Gaming and the Metaverse: Trailblazing the Future of Information Systems and Platforms

Video games and its industry are leading practice in a variety of digital domains including autonomous design (procedural generation with AI) and real-time user/community engagement mechanisms. The gaming industry has been experimenting with various business and revenue models, pioneering many areas of data-driven design and innovation management, and blurring the lines between work and leisure. With the rising interest in building Metaverses and immersive experience design, many firms look at open-world videogames as the default model. Despite their cultural and digital importance, game environments are rarely the subject of IS research. They still carry stigmas of not being serious business or generalized enough for scholarly consideration. The PDW aims to formulate the effect of games, their artifacts, environments, and business models on the larger IS scholarship and draw a way forward for greater engagement of IS scholarship within the video game industry.