There are dozens of virtual worlds on the internet that provide a place to play, to work, to buy and sell for millions of people around the world. Increasingly, they are becoming a place to work with others. More and more organisations are tapping into the profitable power of the Virtual Reality Workplace.
Imagine you are a member of a multi-site organisation with locations across the country or around the world. Sitting at your computer at home or in your workplace, you log into your organisation's 'Virtual Reality (VR) Workplace', where you can move freely through a virtual environment using a computer-generated version of yourself - your own personal avatar. At the VR Workplace, you sit at the table with colleagues from other branch offices far away. You can see them, hear them, talk to them in your own voice and they talk back. You can share information on a whiteboard, watch the same video or presentation and view the same documents. In fact, you can do 'virtually' anything that happens in a real-live meeting.
The biggest difference is that nobody went anywhere near an airport, train station or hotel. Nobody had to leave their family, missing out on a child's birthday or other family event. No airfare, no jet lag, no hotel bill or expenses. You have had almost the in-person benefits of a face-to-face meeting with none of the real world time and expense.
The concept is "remote togetherness" - using virtual world technology to bring people together, as if they were there in the room. Conference calls, video conferencing and some software solutions like Microsoft's NetMeeting were certainly helpful in their time, but they lack the elusive "togetherness" factor, that hard-to-get-at connection with co-workers.
IT Managers have been struggling with this challenge for years – how do we get our people together for that vital interaction but without the time and expense burden?
Dave Elchoness is a US HR attorney and former IT outsourcing executive. He knows the challenges of remote working: lack of interpersonal connection, cohesion and esprit de corp, generally less-than-optimal product, poor job satisfaction and difficult management. Today, Dave is an advocate of a new, broader concept that is increasingly being adopted in education, training and even commerce. 'VR Workplace' adds an in-person element to remote interactions of all kinds. Elchoness started his consultancy to construct virtual environments to suit the needs of clients and to advise companies on how virtual world technology can be used in the enterprise.
"The 20th century saw the rise of the automobile, the airplane, the computer and the network," said Dave. "Each of these remarkable inventions enabled long distance interaction e.g. commuting, business air travel, email/'offshoring'. However, we have now recognized what I call the '20th Century Hangover'. Commuting and air travel are difficult, expensive, disruptive as well as polluting. And whereas conventional electronic means of communication has allowed us to work with people long distances away, it has left us lacking interpersonal connection - the loss of what we think of as the traditional 'Main Street', where we worked together and knew each other well. Virtual worlds, are, in my opinion the hangover cure. It's the next evolutionary step of telecommuting, where we can be with each other in a meaningful way without leaving our homes. In a virtual sense, we can reinvent 'Main Street' on a global scale using virtual worlds technology".
According to Dave, organizations of all kinds can use the power of virtual worlds to turbo-boost their productivity and free their people from burdensome and expensive travel. From a small organization seeking to reach out to the world to sell a product, connect to a customer or work more closely with a partner far away, to a large corporation wishing to bring together thousands of remote workers as if in person, to an educational institution seeking to expand the reach of its teaching and knowledge sharing.
But it is absolutely NOT the real thing. At the end of the day, animated avatars on a computer screen, even when voice-enabled, are not the same as being in a room with co-workers. Dave Elchoness believes it is a fair pay-off, given the benefits that VR Workplace brings. "I think ultimately people will realize that this technology allows them to adjust their lives in the way they need. I think there is a recognition that life is harder than it needs to be and we are beginning to see an awareness that virtual world technology may be part of the answer. This all started with games. Now, we are looking at multi-user environments for business, because collaboration in these environments works.
Not surprisingly, the early adopters of the VR Workplace concept include educators, who are leading the experimental charge in training and simulations of all kinds. The medical profession too is resorting to VR to 'virtualize' surgery, triage and to provide diagnostic practice time for med students. Kids' worlds are also enormously successful and there are more of them every day. Nickelodeon, Disney, Paramount and Lego are just a few of the bigger names competing for market share in Virtual Worlds.
As for workplaces themselves, the industry is still new. Companies such as IBM, Cisco and Sun are investing substantial sums in this space because they recognize the enormous potential of VR Workplaces. The US military has used virtual environments for years for simulations and training. Governmental agencies around the world are taking notice and many are beginning to get engaged in this space.
Some countries such as China and Singapore are implementing national initiatives. A successful outcome would make it many times easier and more productive for a person in Asia to not only work more effectively with a co-worker in Europe or North America, it would make them 'feel' a lot closer and potentially relate more easily to colleagues far away.
IBM, Cisco and Sun are among those companies that have publicly described their activities in this area. Other companies are engaged to a lesser extent. Many global telecommunications companies are experimenting with technology that will facilitate the rise of virtual workplaces.
The potential for change in global business culture is enormous. We are talking about re-writing the book on 'globalisation'.
Today's internet is essentially a metaphor for a magazine. We see two-dimensional pictures and text. We even use terms like home "Page" as if we were reading a magazine. However, the internet is rapidly evolving towards a 3D environment, where the magazine metaphor is abandoned in favour of a universe metaphor – the Metaverse. Industry watchers say that before very long, the majority of web presences will incorporate some sort of 3D or virtual world element. They will be immersive and reflect real life better than anything on the web today. "This is not a fad," said Dave Elchoness. "In fact, as hardware improves, virtual worlds and web 3D will leap off of the screen. Avatars will be photorealistic. Human emotion will be better depicted on avatars. We will travel 'in' the web to each other as commonly as we surf the web today".
Against the backdrop of this stimulating scenario for the future, the Association of Virtual Worlds (AVW) has been formed. It is dedicated to outreach and education. Dave Elchoness is its Executive Director. He said that Virtual Worlds have been getting some bad press and the AVW was created to correct that. "Virtual worlds represent a real transformation in how we work, play and live. The Association exists to promote the medium, spread the positive message and bring those who are passionate about virtual worlds together. A really important aspect is bringing newcomers to virtual worlds. In that regard, we have the Business & Social Network, a new publishing division and a virtual environment using a web-native technology (no download) so that access is extremely easy. I believe that once you see the 3D web, you will immediately understand its value".
Since its establishment at the beginning of 2008, membership of the AVW has grown to more than 1,500, reflecting the rapid growth in interest in virtual worlds. Dave Elchoness said that the impulse to keep exploring is hard to resist. "I spend all my time exploring virtual environments, learning about them and trying to figure out how to help move them into the mainstream. My first business related foray into virtual worlds was with a small law office in Second Life. I now own a full sim in Second Life, VRWorkplace, that highlights the different kinds of workplace one might like to have in a virtual world, from the very conventional to the entirely fanciful".
Kids are using virtual worlds like no other demographic. They understand 'remote togetherness' in a way that most adults are yet to grasp. Today's kids, 'tweens' and teenagers see possibilities in immersive technology that their parents cannot imagine today. No matter what progress is made by the generation that runs the world today, the next generation will be the settlers who follow the trails blazed by today's innovative explorers into brave new virtual worlds.