A virtual world for conducting meetings
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Global communications company WPP has created a world in Minecraft to be used for employee interactions
Spotted: The increased number of people working from home, at least part of the time, has led companies to think more creatively about how they organise remote meetings and business travel. Global communications group WPP has come up with a novel solution. They have created replicas of their offices in Minecraft, allowing employees to travel for meetings without leaving their desks.
WPP built a Minecraft world featuring all of its corporate campuses. Employees from around the world will be able to “visit” any of the virtual offices to attend events, launch new projects or meet with other WPP employees. The virtual world is being constructed with the help of BDG architecture + design, which is owned by WPP.
WPP hopes to use the platform as a way to foster “cross-campus collaboration” and improve productivity while COVID-19 makes it difficult for employees to travel and meet in person. However, the company also hopes that the artificial world can provide a sense of physical collaboration that is difficult to duplicate using digital tools, such as virtual whiteboards.
Colin Macgadie, BDGs Chief Creative Officer, has explained that the Minecraft offices provide “not just a way of exploring the campuses but actually experiencing them in a virtual sense. It’s early stages but we’re now beginning to give them access to the CAD plans and the information around Sea Containers House and other buildings so you’ll be able to go street by street to different parts of the world.”
Minecraft, a game that allows users to build their own virtual worlds, was launched in 2011 and now has more than 126 million active monthly users. But it is not the only virtual world that is being used to provide remote workspaces. At Springwise, we have seen similar ideas, such as a platform that recreates offices in a virtual world and a space for virtual reality office drinks.
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