As serious games - virtual corporate, as it's called here - gains traction in the business world, one curious phenomenon is how gender-bending, using the expanded fashion repertoire of avatars and virtual worlds, is giving online meetings a whole new dimension. Hypergrid Business recently wrote a lengthy piece looking into the legal and enterprise implications of cross-dressing in virtual worlds. While cross-dressers undergoing gender transition surgery are protected in the workplace in almost half of US states, those who are not undergoing a physical transition are not protected. And as dress codes in virtual environments are being enforced, gender-switching is, according to the article, not covered by the same rules. “There are some companies who have just decided that it is good business practice to be accommodating to a person’s gender expression even if they’re not consistent all the time,” said Harper Jean Tobin, policy counsel at the National Center for Transgender Equality. This is already happening at some companies, as men dress as women, and vice versa, in virtual worlds. Dan Parks of Corporate Planners Unlimited Inc. experienced this recently from contract staff. “One lady who worked for me last year, putting together a tour vehicle, was a man who had a woman’s avatar,” he told Hypergrid. “It may have even been a transgendered person – I didn’t ask.” In terms of transgender issues, IBM has always had a progressive attitude, having long ago added sexual orientation to its US non-discrimination policy, and this is also translating into the virtual worlds, where employees routinely show up as their reverse gender. Craig Becker, the global architect for IBM’s Emerging 3D Internet and Virtual Business Enterprise Business Unit, is Jessica Qin in Second Life, but still abides by IBM's virtual world policy of "making the right impression." IBM's conduct code reads as follows: “When you are using your avatar or persona in association with IBM, however, your judgment in these matters should be shaped by the same general guidelines that apply to IBMers in physical environments … that your appearance be appropriate to the context of your activities. You need to be especially sensitive to the appropriateness of your avatar or persona’s appearance when you are meeting with IBM clients or conducting IBM business.” Apparently, gender-swapping is not an issue. “We have lots of men at IBM who dress as women in-world when they are with customers,” said Peter Finn, a senior architect at the company. “We are proud of them,” he said.