Experience design for communities in virtual worlds: Come for the attraction, stay for the interaction

Abstract

Virtual worlds offer unprecedented opportunities for companies to tap the innovative potential of consumers and consumer communities. One central precondition of a co-creation approach is to turn a one-time visitor into a returning member of an innovating community. The purpose of this article is to explore how virtual space and the interaction with users needs to be designed to achieve sustained engagement among avatars and motivate them to contribute to innovation tasks. Based on focus groups with experienced Second Life residents and qualitative interviews with co-creating consumers, we suggest ways to design the virtual space and propose strategies to effectively build community. This research extends theory about consumer communities to virtual worlds and provides practical guidelines how to successfully design virtual co-creation projects in virtual worlds. © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.