Virtual Worlds Forum

Games in the workplace? Surely you have to work at one of those trendy Web 2.0 companies who foster employee happiness with beanbag-strewn chillout zones with Xbox 360s in them? But no, it seems that 70% of major employers are already using game-like simulations for training their workforces. That's according to a survey released by games industry trade body the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).

Analyst firm Gartner is releasing a new report investigating how enterprises can justify investing in virtual world projects - called logically enough 'How to Justify Enterprise Investment in Virtual Worlds'. It offers a three-step approach to ensure businesses get their money's worth out of virtual worlds (the premise that they should be investing appears to be taken as a given).

Clever Zebra has been talking up its virtual conference technology, following its recent vBusiness Expo, which saw 170 companies attending remotely to listen to speakers from Sun, IBM, Kelly Services and Gartner. The success is tempered somewhat by the fact that the subject of the conference was... how virtual worlds are changing business. So attendees by definition would be more open to attending a conference virtually than other industries might be.

Want proof that some of the biggest corporations are taking virtual worlds seriously? ArcelorMittal, one of the largest steel companies in the world, is to hold a virtual shareholders meeting in Second Life. That includes individual shareholders getting the chance to pose questions to the company's management, as well as access documentation relating to the company. It's happening on 17 June, with a pre-registration process at the company's website.

News of another big player entering the virtual worlds market, with Nortel's demonstration of a new virtual worlds platform called Web Alive. It showed the technology off at an event in Ottowa, according to Zdnet's Team Think blog.

The University of Worcester's Colin Price has come up with a new form of presentations that (I hope) someone uses at this year's Virtual Worlds Forum! It involves embedding PowerPoint presentations into first-person-shooter game Unreal Tournament.

That's the headline coming out of some new research by Gartner Group, which highlights the way many big brands have dived into virtual worlds, but then quietly slunk out within a year and a half when they don't meet their initial expectations.

It's tempting to see China as a potential goldrush for virtual worlds, given its huge population. However, an article in Business Week makes it clear that it's very early days indeed, claiming that the largest local virtual world, HiPiHi, has 48,000 registered users, while its main rivals NovoKing and UOneNet have £10,000 and less than £1,000 respectively.

When it comes to record labels, they don't come bigger than Universal Music Group. So the news that UMG is using Second Life for its annual Pan-European company conference will come as a big boost to the notion of virtual worlds as corporate tools.

Dutch bank ABN AMRO was one of the first financial institutions to truly engage with virtual worlds, with its activities in Second Life. However, it seems the bank is setting its sights elsewhere, starting to use Active Worlds for its internal comms, collaboration and e-learning projects.

It's interesting: a few months ago, there was a backlash against virtual worlds in the media, based mainly on the perceived lack of success of marketing and branding campaigns within these worlds. However, right now, there's a lot more optimism about corporate virtual collaboration. So perhaps it's no surprise to see agencies who've previously focused on the branding side moving into this new sector. For example, Rivers Run Red.

IBM has been one of the more forward-thinking companies when it comes to virtual worlds for some time now, and its latest deal supplies more proof. It's becoming the first company to host private Second Life areas on its own servers, with a project that's due to go live in the coming weeks.

There might be an economic downturn on the way, but it's not stemming the flow of investment into the virtual worlds space just yet. The latest company to secure funding is Simmersion Holdings, which is launching a new virtual worlds platform called Mycosm later this year.

Qwaq is one of the companies pitching virtual worlds as ideal for corporate collaboration - a notion that's picking up a head of steam among blue-chip companies, particularly in the technology sector. However, Web Worker Daily has reviewed the service, and is distinctly unimpressed. The debate around the review throws up some interesting points about the corporate use of virtual worlds.

It's not all naked furries, y'all. IT World has a really interesting article on 'Career Networking in Second Life' telling IT professionals how they can make the most of Linden Lab's virtual world to enhance their job prospects.