Segmenting Metaverse Creators: Exploring Creators’ Perceived Value and Creation Style in the Creator Economy

In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, the metaverse has emerged as a groundbreaking platform, offering unparalleled opportunities for creators to monetize their skills, content, and experiences. The sustained development of the metaverse hinges on effectively engaging metaverse creators, ensuring their prosperity within the metaverse economy. Despite the increasing recognition of metaverse creators’ roles, there remains a significant gap in understanding the nature of the creators who engage in economic activities within the metaverse. To address this research gap, we categorized metaverse creators, using the Q methodology. Initial interviews with six active metaverse creators helped to develop 45 Q statements. Q sorts were then conducted with 20 metaverse creators. As a result, we identified distinct segments of metaverse creators based on their perceived value and creation style. In a subsequent study, the segmentation was applied to data collected from 125 metaverse creators across the Zepeto, Roblox, and Ifland platforms to test its generalizability. By identifying unique characteristics of each creator segment, the study enriches the metaverse literature, thereby setting a foundation for future research in the creator economy. Moreover, it provides practical insights to inform service and strategy development in metaverse platforms, ensuring they cater effectively to creators’ diverse needs.