• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.61 no.9
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• pp.1-14
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between one's social-self image and Online Avatar image. Influence of these virtual images on one's attitude toward real world and commitment to the virtual world was examined. In addition, the gender difference was examined. A structural equation model with social self image as exogenous variable and influence of Avatar as endogenous variable was designed. Real and ideal Avatar images were the mediating variable in the model. Survey questionnaire was developed and data from 425 respondents were analyzed. Results indicated that the conceptual model was a good fit to the data. Respondents who perceived their social self-images importantly were likely to have real images of Avatars. Ideal image and real image had significant on commitment to virtual world and attitudes toward the real world. For male respondents, social self image had stronger influence on real image of Avatar and ideal image had stronger influence on commitment to virtual world than female respondents.

• Journal of Korea Game Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.29-43
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• 2008

The virtual world is a cyber gaming space where a player interacts with others through their avatars. It is now mainly developed in foreign countries including USA, Canada, and Europe and many experts say that the market capacity of virtual world will be continually expanded in worldwide. The virtual world will mostly be made such that a user accesses the world for free and pays for in-game activities. But it is hardly that we find the effective methodology of payment system for such virtual world due to its' short development history. In the case of Korea, various payment methods of selling in-game assets have been tested in online games. The paper propose an effective revenue model for social virtual world focused on selling in-game assets. The guideline of the proposed revenue model will be expected to contribute creating revenue focused on selling in-game assets, effectively for social virtual world.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.317-323
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to show typology of virtual world and to look out how virtual world develops especially in Korea. As paradigm changes, the scientific virtual reality and world wide web are absorbed into 3-D virtual world in Metaverse. The metaverse is the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space. There are two categories of virtual world, the Ludic Virtual World which is oriented from games like MMORPGs and the Social Virtual World which is oriented from network communication system. Compared to North America and Europe, the Ludic Virtual World and game society grow and develop quickly in Korea. It's because Korean users prefer the online environment where millions of people live out a collective fantasy existence.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.35-46
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• 2003

This study focuses on the effect of Social Scaffolding of virtual community on its growth and thrift. The research model proposed in this study is that communities, which have goof social scaffolding, tend to grow and thrive. Social Scaffolding refers to those aspects of a site Purpose, Places, Profiles, leaders, Roles, Rules, Cyclic Events, integrating with the real world, and Subgroups. The data were collected from 100 virtual communities in Daum Communications and analyzed in this study. Multiple regression is used to analyze the relationship of variables. The result is following ; purpose, loaders, rules, integrating with the real world support the effects of social scaffolding of virtual community on its growth and thrift, but profiles, roles, cyclic events do not. The result of this study implies the importance of social scaffolding of virtual community for re-searches, and developers.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.41-56
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• 2023

Metaverse is a three-dimensional virtual space where virtual and reality interact and co-evolutionize, and social, cultural, and economic activities are carried out in it to create value. Among the types of metaverse, the virtual world metaverse is expected to bring innovation beyond time and space in all areas of industry and society following the Internet. This study empirically analyzed factors affecting consumer's intention to use the virtual world metaverse by an innovation diffusion perspective. It was analyzed as an expanded technology acceptance model by setting relative advantages, ease of use, and visibility among the attributes of the innovation diffusion, and social presence, telepresence, and interactivity among the characteristics of the virtual worlds as factors. The proposed research model and hypothesis were verified through a PLS structural equation analysis based on a survey of 216 people. Studies have shown that relative advantage, telepresence, and interactivity have a significant effect on perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment, but visibility does not have a significant effect on perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment. It was found that ease of use had a positive effect on perceived enjoyment, social presence had a positive effect on perceived usefulness, and perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment had a positive effect on the intention to use, respectively. This study is meaningful in that it empirically analyzed the factors affecting the intention to use the virtual world metaverse by dividing the psychological characteristics that induce consumer behavior into perceived usefulness which is an extrinsic motivation and perceived enjoyment which is an intrinsic motivation.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.403-416
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• 2022

This study was conducted to explore the relationship between social status and happiness in the virtual world, which was not dealt with in previous studies. In addition, this study checked whether people were interested in social status itself or social status growth according to their level of happiness. To this end, the researcher composed conditions of high and low social status, and conditions of large and small growth in social status in online games, and presented them differently depending on the participant. Next, the researcher measured how much happiness level changed before and after exposure to each condition. As a result, happy participants had less of an effect of status on happiness in online games. However, unhappy participants were found to be happy when their status in online games was high and unhappy when they were low. Happy participants also paid attention to whether their status in online game had grown. However, unhappy participants paid attention to their high and low status in online games. This study has implications in that it is a rare study on the effect of happiness on the judgment of social status in the virtual world.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.152-161
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• 2023

