Issue 11, November 1st 2002

Did you ever see the movie War Games? Remember, in the final scene, the computer decides that the global thermonuclear war game it was programmed to fight is pointless because, in the end, no one wins. It's a bit like another game, tic-tac-toe, which is also always a stalemate. Well, this 1983 film was more prescient than its stars Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy probably realised at the time. Today, not only does the real-life US military operate similar war game simulations to teach its troops, but since July you, me, and rest of the internet public - and especially potential new army recruits - can fight the virtual fight thanks to the game America's Army (www.americasarmy.com).

The game's welcome page encourages its target audience of 17-21 year-old American males to become members of the world's "premier land force" and learn how to achieve "decisive victory". According to the American military, it's working. Since the site's launch this summer it has attracted 873,000 registered gamers and achieved a sign-up rate of 4,400 new cyber troops a day! "The game resonates well with the current generation," deadpanned retired US General Paul Gorman at Pop! Tech, a conference held last month in Camden, Maine.

At the Pop! Tech conference the 'reality debate' raged between academics, mathematicians, physicists, computer inventors, games developers and, of course, the General. A truly strange moment came when General Gorman, defending the highly sophisticated simulations used by the real military to prepare for battles, said that the military's intention was "to stay one CD ahead of what Saddam can get access to."

So, who is creating virtual worlds? Well, the multi-billion dollar games industry led by Sony Playstation and games like The Sims (www.thesims.ea.com), where you can build your own simulated world, and Everquest (www.everquest.com), a mythical world game that carries on even while you're not playing. Joe Pine, an advisor to Fortune 500 companies, told the Pop! Tech audience that creating more virtual worlds will help businesses become more competitive because consumers "want unique experiences affecting them in an inherently personal way." He calls this new phase of consumption the "experience economy".

If new army recruits are going to join the military thanks to virtual worlds, then the number of new broadband recruits may also begin speeding up for the same reason, i.e. better, more compelling content that they want, and will pay, to experience. So the search is on for the best of the virtual that can be delivered on broadband. Goodness knows, the cable and satellite industry needs a lift. Interactive television hasn't performed miracles and VOD has been a slow starter. In the case of cable, broadband is still thought by many, including Tony Werner, chief technology officer at Liberty Media, to be the technology that will bring the coolest content into the home and bring more revenue per subscriber into operators' pockets.

But Werner told the audience at this year's Broadband Communications Europe (BCE) conference that there is a new balance that must be achieved between having the right network technology, the best content and a business that has a certain scale, often determined by regulators. "Today with the power and popularity of the internet, globally recognised video programmes, personally customisable entertainment and information platforms, well, the content market is both as wide and as narrow as you can imagine," said Werner. "Content often drives the [distribution] platform, but platform availability can also drive the content... . This is why it is critical for network operators, content providers and regulators to work closely to drive the process forward."

If you don't believe Werner, then ask Ramona, the alter ego of Ray Kurzweil, an inventor who believes that the human brain will one day soon be fully understood. Ramona (www.kurzweilai.net) is a virtual person who lives in cyber space and answers questions about artificial intelligence and life as a virtual rock star (yes, she's released an album: virtual, of course!). Ramona's fascinating. She's as bright as a button on Q&A and looks the part (she has brown wavy hair and blue eyes, fellas). But you can only really appreciate her on broadband.

So, if we take it as a given that the experience economy is the new mantra, then whether you want to try out for the American military, or just practise chatting up intelligent cyber chicks, then the virtual world (for that, read broadband world) is where it's at. Now let's hope that the guys running those broadband companies avoid the business equivalent of tic-tac-toe and play a game they all can win.