I am not making this up. Just ask IBM scientist epreditor Potato. (He’s the robot below.)
IBM spells out work rules for avatars
Associated Press
07/26/2007
SAN FRANCISCO – IBM Corp. will publish official guidelines this week for more than 5,000 employees who inhabit Second Life and other virtual worlds where Big Blue hosts meetings with clients and partners.
Second Life, owned by San Francisco-based startup Linden Labs, has more than 8 million avatars; most look human, but many take the form of chipmunks, zombies or fantastic beasts.
IBM, whose 20th century employees were parodied as corporate cogs in matching navy suits, doesn’t have an avatar dress code. But guidelines suggest being “especially sensitive to the appropriateness of your avatar or persona’s appearance when you are meeting with IBM clients or conducting IBM business.”
…But in a place where identities are nebulous and avatars have virtual sex at first sight, business experts say IBM’s guidelines may come off as stodgy – the 20th century stereotype that Big Blue largely shook in recent years.
IBM’s “metaverse evangelist,” British computer scientist Ian Hughes, is a minor celebrity in Second Life. His avatar, clearly associated with IBM, is a wicked-looking robot with dreadlocks named “ePredator Potato.”
This is ePredator Potato
Job Opening in Armonk, New York: Avatar Approver
Which of these is permissible for work with clients?
Stop here if you are easily offended.
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I know there was a bit of a panic that there was a clamp down of some sort. This is all very self regulating guidelines stuff that we have published.
They key is that people understand that there is a context to virtual worlds and interactions in them.
Some places in some worlds need certain ways to interact and express yourself.
Clearly that may seem like a “you need to wear a suit for a customer” statement, but it works the other way around too letting people know “Don’t expect everyone to conform to your own social norms.”
A great deal of focus has been put on the visuals, however it is also about being part of the community (whichever platform or technology).
There was a bit of extra comment on this both on eightbar.com and on terra nova which you may find interesting.
My fellow metaverse evangelist Roo has written some good stuff.
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