How can a virtual world be used to possibly benefit real estate businesses and learning venues in the real world?

That was the question in my head when, yesterday, after over a year of thinking about it, I became Nikko LeFavre. Nikko lives in the 3D virtual world called Second Life.

If you haven't heard about Second Life you're not alone, my wife had never heard of it and was fascinated. A nutshell explanation is that it's an online community in 3D. Depending on your membership level, you can buy virtual real estate -- ultimately with real dollars. (What a concept, huh?) Residents can also trade services, buy/sell commodities, develop land, auction property, and so on.

I've known about Second Life for a number of years. I thought the idea of a virtual world in which Keynesian economics plays out was worth keeping an eye on. More interesting is the link to real world dollars from virtual supply/demand interactions. But, until recently, SL to me was no more than another point of interest bundled with all those I was already participating in in a number of virtual other communities.

But, with increasing regularity, I continued bumping into stories and accounts of folks using virtual communities, virtual regions and virtual worlds for more than just a virtual passtime. 

Take, for example, Jack Peckham's Real Estate Cyber Convention ending today:

While it isn't in the Second Life realm, he and his team have come a long way from the earlier representations of a text-heavy conference hall.  The forum presentation he and his team had this week was, in my opinion, impressive and spoke volumes about trends in facilitating virtual communities, ecommerce and knowledge transfer.  (A question for Jack, will we see a Second Life version of the Real Estate Cyber Convention in the near future?)  

In the area of training and professional development, companies like IBM, British Petroleum, Starwood Hotels, NASA and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), to name jut a few, have created facilities and/or whole regions for serious interactions in learning, customer feedback, and work process simulations. According to Joe Miller, VP for Platform and Technology Development at Linden Lab, the operators of Second Life, over 300 universities and colleges have also gotten into the act by actively experimenting with accredited courses in this virtual world.

And therein lies my interest.  What are some practical examples in which others use virtual communities -- especially 3D virtual communities --to enhance professional development and knowledge transfer?  Certainly this isn't an entirely new concept.  After all, training simulations and gaming have been around long before SL.  But, those traditionally have come with large investments in capital and development resources.  The trick is, can this be done with real world benefits, operational flexibility and in a cost-effective manner? 

That's, in part, why Nikko and I decided to start Nikko's chronicles (Rookie Trainer) as a category group on another blog I write for.  We'll periodicaly cross-post real estate related articles here on RealBlogging, but for the entire series, you can check out the link above. 

And speaking of real estate-related virtual items, some agents have already set up a virtual presence for their business in SL...

While others have announced their intent to get in on this...

Feel free to send me questions you might have.  Keep in mind, Nikko and I are new Residents in Second Life.  We won't likely have answers for you right off the bat.  But, your questions will give us stuff to keep an eye out for as we start looking for answers.