From Interactive to Immersive: Marketing Education takes a Virtual Leap of

From Interactive to Immersive: Marketing Education takes a Virtual Leap of Faith Virtual worlds are 3-D computer-mediated environments that offer rich visual interfaces and real-time communication with other residents. In the past 18 months alone approximately $1.5 billion has been invested in companies developing technologies for virtual worlds. Management Consulting Company McKinsey & Company predicts that “Virtual worlds such as Second Life will become an indispensible business tool and vital to the strategy of any company intent on reaching out to the video-game generation ” (Richards, 2008). To date numerous companies including IBM and GE and more than 100 schools and educational institutions from more than 20 countries are using virtual worlds not only as marketing tool but also as an instructional one (Rzewnicki 2007). For example, Whyville (www.whyville.com) is an example of a virtual world for middle school-aged children with over 1.7 million registered users and 20,000- 25,000 unique daily visitors (Whyville Educational Outreach 2007). Active Worlds (www.activeworlds.com), another education-based virtual world, is home to 80 educational institutions worldwide, the majority of which are colleges and universities (Active Worlds and Education 2007). Second life attracts both universities an