外文翻譯---中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲產(chǎn)業(yè)的商業(yè)模式和運(yùn)作問(wèn)題

1、<p><b>　　畢業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)（論文）</b></p><p><b>　　譯文及原稿</b></p><p>　譯文題目：中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲產(chǎn)業(yè)的商業(yè)模式和運(yùn)作問(wèn)題</p><p>　原稿題目：Business models and operational issues in the Chinese </p>

2、;<p>　online game industry</p><p>　原稿出處：Ian MacInnes,Lili Hu.[J].</p><p>　Telematics and Informatics. 2007,24(2):130-144．</p><p>　　中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲產(chǎn)業(yè)的商業(yè)模式和運(yùn)作問(wèn)題</p><p>　　摘要

3、：互聯(lián)網(wǎng)越來(lái)越的廣泛使用使得網(wǎng)絡(luò)社區(qū)如雨后春筍般發(fā)展起來(lái)。其中特別有趣的現(xiàn)象之一就是網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲的出現(xiàn)。本文就虛擬世界的開(kāi)發(fā)者在其探索切實(shí)可行的商業(yè)模式途中將面臨的困難進(jìn)行論述。本文作為探索性課題是一個(gè)對(duì)中國(guó)虛擬世界的開(kāi)發(fā)者和用戶進(jìn)行研究的個(gè)別案例，來(lái)確定在這種商業(yè)模式下存在的問(wèn)題。本文討論寬帶和網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲以及諸如文化，歷史，外掛，私服，虛擬財(cái)產(chǎn)貿(mào)易，開(kāi)發(fā)商控制，管理和調(diào)控此類的反饋效果。盡管大部分中國(guó)虛擬世界的運(yùn)營(yíng)商都具有盈利能力，但通過(guò)密

4、切觀察發(fā)現(xiàn)即使最成功的中國(guó)虛擬世界運(yùn)營(yíng)商仍然處于商業(yè)模式的早期階段。</p><p>　　關(guān)鍵詞：虛擬世界，中國(guó)，商業(yè)模式， 網(wǎng)絡(luò) </p><p><b>　　簡(jiǎn)介</b></p><p>　　隨著MacInnes(2004a)創(chuàng)造出來(lái)的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)在全球范圍內(nèi)的拓展,網(wǎng)絡(luò)對(duì)于交流變得至關(guān)重要。隨之而來(lái)的結(jié)果就是不同形式，為各種

5、目的而發(fā)展起來(lái)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)社區(qū)為人們提供了工作，社交以及娛樂(lè)上的便利。在不同形式的網(wǎng)絡(luò)社區(qū)中最吸引人眼球的就是虛擬世界，但是何為虛擬世界呢？就是人們?cè)谝粋€(gè)持續(xù)的合成的環(huán)境中通過(guò)虛擬角色（通常是一個(gè)頭像）來(lái)相互交流。虛擬世界屬于網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲的一種，在這個(gè)虛擬世界中成千上萬(wàn)的人們可以同時(shí)參與相互影響。這種在中國(guó)最受歡迎的網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲就是虛擬世界。</p><p>　　MacInnes(2004a)對(duì)虛擬世界這一現(xiàn)象提出了概觀。這一

6、概念的提出對(duì)于現(xiàn)如今我們通過(guò)案例研究來(lái)完善這項(xiàng)工作起到了重要作用。我們以一個(gè)別案例開(kāi)始研究中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲產(chǎn)業(yè)，是因?yàn)殡S著寬帶的大范圍使用，中國(guó)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲?yàn)樘摂M世界帶來(lái)的市場(chǎng)的發(fā)展速度比許多國(guó)家都快。這一點(diǎn)比其他因素更有說(shuō)服力。本文將從商業(yè)形式的前景方面討論社會(huì)，法律，以及一些其他環(huán)境方面的問(wèn)題?，F(xiàn)今中國(guó)虛擬世界產(chǎn)業(yè)所面臨的挑戰(zhàn)和機(jī)遇并不僅僅只在我們國(guó)家存在。同樣的問(wèn)題很可能在虛擬世界市場(chǎng)欠發(fā)達(dá)的北美，歐洲等地區(qū)也一樣存在。從這一案例中吸取

