Ours is an interconnected world. And thanks to the explosive growth of virtual communities and social networking sites like MySpace, we are seeing a seismic shift in the way we work, play and socialize.

To enhance productivity, companies like Entellium are redesigning business software using interactive game techniques. Customer relationship management software users, for example, can build a dossier of clients and sales prospects that include photographs and lists of likes, dislikes and buying interests like character descriptions in popular role-playing games.