Modern people live a life connected with the real world and the virtual world by relying on the new media of enterprises and social consumption led by innovative technologies. In this environment, virtual influencers actively communicate with consumers and build relationships through social media, which is a new marketing tool that has attracted widespread attention. From a business perspective, it is necessary to have a solid understanding of this phenomenon, and then explore communication strategies to effectively develop virtual influencers. To investigate followers' preference for virtual influencers, this study employs the Q-method, which studies human subjective attributes, an empirical research effort to uncover complex issues in human subjectivity. To determine the factors that trigger people's voluntary and active practice and the preference degree of virtual influencers, the Q method is implemented to examine human subjectivity, thoughts and attitudes. According to the results of this study, virtual influencers are a new group of idols full of vitality. The interviews found that there are still many virtual influencers who do not know about followers, but each type can be clearly understood through the intuitive understanding of the interviewees. Divided out, type 1 one egoideal virtual influencers aim to represent an idealized version of the creator or target audience. Embodies ideal physical characteristics, personality or lifestyle desired by the audience. Type 2 is charismatic and attractive, and has the characteristics of most virtual influencers. It is suggested that it can be developed into a potential type, doing brand cooperation, and content production on social media platforms. Type 3: Game animation, derived from the image of characters in games or comics, with stylized features and energetic personalities, which can be integrated into games or entertainment experiences. Type 4 development potential type is the most successful type among virtual imagers, and it is also the purpose of marketing virtual influencers. It is essential that brand endorsement on social media platforms, integrated marketing, and driving advertising traffic. It is recommended to improve production technology to reduce investment costs.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.23-45
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• 2011

People could possess different self-identity under virtual world from physical world because of anonymity of the virtual world and this difference could influence their behavior in the virtual world. Based on self-discrepancy theory, this research proposes that continuous use model in self-expression goal. We defined the difference bet ween actual self~identity and ideal self~identity in the virtual world as "self-discrepancy in virtual world", and the difference between actual self-identity in the physical world and actual self-identity in the virtual world as "cross-world self-discrepancy". Before testing hypothesis, we compare the actual self-identity in the online community with the actual self-identity in the physical world, and with ideal self-identity in the virtual world. We derived an index for two different types of self-identity in terms of Personal Self-identity and Social Self-identity through factor analysis. Our results show that online community members have a higher level of ideal self-identity than actual self-identity in online community, and they have better personal self-identity in online community than physical world while a lower level of social self-identity in online community than physical world. The results of the hypothesis testing analysis based on 300 respondents showed that "self-discrepancy in virtual world" negatively influenced perceived usefulness for self-expression while "cross-world self-discrepancy" positively influenced perceived usefulness for self-expression. The perceived usefulness for self-expression and ease of use positively influence both continuous use and knowledge contribution. Specially, the effect of perceived usefulness for self-expression on knowledge contribution is much bigger than the effect of ease of use. This study extends self-discrepancy theory to virtual worlds by suggesting various types of self-discrepancy and by applying the effect of self-discrepancies in online community. Also, this study extends technology acceptance model in the personal goal in terms of self-expression. This study hopes to offer practical insights by suggesting positive effect of self-discrepancy on behavior in the online community.

• Journal of Korea Game Society
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.43-52
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• 2009

Online game is the most popular representative example of the fast growing virtual world. Also, influence of interaction between virtual and real world is getting greater, and much discussion about virtual world and economy. However, it is often overlooked that the types of virtual economy can be very diverse depending on conditions of social and legal environment and policies of companies. Therefore, the influence of interactions between virtual world and real world is not managed by government and companies properly enough. We propose that virtual world is a system which has six types of agents and five types of transactions. Then there are twenty-four combinations, and we illustrated four typical combinations among them to explain practical applications of our model. The purpose of our categorization is not only to help to understand characteristics but also to provide insights for management and improvement for virtual worlds.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.72-81
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• 2023

As changes in social and economic paradigms are accelerating, and non-contact has become the new normal due to the COVID-19 pandemic, metaverse services that build societies in online activities and virtual reality are spreading rapidly. This study analyzes the perception and trend of metaverse fashion using big data. TEXTOM was used to extract metaverse and fashion-related words from Naver and Google and analyze their frequency and importance. Additionally, structural equivalence analysis based on the derived main words was conducted to identify the perception and trend of metaverse fashion. The following results were obtained: First, term frequency(TF) analysis revealed the most frequently appearing words were "metaverse," "fashion," "virtual," "brand," "platform," "digital," "world," "Zepeto," "company," and "game." After analyzing TF-inverse document frequency(TF-IDF), "virtual" was the most important, followed by "brand," "platform," "Zepeto," "digital," "world," "industry," "game," "fashion show," and "industry." "Metaverse" and "fashion" were found to have a high TF but low TF-IDF. Further, words such as "virtual," "brand," "platform," "Zepeto," and "digital" had a higher TF-IDF ranking than TF, indicating that they had high importance in the text. Second, convergence of iterated correlations analysis using UNICET revealed four clusters, classified as "virtual world," "metaverse distribution platform," "fashion contents technology investment," and "metaverse fashion week." Fashion brands are hosting virtual fashion shows and stores on metaverse platforms where the virtual and real worlds coexist, and investment in developing metaverse-related technologies is under way.