Virtual web-based spaces

My research topic field is the virtual web space where online gamblers meet to play various games. This is unlike the traditional research fields since the concept of physical space is abstracted as well as the physicals and human elements needed for card games to take place. Companies operating in this field seem to have mostly put emphasis on their online image and presence as this positively ties into their business model. Online gambling is the perfect example of a business where most aspects of the field can be completely virtualized without altering the perception of trust and reliability usually associated with click-and-mortar organizations.

The virtual web-based element can be considered both an advantage and disadvantage from an ethnographic point of view in the sense that, it becomes very easy for the researcher to immerse into several geographically distributed communities - simultaneously if necessary - while at the same time enabling him/her to tap into a wider pool of potential participants; however, given that the interactions and observation mostly take place online, this diminishes the human contact factors associated with results in this type of research.