Doing Business in Real Time
About this Blog:
The global economy has a life of its own, it lives in real-time, and we are all part of it. Hello brave new world.
Using Serious Games for Business Intelligence and Collaboration
Technology from the world of online games could be the next great new thing in business
In games like World of Warcraft and EVE Online thousands of people log on simultaneously from around the world. The players interact with each other in real time using lifelike simulations of complex worlds. And in those worlds they form companies, join alliances and embark on missions in hope of fame and fortune. Question: How is this any different from what actual companies do in the global real time economy we now inhabit?
While companies and consultants are busy discussing business intelligence systems and web-based collaboration tools, perhaps we are overlooking an even more profound and powerful technology. Business intelligence systems are fine but maybe we need something more than pie charts, scatter plots and regression lines. Web-based collaboration tools like document sharing and video conferencing are good but maybe there is more to collaboration than just that.
[ I do lively presentations on this and related topics - mhugos@yahoo.com ]
Massively Multi-Player Online Games
Let’s use the game EVE Online to explore what else might be possible. This game is an example of what are known as massively multi-player online games (MMOGs). EVE Online is a single virtual universe with multiple planets and star systems and it can handle up to 300,000 players online at once. EVE is supported by arrays of blade servers working together to sustain its universe and carry out the actions of its players. It’s a cloud-based system that users anywhere can access through a web browser. Starting with the EVE home page below, here are some screen shots that illustrate this world and how it works (all screen shots courtesy of EVE Online, copyright © CCP 1997-2010).
The world of EVE is highly realistic in that it accurately models relevant laws of physics (like gravity, mass and motion) and laws of economics (like supply and demand). Within the constraints of these laws players are free to do whatever they wish and interact with other players as they see fit. So situations evolve as a result of the combined actions of all the players; nothing is pre-scripted. Just like in the real world, this world is an “unscripted, emergent experience” that comes about through the behavior of the players and the workings of the laws of physics and economics.
About 95% of every item or space ship in EVE is made by the players from scratch and sold through EVE’s central market system. Players create corporations and alliances to compete for economic and military success. And as players interact, other dynamics of the real world are also manifested in this virtual world – dynamics like psychology, sociology, politics, and culture.
Powerful Business Intelligence and Business Collaboration Capabilities
Massively multi-player online games use moving 3D displays to present information from real-time data feeds. Unlike mere columns of numbers or line graphs or bar charts, these moving 3D displays provide a context that we humans are already programmed to understand (we see the real world as moving 3D displays). So the context provided by moving 3D displays enables people to more quickly orient themselves and understand what is happening and make decisions about how best to respond. This could also be the basis for a powerful business intelligence system.
People participating in an online game event see data generated by that event in real time and they see it from their own individual perspectives as the event unfolds. Below are two screen shots from EVE showing a battle
Previous Post: IT Agility Drives Business Agility and Business Agility Drives ProfitsNext Post: Massively Multi-Player Serious Supply Chain Games [Online]
What is Tech Briefcase?
TechBriefcase is a new, free service where IT Professionals can Search, Store and Share IT white papers and content like this. Learn more
Bookmark content
Speed up your research efforts with content across the web.
Search and Store
Find the white papers you need. Create folders for any topic.
View Anywhere
Open your briefcase on your iPhone, tablet or desktop. Share with colleagues.
Most Discussed Posts
Cloud computing has emerged as one of the most significant game changers to hit the technology landscape in the past 20 years. With this massive expansion of the cloud, the perception of the IT organization is shifting from a utility player to a change agent. This eBook breaks down five ways progressive organizations are using cloud-based IT Management solutions to help drive innovation and become more strategic, including: adding visibility and analytics, speeding up time-to-value, lowering costs, improving prioritization, and providing a blueprint for future cloud deployments.
Read the white paper to see how IBM helped Citigroup deliver new services and enhancements to their 200 million customers faster.
There are 3 ways to modernize legacy applications: rewrite completely, acquire packaged solutions or migrate existing code. This paper explains why it's best to migrate and how IBM® Rational® software can help.
Accommodating specific lines of business can result in a hybrid ecosystem of applications and servers. The resulting complexity of this architecture makes for an environment that is costly to maintain and difficult to change when addressing new challenges.
This whitepaper will help you to define a mobile device passcode policy. Security managers must attempt to reconcile two opposing goals. They must: 1) create a passcode policy that is strong enough to protect the device if it is lost or stolen, while: 2) not annoying users with needless length or complexity.
This whitepaper, authored by The Radicati Group, looks at the key reasons organizations should consider moving to a cloud-based archiving solution. Email archiving solutions enable organizations to store, monitor, and collect electronic data exchanged by their users to comply with internal policies and regulations.
ATERNITY will showcase a 30-minute demo on how Fortune 500 companies are leveraging its award-winning FPI Platform to deliver a user-centric approach to Proactive IT Management.
For businesses to move forward and tap into the ever-expanding universe of Internet users and network-enabled devices, it's critical to learn how to make the transition to IPv6. Learn the critical steps your organization must take to make a seamless transition-and keep your business world connected.
Learn how IT teams can protect against spear phishing tactics. Harry Sverdlove, chief technology officer of Bit9 offers a frank discussion about spear phishing - the most common technique used in today's advanced attacks.
Learn how to build a solid business case for your migration to Red Hat Enterprise Linux so you can run leaner, innovate faster, be more flexible and own the New Now.
Social media isn't about you; it's about everything around you. As you consider how your customers want to communicate with you, social media is something that can't be ignored. But what should your strategy be? Is social media "just another channel?" What kind of a plan makes sense for your contact center and for your customers? Join our experts as they share their insight and research results.
Hardware tokens were a popular method of strong authentication in past years but the cumbersome provisioning and distribution tasks, high support requirements and replacement costs have limited their growth. The additional log-in steps that hardware tokens require and the resulting user frustrations have limited adoption and make them impractical for larger scale partner and customer applications.
Sponsored Links