7、的教訓(xùn)同樣可以被那些以網(wǎng)絡(luò)為根基的產(chǎn)業(yè)使用動(dòng)態(tài)商業(yè)模式框架來(lái)促進(jìn)技術(shù)革新的所使用。</p><p>　　作為探索性課題，這是一個(gè)對(duì)中國(guó)虛擬世界的開(kāi)發(fā)者和使用者進(jìn)行研究的個(gè)別案例，來(lái)確定在這種商業(yè)模式下存在的問(wèn)題。本文引用了許多人們對(duì)其提出的疑問(wèn)。比如，中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲的運(yùn)營(yíng)者面對(duì)日益增加的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)問(wèn)題該采取什么樣的策略？中國(guó)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲公司會(huì)在他們的價(jià)值鏈中趨于上游嗎？寬帶在產(chǎn)業(yè)發(fā)展中扮演了怎樣的角色？中國(guó)社會(huì)對(duì)于這一新的

8、娛樂(lè)方式會(huì)有如何反應(yīng)？為什么中國(guó)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲相對(duì)于單機(jī)游戲發(fā)展地更好？</p><p><b>　　理論背景</b></p><p>　　互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的蓬勃發(fā)展促使了許多新網(wǎng)絡(luò)社區(qū)的出現(xiàn)。商業(yè)虛擬社區(qū)面臨的一個(gè)重要問(wèn)題是如何找到一個(gè)有利可獲的商業(yè)模式同時(shí)兼顧著促使這些社區(qū)由最初的小規(guī)模向大規(guī)模發(fā)展。早期的虛擬社區(qū)大多都是十分科學(xué)的但近期越來(lái)越多的發(fā)展成果刺激人們?cè)谔摂M空間里共

9、享各自的興趣愛(ài)好。虛擬世界不僅為虛擬社區(qū)豐富多彩的圖形支持，也帶來(lái)了復(fù)雜的市場(chǎng)活動(dòng)。</p><p>　　在因特網(wǎng)發(fā)展的早期，它著重于匯聚研究人員。但一旦大學(xué)之間通過(guò)網(wǎng)絡(luò)相互聯(lián)系了，基于個(gè)人愛(ài)好的網(wǎng)絡(luò)社區(qū)就開(kāi)始發(fā)展起來(lái)了。這些社區(qū)往往討論興趣還好，娛樂(lè)方式等Rheingold(1993）。那時(shí)大多使用電子郵件，群發(fā)，后來(lái)發(fā)展為BBS，MUDs,人們就在那里開(kāi)始創(chuàng)造一個(gè)奇妙的世界Castronova(2002）。這

10、些都是現(xiàn)今圖形化了的虛擬世界的先驅(qū)。</p><p>　　對(duì)于網(wǎng)絡(luò)社區(qū)的研究已經(jīng)改進(jìn)了。學(xué)者已經(jīng)證明了虛擬社區(qū)的使用能改善公民的行為Blanchard and Horan(1998)，促進(jìn)社會(huì)抵制運(yùn)動(dòng)的發(fā)展De(2003)。虛擬社區(qū)同樣可以用來(lái)創(chuàng)造，集結(jié)，組織，運(yùn)用知識(shí)([Bruynseels and Vos,2000], [Daniel et al., 2002], [Jansen et al., 2000]

11、and [Schubert and Koch, 2002])。他們也作為一種管理工具被用于組織中。營(yíng)銷部門發(fā)現(xiàn)人們對(duì)于產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)的迷戀能幫助一家公司發(fā)展與顧客的關(guān)系，使他們產(chǎn)生對(duì)其的忠誠(chéng)度( [Kardaras and Karakostas, 2000] and [Schubert and Koch, 2002]).。然而這些社區(qū)常常會(huì)招致公司的批評(píng)(Lueg, 2001)。</p><p>　　虛擬社區(qū)可以根據(jù)

12、活動(dòng)，會(huì)籍的不同種類進(jìn)行分類。例如，Hagel and Armstrong (1996)把網(wǎng)絡(luò)社區(qū)分為四類：交易社區(qū)，興趣社區(qū)，幻想社區(qū)，關(guān)系社區(qū)。相似地，Klang and Olsson (1999)把它們分為社區(qū)網(wǎng)絡(luò)，專業(yè)協(xié)會(huì)，個(gè)人社團(tuán)，“第三位置”（人們會(huì)見(jiàn)新老朋友的地方）。Klang and Olsson (1999)確定四種社區(qū)類型：論壇，商店，俱樂(lè)部，集市。這里的市場(chǎng)就是買賣實(shí)品，或者虛擬商品的地方。這種活動(dòng)正變得越來(lái)越流行

