The following list are strongly recommended laws to follow when setting up any VR aspect of a business, or an enterprise entirely centred in virtual space.

If you follow these, you cannot go far wrong, although we cannot guarantee success. If you ignore them all, we can guarantee failure.

First Law

A virtual world is not a game. Never treat it as such.

The most common reaction of a businessperson upon encountering a social VR space for the first time, is to dismiss it as just a game, or a fad. They see it as nothing of potential value to the enterprise, and often ban access to their employees, seeing it as a waste of computer time, something to be done at home, not in the office.

Sadly, that attitude is frankly, wrong.

Many users actually treat them as an extension of their lives. A way to be who they want to be that perhaps the physical world does not allow. Others use it to conduct international business, increasingly so with the costs and hassle of air travel accelerating exponentially. To deny this market computer time, is to deny yourself access to a multi-billion dollar potential revenue source. One that is still expanding.

Second Law

Social virtual environments (as opposed to game worlds) are growing steadily, but their overall population is still lower than massively multi-user online games. Do not expect massive returns yet. However, if you are catering for community-orientated projects, education, or niche areas, they will be a godsend to your bottom line.

Third Law

Regardless of what they look like within the virtual space, each is an individual, with thoughts, feelings, and wallets.

Every avatar is the online visage to a real, individual person. Never forget this.

Regardless of how unusual a person appears, they are a conscious individual, with thoughts, feelings, and cash or credit facilities. It does not matter if they are a 20 foot tall phallic representation, a fairy, or karta before you. Each is an individual person, and each could be a returning customer if treated correctly.

Learn your customer base, especially if you plan on catering to niche interests.

Fourth Law

Niche is not a niche.

What may be just a niche business of a few thousand individuals locally, explodes into a niche business of tens of thousands or more, globally. Especially when travel is taken out of the equation. Set up shop early, and treat your customers well. You may very well find, your online business eclipses your physical, as the VR environment grows.

Fifth Law

Don't descend into fantasy to cover shoddy business practices.

You might think you can get away with being a little less swift on the uptake, or offer a little less service if you wrap it up in whichever fantasy lifestyle a given niche are living out.

This will not work. It cannot be strongly emphasised enough: People are not fooled by the fantasy elements. They will see straight through to your business practices, and they will shop elsewhere.

Maintain the same integrity you would with offline clientele, at all times.

Sixth Law

A business park in Activeworlds stands silent and alone; long-abandoned showrooms mute testimony to business without any added value to the consumer.

Be relevant and add value. Many commercial companies have established a virtual world presence, but precious few have converted that into an effective, profitable sales channel. Just because it is 'cool' does not cut it. Make sure you have a business model in place that outlines exactly how you are going to gain revenue, and have fall-back positions.

Many VR showrooms stand as mute testimonial to this: Cavernous empty spaces that were designed to show off, rather than to maximise business traffic flow, and which sit empty and abandoned, offering no added value for customers to visit them, ever.

Seventh Law

Be aware of the potential downsides to a virtual presence, and that for some industries if improperly handled, it could actually hurt business. Have measures in place to contain this before it gets out of hand.

An example:

Second Life is predominantly adult activity based, with a mix of neutral activities - neither adult nor child specific. If you open up in business in a virtual area filled with such establishments, you might lend your customers the belief that you support such activity. This could be a problem if a large part of your stock is sold to children.

Eighth Law

 

The Reuters news agency has an outpost inside virtual worlds themselves, and a steady stream of news from within, goes out to worldwide mainstream media.

Major mistakes in-world do not stay in-world; they have a habit of appearing in mainstream media.

If you fail to contain a situation properly, you could wake up one morning to find it splashed across the pages of the paper. It does happen, more often than you might realise. An employee or employees acting on company time, becomes is embroiled in a major in-world affair, suddenly gets your company name involved as well. If this affair has greater significance - such as recent political protests, or events covered routinely by major news agencies - Reuters for example, has a permanent presence in most social VR systems - then you may well find your whole business impacted by bad press.

Ninth law

The corollary to the eighth law. If you support large in-world activities with a positive spin, then check the news services over the next few days, you will almost invariably find that one mainstream paper or another, somewhere in the world, has picked up on it and is running stories.

Using this, you will find yourself opening up markets you never knew existed.

Tenth Law

This is for the long haul. If you become involved, expect to stay involved as over time the different platforms merge or become generally compatible, and over the same timeframe, grow to be a significant market force of their own.