Via an SL Future Salon entry comes this interesting link to a Next Generation article where Sun Microsystems basically comes out and boldly announces what so many people have been saying for some time (perhaps years). Here’s a quote from Sun’s chief gaming officer, Chris Melissinos:

I argue that we’ve been the principle architect of the largest massively multiplayer online game in the world. It’s Wall Street. If you took a look at all of the mechanics that go in to building an online trading system, they’re almost one-for-one, the same functions needed to build an MMOG.

The article’s author goes on to say

But there’s more to this vision than just simple middleware. Nothing less than rewriting the underlying economics of the MMOG space is at stake.

This is where someone gets off the clue-train. This isn’t about Massive Multiplayer Online Games. This is about the convergence of work and games. This is about the blurring distinction between them. So instead I’d say this is about nothing less than reforming the occupational landscape on a different societal foundation. In fact, much of my commentary here (and elsewhere 1, 2, 3) is directly related to this shift.