IBM In Second Life.
From adotas:
IBM has announced that it will be spending about $10 million over the next year on virtual massively multiplayer worlds like the game Second Life. CEO Sam Palmisano will be meeting with 7,000 Chinese IBM employees inside Second Life on November 17th, and then meeting with another group of employees on one of IBM’s private virtual islands.
I don't think most IBMers can quite believe it. Apologies for seeming conventional but:
1. Second Life is a game. It isn't work as most of us know it.
2. Second Life doesn't seem to have any economic value beyond that of any other multi-player game.
3. Second Life seems to foster exactly the same sort of addictive, time-wasting online, multi-player, role-playing activity that we try to steer our own children away from when they should be doing stuff in the real world, such as taking exams etc.
Palmisano's appearance on Second Life is certainly a gimmick which puts him ahead of most other IT CEOs and will help his end-of-year report card when the IBM board considers his bonus. No doubt it will lead to thousands of IBMers now dabbling on Second Life when they should be doing real work.
Posted by: Gavin Wilson | December 15, 2006 at 06:14 AM