Entrepreneurs Doing Business by Avatar

After seeing "Avatar" the movie, I wondered whether the record-breaking intake at the box office might spur more entrepreneurial activity in places populated by, er, "real" avatars—like Second Life, the best-known and largest of the 3-D virtual-world platforms. Could Avatar do for avatars what Titanic did for Leonardo DiCaprio?

An avatar is a digital, simulated representation of a person. On sites like Second Life, There and ActiveWorlds, you can engage your avatar alter ego in all sorts of escapist fantasies, like designing and dancing in your own underwater disco. When Second Life and its peers came out in 2003, companies rushed in to build outposts and sell products to the hoards of consumers rushing in to play. Attire companies like American Apparel and Giorgio Armani and tech giants like IBM and Dell set up virtual stores, using the build-it-and-they-will-come approach. Problem is, nobody came. The supposed consumers used the site to attend concerts or become unicorns, not to buy a computer. And what did they want to buy? White hair and goth outfits for their avatars. Which is not to say entrepreneurs should dismiss the immersive reality trip. In the past few years, much has changed, and many companies are doing virtual business—just not the kind they originally envisioned.

By DYAN MACHAN

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