Virtual worlds: education, training and collaboration

As an explorer of virtual worlds, I like to keep up on what's happening.  Despite rumors that Second Life is dying and the metaverse has had its day, the number of virtual worlds is growing. Here's a list (2015) of the Top 10 Virtual Worlds.

Karl Kapp's post "3D Virtual Worlds are NOT Dead, Dying or Disappearing (Mar 2012)" agrees that the number of virtual worlds is growing.  In his post he discusses uses for virtual environments and lists some.  Writing about virtual worlds as suitable environments for work is Aliza Sherman at GigaOm in her article "Virtual Worlds: Immersive Training, Collaboration and Meetings (Jun 2011)".  She states:

Are virtual worlds really viable environments for work? According to a survey by Unisfair, a global provider of virtual events and business environments, usage of virtual environments is growing for marketing, training and collaboration. Surveying 550 marketers nationwide, the study revealed that 60 percent of respondents plan to increase spending on virtual events and environments this year.

The breakdown of virtual activities outlined in the survey include training (42 percent); customer engagement (36 percent); internal collaboration (34 percent); lead generation (29 percent); and networking (8 percent). Nearly half of the respondents predict an increase in “hybrid” corporate events within two years.

This article on IBM's developerWorks page talks about the company's use of Virtual Spaces to enable immersive, global collaboration.  In the summary it states that

Globalization and a challenging business environment are placing new demands on today's enterprises. Organizations that are in an increasingly distributed environment are striving to provide guidance and enablement for teams working across disparate time zones.

Other uses for virtual worlds include:

• Immersive education, such as what is described at Media Grid, and
• Health care training and eduction, such as CliniSpace.

Note: This post contains dated material.

-- Marge