13、。以上四位作者都已承認(rèn)這些社區(qū)不僅具有娛樂(lè)價(jià)值也同樣具有商業(yè)價(jià)值。本文我們將著重陳述虛擬社區(qū)具有的娛樂(lè)方面的價(jià)值，目的是來(lái)理解這個(gè)產(chǎn)業(yè)的商業(yè)模式動(dòng)態(tài)。</p><p>　　很多使用者都愿意為這些社區(qū)付錢，比如互聯(lián)網(wǎng)國(guó)際象棋俱樂(lè)部(Ginsburg and Weisband, 2003).。更有甚者在結(jié)構(gòu)化的游戲中，會(huì)員們會(huì)引進(jìn)一種叫 “chekels”用來(lái)當(dāng)籌碼，然后用來(lái)?yè)Q成現(xiàn)金。一些社區(qū)的社會(huì)方面正在迅速為使用

14、者帶來(lái)商業(yè)上的基于這并不是駭人聽(tīng)聞的。社區(qū)的設(shè)計(jì)假想通?？梢詻Q定開(kāi)發(fā)者是否能為使用帶來(lái)利益。缺少公司控制能造成困難。盡管世上有成千上萬(wàn)的人活躍于這些虛擬世界中，但學(xué)者們只是最近才開(kāi)始認(rèn)識(shí)到這些社區(qū)的發(fā)展動(dòng)態(tài)。</p><p>　　因?yàn)檫@些虛擬世界如今已能產(chǎn)生盈利，本研究著重于那些社區(qū)的商業(yè)模式方面。在過(guò)去5年里商業(yè)模式文獻(xiàn)數(shù)量已經(jīng)有了增長(zhǎng)地飛快，對(duì)于虛擬世界開(kāi)發(fā)者與使用者在試圖開(kāi)發(fā)基于虛擬財(cái)產(chǎn)的有利可圖商業(yè)的道路

15、上遇到的困難將帶來(lái)幫助。學(xué)者在研究商業(yè)模式上做的貢獻(xiàn)可分為三個(gè)領(lǐng)域：研究單個(gè)因素來(lái)突出他們的重要性，研究證明能使一種商業(yè)模式成功的幾個(gè)條件，研究證明商業(yè)模式的組成成分。</p><p>　　我們把重點(diǎn)放在這個(gè)產(chǎn)業(yè)的商業(yè)模式方面的其中的一個(gè)原因是它所具有的巨大經(jīng)濟(jì)潛力。即使在應(yīng)用率較低的中國(guó)，這個(gè)產(chǎn)業(yè)正在產(chǎn)生巨大的經(jīng)濟(jì)收入。我們因此需要去理解這個(gè)產(chǎn)業(yè)是怎樣發(fā)展起來(lái)的，將來(lái)會(huì)朝著哪個(gè)方面發(fā)展。這些商業(yè)模式的文獻(xiàn)數(shù)量已

16、經(jīng)相當(dāng)豐富了，甚至有點(diǎn)過(guò)頭了。在很多方面，學(xué)者往往過(guò)分單獨(dú)強(qiáng)調(diào)許多模式已經(jīng)參與了成分的靜態(tài)分析，而筆者認(rèn)為這是影響了公司的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展的。這些靜態(tài)商業(yè)模式在一定程度是無(wú)效的，我們分析一個(gè)新興產(chǎn)業(yè)，往往開(kāi)發(fā)商在找到切實(shí)可行的商業(yè)模式之前他們必然會(huì)經(jīng)歷很多困難。MacInnes (2004a)考慮到發(fā)展中產(chǎn)業(yè)的動(dòng)態(tài)因素提出了一個(gè)四階段動(dòng)態(tài)商業(yè)模式框架的理論。這一理論特別是為比如中國(guó)網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲市場(chǎng)一類的新興產(chǎn)業(yè)所設(shè)計(jì)的。</p>&l

17、t;p>　　2.1. 動(dòng)態(tài)商業(yè)模式框架</p><p>　　動(dòng)態(tài)商業(yè)模式框架是用來(lái)觀察商業(yè)發(fā)展經(jīng)歷，來(lái)更好地了解他們的產(chǎn)業(yè)。這對(duì)于虛擬世界游戲開(kāi)發(fā)商，運(yùn)營(yíng)商剛成立的業(yè)務(wù)分部來(lái)說(shuō)尤其適用。這一模式由四個(gè)相互關(guān)聯(lián)的階段組成。如下圖：</p><p><b>　　圖1：動(dòng)態(tài)商業(yè)模式</b></p><p>　　影響一個(gè)公司商業(yè)模式在其早期階段與

