Virtual World: Where is the border between game and PLM software?

The development of game technologies is taking huge step forwards and is sometimes outperforming product development tools such as CAD, simulation etc. It is very interesting to see how game software has new capabilities that allows you to visualize, simulate and create stuff that belongs to the game space; but when you take a closer look, it seems to be much than a release of commercial design software (such as CAD, etc.)

Recently, I’ve been looking at virtual environments that are becoming more and more popular, in my opinion. The first well known one is Second Life developed by Linden Lab. But recently, I have seen few new environments. One of them was developed by a company – Metaplace

What is interesting about this software is that it is very similar to blog-following software, as it works inside of a browser.

From the customer ‘s  standpoint,  this functionality is very useful in scenarios relating to collaborative design and social experience. What if PLM companies were to use these capabilities to develop design software that would run or integrate with these virtual worlds? Design would therefore become social. Another possibility would be to integrate collaboration capabilities that allow you see social groups and other contractual work in this virtual environment.