Can we virtually collaborate?

By Linda King, G2G3

The recent launch of ‘Lively’ - the new virtual collaboration environment from Google seems to be another step towards the adoption of virtual and 3D environments for the educational and corporate mainstream. Traditionally the mainstay of the leisure and gaming world, virtual environments started to stray into the business and educational world with Second Life. Despite the media hype and initial enthusiasm, Second Life has taken a bit of a bashing lately, with industry analysts Gartner stating that 90% of Second Life business initiatives fail - however they and other industry analysts are still convinced that virtual environments will have a significant impact on business and collaboration as we know it.

As an experiential learning provider, it is interesting to consider how our solutions will transfer to such an environment. Yes there are benefits - an enhanced global reach and reduced training costs - but how can a virtual environment recreate the buzz and excitement generated during a face-to-face group ITIL simulation? How can communication be replicated to the point of creating real team benefits? When considering this, one only need look at the quality and depth of 3D gaming itself. In a quality gaming environment, gamers become totally absorbed in the gameplay, with no question about excitement. In fact, there are many gamers out there who would stay up all night playing games if they could! The challenge for learning providers in business - to effectively recreate this level of energy for their virtual collaborations.