There's a great news story on seriousgamesource.com about IBM's new IBM@Play initiative. The company is planning to use online virtual environments to teach employees about its 'cultural values, decision-making regimens, and required technical skill sets'. Among the virtual worlds its using are Second Life and India's PlaneShift. The story explains further:
"The program was created as a means to accommodate thousands of geographically dispersed new employees who work or reside in remote areas that are significant distances from centralized IBM facilities. According to IBM, one of IBM@Play's chief goals is to take advantage of the internet and its ability to bring people together as a social network, thus breaking down the barriers of distance and satellite office environments. IBM notes that it plans to expand the program next year with the ability to train new employees across the company's global workforce."
Are MMO worlds about to become great big corporate training programmes? Will Ghost Recon, Battlefield and Call of Duty gamers find themselves engaging in online battle with groups of middle-managers on virtual outward bound courses? It is such a daft idea it is almost certainly already happening.