18、成熟階段的因素是不同的。第一階段技術(shù)問(wèn)題是最為重要的；第二階段環(huán)境問(wèn)題，例如應(yīng)該注重法律；第三階段開(kāi)發(fā)商可以結(jié)合傳統(tǒng)收入模式；第四階段應(yīng)著重于支撐商業(yè)的因素。</p><p>　　虛擬社區(qū)的企業(yè)和用戶模式開(kāi)始出現(xiàn)，公司仍有許多事情要去解決。這一部分引用了其他學(xué)者已確定的四個(gè)階段的成功商業(yè)模式?；谶@些因素，在開(kāi)發(fā)虛擬世界的不同階段將面臨的問(wèn)題都有可能解決。</p><p>　　2.1.1.

19、第一階段：技術(shù)因素</p><p>　　在技術(shù)開(kāi)發(fā)的早期階段，技術(shù)因素對(duì)于商業(yè)成功起著至關(guān)重要的作用。這些技術(shù)因素是那些正在銷售的產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)所固有的。我們應(yīng)當(dāng)注意的是在信息領(lǐng)域許多商業(yè)是從技術(shù)革新發(fā)展起來(lái)的。因此我們需要找到一種商業(yè)模式使他們的產(chǎn)品朝著努力的方向商業(yè)化。不幸的是技術(shù)有時(shí)候并不完全被商業(yè)化所適用，這些問(wèn)題需要在公司進(jìn)行營(yíng)利模式之前就被解決。</p><p>　　在虛擬世界產(chǎn)業(yè)

20、中，技術(shù)因素可以摧毀一家公司因?yàn)槿藗冊(cè)谔摂M世界中創(chuàng)造的財(cái)產(chǎn)擁有相當(dāng)大的價(jià)值。如果這些財(cái)產(chǎn)因?yàn)榧夹g(shù)問(wèn)題或者安全漏洞問(wèn)題丟失的話，那么開(kāi)發(fā)者將會(huì)失去信譽(yù)，破產(chǎn)，或者因?yàn)椴毁r償用戶而被起訴。因此，在虛擬世界中人們擁有客觀的財(cái)產(chǎn)，公司服務(wù)器的安全問(wèn)題必須放在首要位置。Duh et al. (2001)發(fā)現(xiàn)市場(chǎng)的安全性和完整性因素是至關(guān)重要的，我們必須把他們放在首要位置，因?yàn)橹挥羞@樣會(huì)員才會(huì)信任虛擬世界的開(kāi)發(fā)者。</p><p

21、>　　2.1.2.第二階段：環(huán)境因素</p><p>　　商業(yè)模式的第一階段的技術(shù)問(wèn)題已經(jīng)解決了。虛擬世界現(xiàn)在進(jìn)入第二階段要來(lái)克服環(huán)境因素所帶來(lái)的問(wèn)題。環(huán)境因素包括法律，社會(huì)，一般的經(jīng)濟(jì)限制。這一階段通常被所忽略，因?yàn)橹钡郊夹g(shù)商業(yè)化后人們才可能意識(shí)到技術(shù)為社會(huì)帶來(lái)的問(wèn)題。許多商業(yè)化的技術(shù)如錄像機(jī)，對(duì)等網(wǎng)絡(luò)等由于法律問(wèn)題或者對(duì)社會(huì)，經(jīng)濟(jì)有著不良影響，受到了人們的質(zhì)疑。Vasilopoulou et al. (

22、2002)提出政策和規(guī)則對(duì)于商業(yè)模式的成功的起著至關(guān)重要的作用。相似地，Schroeder et al. (2001)認(rèn)為缺乏安全保障，組織和法律問(wèn)題是公司從傳統(tǒng)商業(yè)模式過(guò)渡到電子商務(wù)過(guò)程中最難克服的問(wèn)題。在目前對(duì)于這一商業(yè)的法律機(jī)制尚未成熟的情況下這些論文中所提到的法律問(wèn)題也將起著一定的作用。例如，誰(shuí)擁有虛擬世界的財(cái)產(chǎn)，或者是虛擬貨幣的兌換是否賦予虛擬銀行功能。隨著虛擬世界平行于現(xiàn)實(shí)世界，當(dāng)出現(xiàn)違法事件的時(shí)候政府可能會(huì)出面干預(yù)，或遇通

