IBM has recently announced a new project, “CityOne” that they dub a “serious game” that takes aim at addressing real world urban problems through MMO-esque simulations. Targeted at consumers, business partners, and students, the sim presents players with real-world problems including business, environmental, and logistic issues.

Subtopics of issues to solve include a series of missions that present players with energy, water, banking, and retail industry problems. One game ‘mission’ revolves around a city where water consumption has expanded at twice the rate of population growth, supplies are becoming strained (and possibly polluted); the city is losing up to 40 percent of it’s water supply due to leaky infrastructure; and energy costs are on the rise.

Sounds like a very real world situation to me – but how is a player meant to solve this difficult issue? The player is then challenged with the difficult task of spinning multiple plates, without letting a single one crash and burn. In this case, players are tasked with developing a Water Management System that includes accurate, real-time data to not only influence, but presumably help, players make the best informed decision possible, thus delivering the highest quality water in the most economical way.

The intended offshoot of these challenges is that users will learn how the components of service reuse, process management, cloud and collaborative technologies make business models more agile. Obviously this has tremendous potential for today’s current business world, but it’s also an indication that IBM is looking down the road. No indication was given as to data inclusion or exclusion, so it’s entirely possible that IBM could be using this tool as a way to spot top problem solvers before they even start thinking about colleges and universities. In other words, IBM could be poised to adopt the McDonald’s theory: Get ‘em while they’re young, and you’ve got ‘em for life.

“Enterprises are increasingly adopting Web 2.0 collaboration tools to appeal to a new generation entering the workforce that grew up immersed in social media technologies,” said Lisa Rowan, director HR, Learning, and Talent Strategies research IDC. “Training will need to follow suit by incorporating interactivity and gaming to be relevant to this new workforce.”

If any of this ‘gaming for real-world problem solutions’ sounds a bit familiar, you’ll remember that Jane McGonigal is currently running the URGENT: EVOKE project (which concludes next week), which while not exactly similar, does address a number of similar issues. Given McGonigal’s experience and knowledge, I certainly hope the IBM folks have been in touch.

IBM unveiled CityOne in the Agility Work Zone at IBM’s IMPACT Conference in Las Vegas yesterday, and will continue the demo today. Backing up the new project, a special session titled ‘Using Games to develop strategies and skills to thrive in a real-time world’ showcased the use of CityOne. More info on the project can be found here.