to enable collaboration without as much physical travel, a popular notion these days in light of travel costs.
The Perceived Virtual Presence (PVP) scale is the product of a research effort led by University of North Carolina State professor of marketing innovation Mitzi Montoya and also including Indiana University professor Anne Massey.
“This is an important issue,” Montoya says in a statement, “because we believe that if users feel they are ‘present’ in the virtual world, they will collaborate better with other members of their team – and the more effective the virtual world will be as a setting for research and development or other collaborative enterprises.”
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