This is one of those stories that made me go, 'seriously?'
Analyst group Gartner is saying that by 2013, 70% will be extending dress codes to employee's avatars. So forget frolicking around in Second Life or Entropia with next to nothing on, or tooled up with the latest virtual weapons...a short back and sides and a freshly pressed shirt it will be young man!
As James Lundy, managing vice president (?) of Gartner puts it in Personnel Today, "As the use of virtual environments for business purposes grows, businesses need to understand how employees are using avatars in ways that might affect the business or the business's reputation."
I think a comment just below the Personnel Today story has got it right, this is a step too far.
Either they represent their company in which case they should have corporate avatars (much like you have corporate Twitter accounts) that indeed tow the corporate line. Or they represent themselves, in which case I'd say they should be able to do what they like in their free time, so long as it is legal etc.
Above - what I'm guessing wouldn't be regulation virtual world office wear (from libraryman via Flickr)
- Introduction to Virtual Worlds (slideshare.net)
- Your Second Life Avatar Is Dressed Inappropriately (blogs.wsj.com)
- Shouldn't Schools Have Embraced Second Life By Now? (readwriteweb.com)
Link to original postLink to original post
Link to original post