Understanding the Role of Sense of Presence and Perceived Autonomy in Users' Continued Use of Social Virtual Worlds

摘要

Despite an exponentially increasing number of registered users, social virtual worlds haventhe problem of a high user attrition rate. It is thus meaningful to explore which factorsninfluence users’ continued use of social virtual worlds. The current study attempts to findnthese factors in unique characteristics (e.g., 3-dimentional environment, avatar interaction,nand user empowerment) in the world, which can be sources for retaining users. Specifically,nthe study employs the sense of presence and perceived autonomy. 194 users of Second Life,nwhich is the largest social virtual world, participated in the survey. The findings support thenargument that the sense of presence and autonomy are influential in users’ continued usenof social virtual worlds.