We discussed a wide range of subjects, including the use of virtual worlds for serious applications beyond online games and related social environments.  When will virtual worlds become a real business?, our moderator asked.

I expressed my opinion that meetings and learning and training may very well be the killer apps of virtual worlds, that is, those applications that turn out to be unexpectedly useful and help propel the success of a new product or service in the marketplace.  For example, there is general agreement that spreadsheet applications had a lot to do with the initial adoption of personal computers in business.

Some panel members agreed with me, while others thought that it would be a pity if the reason business adopts virtual worlds is for something as mundane as conducting virtual meetings.  But remember, spreadsheet applications were successful not because they were exciting.  The reason that spreadsheets and word processing are viewed as killer apps is because they helped validate that PCs were becoming a tool for real work and would improve personal productivity.

Similarly, I think that virtual meetings and virtual learning and training are helping drive the adoption of virtual worlds in business based on my impressions of how they are already being used by thousands within IBM and in other companies we are working with.  I also see quite a number of universities experimenting with the use of virtual worlds for online courses.

Moreover, I actually think that meetings and learning are fascinating subjects to study, especially if the object of the study is to understand how to leverage new technologies like the Internet, social networks and virtual worlds to significantly improve them.  Let's not forget that meetings generally involve people coming together for some common purpose - to make an important decision, to come up with a market strategy, to try to formulate a new innovative solution to a problem, and so on.

Meetings also occur for many purposes - to train people in a university or business, to consult on a medical problem, to try to close a sale, to offer financial advice.  Meetings constitute a huge part of our economy, and of the work that people engage in.  We should not be surprised that meetings, - namely collaborative decision making, problem solving, learning and innovation, - will be even more important in the talent-based knowledge economy that we are entering. 

I think that it would be a huge breakthrough if we can significantly improve the quality of meetings through the use of new technology-based capabilities like virtual worlds - simultaneously making them more appealing to the people involved as well as making them more effective in achieving their goals.   I am convinced that such breakthroughs will inevitably lead to serious financial returns for the companies involved. 

Another fascinating topic discussed in our panel was whether people behave better in virtual worlds than on blogs, forums and chat rooms.  Does the visual element in virtual worlds - the fact that avatars remind us that we are interacting with other real human beings - make us more polite? 

The consensus of the team was that virtual worlds do indeed encourage more polite behavior, - perhaps not a very high bar considering the level of anger and insults often expressed in social networks.  We all felt that people fight less and their behavior is more civil toward each other in virtual worlds than in forums or blogs, although we cannot quite prove it yet.  We clearly need a lot more research on the subject. 

Je kan op zijn blog nog verder lezen over de IBM Virtual World Guidelines, de gedragscode voor IBM werknemers in SL.