Big Blue Islands
While IBM has already created a handful of SL locations (known in-world as "islands") that have been created for a variety of internal and external events, the immediate future offers developers two SL initiatives worthy of excitement:

The defining feature of the Rational Codestation is its labyrinth, a corn field-style maze with walls high enough to obscure the view of even the tallest avatar (see Figure 1). Today the labyrinth gives residents a chance to compete by programming bots that complete the maze in head-to-head challenges. Codestation also includes a huge pavilion with kiosks that offer tutorials for building objects of various types in Linden Scripting Language (LSL), the base language for building all things in SL.

Figure 1. Codestation Labyrinth: The virtual walls of the labyrinth in Rational Codestation are over six feet high (well, relative to scale anyway).

While you may not find Linden Script directly relevant to your professional life, IBM says it's simply a first step to a wider array of programming affinities and resources that IBM hopes to get involved in. "What we're doing right now with Codestation is sharing Linden script code and offering a code library, using the labyrinth to compete against one another, but really what we're trying to do is develop community," explains Clark. "At some point it will evolve from Linden Script to other things. Maybe we can do Java things there or share WebSphere code. It's a test case, if you would. We're just using Linden Script for the base case. And we're of course going to make it relevant to people who use IBM products."

Figure 2. Rules of Engagement : The rules for code sharing are posted on a billboard in the kiosk area of Codestation.

Since its launch, Codestation has been a great destination for programmers, but this month, IBM sweetened the experience when it launched the Sentinel 2.0 project. Today, Clark explains, Codestation is just like a puzzle in an MMORPG, except "with code instead of magic." Now IBM is making Codestation even more interactive, adding a backstory and a villain, Double-bad Bugra, who has decimated and dismembered the Codestation sentinels. Players will traverse the labyrinth looking for pieces of these sentinels, using them to update their avatars. When their avatars are strong enough, players can engage Bugra in a fight to the death. (You can watch a fun preview of the Sentinel project on Jason's blog.)

Unlike the Rational Codestation, the developerWorks island is a brand new launch. It will serve as a much-needed first stop for residents who are looking for IBM-sponsored software development resources and community. Anita Mathur, a senior marketing manager for IBM developerWorks, explains that the development of the island will be phased, with hosted events as the primary impetus for the island in the remaining months of 2007, and some more interactive features launching later next year. The island's first pilot customer event, a customer briefing that took place in conjunction with the company's real world Rational Software Developers Conference in June, was deemed a phenomenal success resulting in more than 200 registrations. And, Mathur says, IBM believes that's simply the beginning of what's possible within the face-to-face virtual environs of SL.

"Our objectives are to talk about software development, evangelize IBM software tools and technologies, and work with community," says Mathur. "Whatever you are doing face-to-face in the real world, we can simulate in Second Life virtually, synchronizing our efforts all along. There are a lot of people who cannot attend face-to-face events and this gives them an opportunity and avenue to meet experts and see what we have available by providing opportunities where residents' self expression can thrive. developerWorks would not only like to attract, but engage and motivate, members via innovative collaborative Web offers.

For many developers, she explains, SL obliterates the distance and cost issues related to business travel and gives them an immediate and satisfying collaborative experience, not only with likeminded developers but with knowledgeable IBM experts who are doing relevant work in a wide variety of technical fields.