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As the economic disaster tightens the budgets of organizations and businesses worldwide, more are turning to online training and learning management systems to handle their training.

And LMS systems are becoming more sophisticated with the increase in demand. In some ways, LMSs are starting to look more game-like in their interactive and fun-to-use features.

E-learning modules that feel game-like and interactive are growing in popularity in many professional circles. A number of organizations and institutions plan to integrate such software into their LMS training programs.

Based on the popularity of virtual worlds, it may not be a bad idea. EMarketer estimates that 24 percent of the 34.3 million million users under 19 years old participated in a virtual world at least monthly in 2007, a figure that is predicted to jump to 53 percent by 2011. As people become more familiar with virtual world navigation, these online skills, interactions and roles will translate more easily into a professional or educational setting.

The use of virtual worlds in higher education or company training may be dismissed along with the virtual world terminology of guilds, trolls and orcs. Nevertheless, an increasing number of companies have discovered that virtual worlds may be a useful learning tool.

Virtual worlds permit learners to perform tasks that may be impossible in the real world due to conditions or situations involving personal, geographical or other limitations.

A student using a virtual world can access media such as simulations, videos, and instructional demos provided by an instructor or trainer. In the form of an avatar, students can perform tasks to reveal understanding of learning material as well as interact with their peers.

“Serious Game” virtual worlds are a new genre of virtual world software that designed to teach topics ranging from frog dissection to how to fill a cavity.

When integrated correctly, software like LMSs and “serious game” virtual worlds can provide students with the means to engage in the material to a point at which traditional e-learning courses never could. With a feature-rich LMS, students have access to audio and visual information in the form of simulations, screen recordings, podcasts, and more.

Unfortunately, while virtual worlds offer vast potential as a learning system and interactive training space for professionals and students, they also have a long way to go before that ideal is an affordable mainstream reality. While “serious games” are still in the testing years, learning management system software providers are stepping up their game to offer a greater fun factor, in order to compete in an increasingly engaging online education world.