What the future holds ... Reloaded

In an earlier post I wrote about Erica Driver’s concise overview of the future of Web 2.0/3D calling it a blueprint of what’s coming next. This statement still holds true although there are more reports to come qualifying for that category. A recent one is the Metaverse Roadmap published by the Acceleration Studies Foundation (associated with Stanford University). Whilst Driver’s account focuses on near-term developments and provides a comprehensive overview of technologies that are already out there the Metaverse Roadmap speculates about the long(er)-term trends (next 10 and next 20 years).

Metaverse takes it as a given that eventually all Web 1.0, Web 2.0/3D technologies will be integrated (or meshed, to use tech talk). Based on this basic assumption it outlines four separate scenarios: Virtual Worlds, Mirror Worlds, Augmented Reality, Lifelogging. The future will most likely combine elements of each of these scenarios. For the purpose of our ongoing discussion, however, the Virtual World scenario is the most interesting one.

The Roadmap foresees that Virtual Worlds may “become primary tools (with videos and text secondary) for … acquiring new skills, for job assessment, and for many of our most cost-effective and productive forms of collaboration”. I have discussed previously examples of Unilever, BP and others who have made already big steps in this direction. Yet, Virtual Worlds will not only become the standard application for technical learning but also increasingly for soft skill training. Skills and capabilities learned in massively multi-user virtual worlds (mainly in games but also in social environments like Second Life) will be decisive for tomorrow’s managers and leaders: “[T]he leadership and collaboration skills required in virtual environments are increasingly well-suited to excelling in the business world. In coming years, quest management in virtual worlds, or winning entrepreneurial serious games may be as valid as sports team leadership or other traditional experience for executive training.” So we’re back to my bet that in the future job interviewers will be more interested in a candidate’s World of Warcraft’s raids, quests or Kalimdor and Azeroth’s explorations than his foreign language skills.

Together with Groundswell (to be discussed in a future post) and Driver’s report the Metaverse Roadmap should be required reading for any executive who is serious about utilizing technologies to better engage with his/her constituencies – mainly customers and employees.

Bye for now!
Charles