23、貨膨脹時(shí)會(huì)去保護(hù)財(cái)產(chǎn)。</p><p>　　2.1.3.第三階段：收入模式問(wèn)題</p><p>　　商業(yè)模式發(fā)展的第三階段主要是傳統(tǒng)的問(wèn)題，例如收入來(lái)源，顧客價(jià)值，成本和基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施管理。從筆者已研究的單獨(dú)因素上看，瓦斯尼和海德強(qiáng)調(diào)使用增加轉(zhuǎn)換成本來(lái)作為維持顧客忠誠(chéng)度的這一策略?；蛟谶@種商業(yè)模式內(nèi)從一網(wǎng)站上創(chuàng)建和維護(hù)社區(qū)來(lái)支持，促進(jìn)經(jīng)濟(jì)活動(dòng)。隨著時(shí)間的推移作為參與者發(fā)展的屬性和角色的結(jié)果虛擬世

24、界擁有高轉(zhuǎn)化成本。他們會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)換到另一個(gè)虛擬世界，或者重新開(kāi)始一個(gè)角色，發(fā)展新的關(guān)系這會(huì)需要很高成本。瓦斯尼和海德也暗示開(kāi)發(fā)互補(bǔ)產(chǎn)品。一些公司運(yùn)營(yíng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲賣真實(shí)產(chǎn)品用來(lái)?yè)Q成數(shù)碼產(chǎn)品。相似地，Amit和Zott說(shuō)網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲公司在這一階段也會(huì)考慮到其他傳統(tǒng)因素，包括：1.降低交易成本形式下的效率問(wèn)題。2.技術(shù)，活動(dòng)和產(chǎn)品之間的互補(bǔ)。3.鎖定網(wǎng)絡(luò)外部性和高轉(zhuǎn)換成本。4.新結(jié)構(gòu)，內(nèi)容，參與者帶來(lái)的新奇問(wèn)題。虛擬世界為玩家提供新奇的內(nèi)容。但它們可以無(wú)

25、限制地虛擬因?yàn)橛脩艨梢蕴砑觾?nèi)容，有著豐富多彩的體驗(yàn)。在所有令開(kāi)發(fā)虛擬世界的公司感到最棘手的問(wèn)題包括人員發(fā)展，社區(qū)發(fā)展以及資產(chǎn)管理。隨著一些用戶發(fā)展他們自己的商業(yè)，開(kāi)發(fā)商漸漸失去了控制。</p><p>　　Business models and operational issues in the Chinese online game industry </p><p>　　Abstrac

26、t：The rapid growth of Internet usage has enabled many new online communities to develop. A particularly interesting phenomenon that has arisen through Internet communities is the virtual world (VW) style of online game.

27、This paper identifies the challenges that developers of VWs will face in their efforts to find viable business models. This is a single case study of China as an exploratory project to determine the issues surrounding bu

28、siness models for virtual world developers and users.</p><p>　　Key words：Virtual world China Business model Online game</p><p>　　Introduction</p><p>　　As the Internet contin

29、ues to grow worldwide, Internet-based channels have become increasingly important for communication. As a result, online communities of many forms and for various purposes have developed and have enabled people to work,

30、socialize and entertain themselves. Among the many types examples of online communities, a particularly interesting phenomenon is the virtual world (VW), a persistent synthetic environment where people communicate with e

31、ach other using a virtual persona, oft</p><p>　　MacInnes (2004a) provided an overview and framework for understanding the VW phenomenon. It is now important to supplement this work through case studies. We c

32、hose to begin with a single case study of the Chinese online game industry because its market for VWs is growing more quickly than in many other countries due to the rapid adoption of broadband among other factors. Socia

33、l, legal and other environmental issues are discussed in this paper from the perspective of business models. The challeng</p><p>　　This is a single case study of China as an exploratory project to determine

34、the issues surrounding business models for virtual world developers and users. The paper addresses a number of questions. What alternative strategies are available to Chinese online game operators who are facing an incre

35、asingly competitive market? Will Chinese online game companies move upstream in their value chain? What is the role of broadband in the development of the industry? How is Chinese society reacting to this</p><

36、p>　　Theoretical context</p><p>　　The growth of the Internet has enabled many new virtual communities to be established. One of the key issues facing a commercial virtual community is finding a profitable

37、business model that also fosters the initial growth of the community toward critical mass. Early virtual communities were mainly scientific but more recent developments have motivated people to congregate in a virtual sp

38、ace to share personal interests. Virtual worlds provide a new level of graphical richness to virtual communit</p><p>　　The early years of the Internet emphasized bringing together researchers but once many u

39、niversities were connected, communities based on personal interests developed. These often involved hobbies and entertainment (Rheingold, 1993). In these early days the most common technologies were e-mail and listservs

