Virtual Worlds can be used for people to virtually experience things they wouldn't otherwise in real life. They can also be used to create environments that don't exist in real life. Second Life is the most popular virtual world that is used today for creativity, communication and collaboration.
In The New York Times article "In Room 100, It's Sid and Nancy All Over Again," by Saki Knafo, Second Life is used to create a virtual replica of the Hotel Chelsea in NYC as it was before its renovation. The replica was created so that others could experience the interior of the hotel at the time when bassist Sid Vicious from Sex Pistols and his girlfriend Nancy stayed at the hotel. The creator of the virtual hotel used the photographs he had taken of the real hotel to put together his replica.
The article "Going to the virtual office in Second Life" by Mark Tutton describes how companies are now using Second Life for virtual meetings. Meeting in Second Life, helps companies save money on travel expenses and time if the employees live in locations far from each other. Companies also use a tool called Enterprise for increased security during the meetings. This tools uses the company's private network for the meetings, instead of the internet. IBM has its own tool for virtual meetings; it is called Sametime 3D.
Virtual meetings are also more productive but have some disadvantages. They can't have spontaneous "water cooler" conversations that take place after real life meetings. Virtual worlds foster creativity because anything can be created in the virtual world environment. I believe the future of virtual worlds will be an immersive virtual reality simulator where with better graphics it will be almost indistinguishable from reality.
It appears that Second Life may be more than a video game as it appears to be useful in companies for meetings as well as a form of advertisement to get the full look and feel of a hotel.
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