We assume that IBM is adopting or at least experimenting with Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) for the training of employees. Would you give us some insights into that game world?

Tony O'Driscoll: We are investigating avatar-mediated 3D environments on a number of fronts. William Gibson's famous quote, -œThe future is already here; it's just not very evenly distributed,- is quite salient to our research endeavours in this space.

At the enterprise learning level, our Global Innovation Outlook (GIO) research suggests that the future of business could consist of a billion one-person enterprises, people who move frequently from project to project as their skills focus and shift. In essence, the GIO research suggests that we are seeing a trend where people are organizing themselves around the endeavour rather than around the enterprise.

In such a collaborative, contribution-based environment, the role of the enterprise could shift dramatically from command and control of permanent employees to the orchestration and facilitation of the endeavours between individuals or groups of individuals who are not employed directly by the enterprise. Rather than existing as static and fixed organizations, more enterprises could essentially become an aggregation of specialized entities with complementary interests, expanding, contracting and reconfiguring themselves in a way that best adapts to the needs of the market.

Our research focuses on the hypothesis that the emerging metaverse (metaphysical universe consisting of synthetic worlds and MMORPGs) my have embedded within it some clues as to the structure, economics, and affordances that will characterize the enterprise of the future. Said differently, it is possible that the metaverse could serve as a petri-dish for product, service, business process, business model, and leadership policy innovations that add economic value in the real-world enterprise context.

It is no question that the young generation loves online role games. Do employees appreciate them as well?

Tony O'Driscoll: The important thing to note here is that each and every day the distinction between gamers and employees is becoming less and less relevant. For instance, according to Beck and Wade, in the US alone, 81% of the business population 34 or younger are gamers, 56 million are old enough to be employees, and 7 million are already managers.

So the fact is, whether we want to deal with it or not, an ever-increasing number of employees are gamers, and we need to become very cognizant of this as we think about future learning strategies. These people have grown up in a world that is very different from ours. They are digital natives, not digital immigrants. They will demand that the enterprise provide them with the ability to communicate, collaborate, and co-create as they have done growing up.

Where do you see the biggest benefits of MMORPGs in corporate training?

Tony O'Driscoll: I believe the immersion and interactivity that the metaverse provides creates an wonderful crucible for true experiential learning. Learning in games occurs when the lack of the capability of the player intersects with their need to have that capability to survive. It is engineered so that teachable moments surface at every turn. It is also constructed so that different people with different needs encounter different lessons at different times.

A level 60, guild leader in World of Warcraft has to spend about 500 hours in-world: strategizing, calculating risks, recruiting guild members, planning and executing raids, allocating winnings, etc. In essence, the process of becoming a World of Warcraft guild master amounts to a total immersion course in leadership.

The same could be said of product development in Star Wars Galaxies or strategy development in EVE. That being said, it is not so much a given topic area that I would focus on but the opportunity that this kind of environment can provide for experiential learning for certain roles within the organization or the execution of certain processes by a number of roles. That, I believe, may be where the true value and benefit lies: collaborative experiential learning around a functional process or set of activities.

Game Development is very expensive. Does is it work as well without highly sophisticated graphics and design?

Tony O'Driscoll: Cost is always something that the Luddites of the world hide behind in order to avoid change. It is important that we clarify that the opportunity to experiment with 3D avatar-mediated environments is not synonymous with the need to find millions of dollars to develop a world-class MMORPG.

There are two types of avatar-mediated environments today: synthetic worlds and MMORPGs. It is true that to create an MMORPG from scratch would cost a significant amount of money. However, synthetic world platforms such as Second Life can provide a very cost-effective way of creating these metaverse learning environments.

At IBM we have created a number of islands in Second Life. One is an experimental area to understand how 3D collaboration might add value in areas such as innovation and collaboration. Another recently housed our first virtual block party for IBMers and IBM alumni. We're also experimenting with this concept for Onboarding programs within the learning function. Renting an island on Second Life is relatively inexpensive ($5K US) and having 3D developers such as Electric Sheep turn your island into the environment you want is quite affordable. A great example is the NMC campus that they developed.

So while it is accurate that developing a full-blown MMORPG from scratch would be a significant investment, it is not true that getting into the application of metaverse learning environments can't be done because it is too expensive. It just requires leveraging some of the existing platforms out there to suit your specific objective.