We all know the movie, the whole world’s population living in a virtual world, but is it all just sci fi?  We have already seen the birth of virtual worlds in a lot of successful video games, and with online social media platforms such as Second Life, but now IBM stands to take it in a new direction.

The production of Innov8 is at full throttle, and apparently it will be here soon.  Innov8 is designed to be the ultimate corporate training tool.  It has been said that it will help shape leaders, and help managers gain a better understanding of their business responsibilities.  Although it has an underlying feeling of a game, it has been compared to as a “second office”.

 So I bet you’re wondering, how can being a part of an online “virtual world” help with training?  Apparently, as far as IBM’s research goes, playing massive online multiplayer games can help when managing multinationals.  Although none of this research has been released, they say they will release it one day, probably closer to the release of Innov8.

According to Gartner (a market researcher), by 2011 80% of online users will have a digital version of themselves, and by the end of 2012 they have projected that half of US companies will have digital offices, a place to hold meetings, recruit new staff, and communicate internationally. 

A few years ago with the release of the movie the Matrix, it did ponder in the back of my mind, is this possible?  And now it looks as though we are definitely heading that direction.