Generative Playfulness: Redefining Professionalism In The Virtual Office

Workplaces have long treated play and professionalism as in tension, with playful behaviour often perceived as threatening organisational legitimacy and individual credibility. However, the emergence of virtual offices (persistent, avatar-mediated virtual workplaces) challenges this by embedding playful affordances directly into professional environments. This qualitative study examines how employees working in browser-based and immersive virtual offices experience and integrate playfulness into their work practices. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 18 knowledge workers, our findings show that playful elements (including avatar customisation, spatial design and gamified interactions) do not undermine professionalism but rather reconfigure it. We introduce the concept of 'generative playfulness', a distinctive form of play and interaction in virtual workplace environments. The study contributes to Information Systems research by demonstrating that the virtual office doesn't just mirror its physical counterpart but becomes a constitutive space where organisational culture and professionalism are actively produced, performed, and reimagined.