Buying decorative virtual goods for the avatars in the virtual world

摘要

The virtual world has been a new channel in which people can contact with the others and organizations can provide service to their customers. Selling symbolic goods in the virtual world has also emerged as a new economy. People buy symbolic goods to decorating their avatars. This study based on the theories of symbolic consumption, self-presentation, and computer-mediated environment, investigated why people buy decorative symbolic goods in the virtual world. This study not only can help us to understand better behaviors in the virtual world, the virtual world also provides us a good opportunity to understand the value of symbolic consumption and decorating behaviors in the real world.