The Interplay Between Human Users and IS-Enabled Environments (Cooperation, Power, Influence, and Authority Struggles in Virtual Worlds)

More than 15 million people now inhabit virtual worlds. We posit that virtual worlds represent an interesting intersection of three parties wrestling for power, influence, and authority in these relatively new spaces. Specifically: (1) corporations, representing economic and business interests; (2) governments, representing political and legal interests; (3) vox populi, representing a heterogeneous third party, distinct in its dissociation from either corporate or government interests, and instead attempting to speak on behalf of digital citizens in virtual worlds. We also suggest a way that an experiment could be done in a virtual world, borrowing from studies of experimental economics - specifically the quot;bargainingquot; or ultimatum game