Visiting Lotusphere, ZDNet's Dave Greenfield got to catch up with some key folks developing virtual world-related apps for business -- in addition to the anticipated unveiling of "Second Life For Business" Bluegrass, the collaborative professional world, he found out about Wormhole, which renders real-world objects as avatars. He also noticed that using online spaces for team building is a sustaining trend.

His observation? Says Greenfield from Lotusphere: "I think what all of these projects have in common beside the raw technology is that the work environment should be made to be a bit more fun. Games, online interactions, and the like are parts of 'playing' with one another that leads to more effective teams. I think it’s an interesting idea. What do you think?"

We've noticed that the virtual worlds and gaming spheres have begun to share best practices and common goals, one of the major aims of our upcoming Worlds in Motion Summit (don't forget to register!). Could virtual worlds also be becoming a quintessential bridge between work and play?

[Social Software: It's Just A Game | ZDNet.com]