Serious Games Summit DC 2006: Corporate Games Audit
Serious Games Summit DC 2006 Corporate Games Audit- Chris Oltyan
IBM and Their Not So Secret Second Life
Michael Nelson, director of internet technology and strategy, who tracks developments on the internet and next-gen internet, spoke about why IBM takes gaming seriously.
Driving costs down and gaining a competitive edge is part of it, but beyond that, there are some very down to earth reasons. IBM gains from next-gen gaming no matter who wins. Also, new structures like global computing grids and MMOs offer new insight on what technology will be evolving into. Most importantly, it is changing the way people collaborate.
Bringing people together is a key factor in IBM’s movement towards acceptance. Second Life, on October 12, hosted the first IBM virtual block party. IBM alum from around the world were able to log in and hang out with old friends, and connect in a way never available before. The trail to this event was blazed with collaborations like the Palace Museum in Beijing, making a model of the Forbidden City for tourists, and a Virtual Wimbledon that gave information and visualization for how the games were played.
Most importantly, IBM realized that gaming is changing the Culture of companies. A number of “Jams” illustrated this, and the Innovation Forum was a major step in this direction. An online forum of 100,000 people was moved into Second Life to help facilitate communication and simulated face to face dialog across 17 time zones. At the end of it, many ideas were exchanged and discussed, and $100 million determining the new R&D of IBM was plotted. As a result of the use of Second Life and a realization of things to come, Michael stated that a lot of that $100 million will involve gaming technologies.
It was not all roses, and some barriers were discussed, however. Lacking standards created walled gardens where collaboration was made difficult. Access control to the information discussed was a corporate nightmare, as well as security in general. Also, IBM faces issues of who gets a patent if multiple people discuss an item online, and other identity issues.
Michael offered two blogs as resources, and stated that they were non-IBM, and would thus be more informative. These were Eightbar.co.uk and gametomorrow.com.
