With so many gamers earning real money playing online games like Everquest, Ultima Online, and (my favourite) Second Life, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the big blue is trying to get a piece of the virtual action. IBM has introduced an e-commerce server named Business Integration for Games, or BIG, to help game publishers (and players) set up shop in virtual worlds.
It’s not clear to me what BIG offers that the in-game economy and transaction accounting doesn’t offer already. In Second Life, for example, lots of players already run businesses and earn real money.
(Note: Second Life isn’t mentioned in the text of the article, but if you click the images, there’s a screenshot and caption.)