40、that later evolved into bulletin boards and MUDs where people began to create fantasy worlds (Castronova, 2002). These were forerunners of today’s graphical virtual worlds.</p><p>　　Research about online com

41、munities has evolved. Scholars have documented the effectiveness and use of virtual communities in society to foster, for example, civic behavior (Blanchard and Horan, 1998) and social resistance movements (De, 2003). Vi

42、rtual communities can also be used to create, gather, organize, and manage knowledge ( [Bruynseels and Vos, 2000], [Daniel et al., 2002], [Jansen et al., 2000] and [Schubert and Koch, 2002]). They have also been used as

43、a management tool in organizations.</p><p>　　Virtual communities can be classified according to types of activities and membership. For example Hagel and Armstrong (1996) identified four categories of online

44、 communities: communities of transactions, communities of interest, communities of fantasy, and communities of relationship. Similarly Klang and Olsson (1999) divide them into community networks, professional societies,

45、personal societies and the “third place,” where people go to meet with new and old friends. Klang and Olsson (1999) id</p><p>　　Many users are willing to pay for communities such as the Internet Chess Club

46、Even in a structured game such as chess, members introduced “chekels,” a monetary unit that could be exchanged for dollars. It is thus not surprising to see that the social aspects of these communities are rapidly transf

47、orming into commercial opportunities for users as well. Design assumptions of the community will often determine whether developers want to encourage or discourage the profit motives of users. Lack of </p><p&g

48、t;　　Because of the revenue streams that virtual worlds are now able to generate, this study focuses on the business model aspects of those communities. Business model literature has grown rapidly over the past five years

49、 and is helpful in understanding the challenges that VW developers and users are likely to face in their attempts to develop profitable businesses based on virtual property. Contributions from scholars in business models

50、 can be divided into three areas: studies that focus on single f</p><p>　　One of the reasons why we want to focus on the business model aspects of this industry is because of its large economic potential. Ev

51、en with its relatively low adoption percentage in China, the industry is already generating large revenues. We thus want to understand how the industry has evolved and how it will be able to generate further growth. The

52、business model literature is quite rich and sometimes overwhelming. In many instances scholars have tended to emphasize some aspects over others an</p><p>　　2.1. The dynamic business model framework</p>

53、;<p>　　The dynamic business model framework was designed to take into consideration the evolution that businesses experience as they become more knowledgeable about their industry. This is particularly true for bu

54、siness segments that are just emerging as is the case with virtual world game developers/operators. The model is composed of four interrelated stages. Fig. 1 shows the different stages.</p><p>　　Fig1 Dynami

55、c business model framework for emerging technologies.</p><p>　　The factors that affect the success of a company’s business model at its early stages are different from those affecting the business at a more

56、mature stage. In the first stage technical issues are of greatest importance. In the second stage environmental factors such as law and adoption should be considered. In the third stage developers can begin to incorporat

57、e traditional revenue model factors. The fourth stage focuses on factors that will sustain the business.</p><p>　　Corporate and user models around virtual communities are beginning to emerge and companies st

58、ill have many elements to work out. This section addresses the factors that other scholars have identified in each of the four stages that contribute to the success of a business model. Based on these factors it is possi

59、ble to specify the challenges that these virtual worlds will face as they move through different stages of development.</p><p>　　2.1.1. First stage: technological factors</p><p>　　In the early s

60、tages of technological advance, technical factors are crucial to the success of the business. These technical factors are those that are inherent to the product or service being sold. It should be noted that in the infor

61、mation field many businesses emerge from technical innovations. Thus finding a business model that allows them to commercialize such products is the natural progression to their efforts. Unfortunately sometimes the techn

62、ology is not entirely ready to be launched com</p><p>　　2.1.2. Second stage: environmental factors</p><p>　　Many of the technical aspects faced in the first stage of business models have been ov

63、ercome. VWs are now in the second stage where they have to overcome environmental factors. Environmental factors include legal, societal, and general economic limitations. This is a stage that is generally overlooked bec

64、ause it is not until a technology has been commercialized that people might realize the problems that the technology could pose for society in general. A number of commercialized technologies, s</p><p>　　2.1

65、.3. Third stage: revenue model concerns</p><p>　　The third stage of business model development focuses on traditional concerns such as revenue sources, customer value, costs, and infrastructure management. F

66、rom the authors that have looked at single factors Wathne and Heide (2001) emphasize the use of strategies that increase switching costs as a way of maintaining customer loyalty, or look at a way of creating and maintain