What if a helicopter pilot could practice landing supplies in a war zone, risk-free?

Or a psychiatric nurse could see the world through the eyes of a schizophrenic?

Or a shy guy could party the night away at nightclubs and casinos?

Shazam!

All that is possible in virtual worlds, so far the creations of academics, governments and gamers.

But now such a capacity is entering the more prosaic but business-critical arenas of workplace meetings, training, sales, and research and development.

Early adapters range from computer giant IBM to Sears.

And early applications include "serious games," sophisticated video games for work purposes, and life simulations, such as setting real enterprises in Second Life - a virtual world where 2.5 million people have created virtual counterparts, called "avatars," to simulate study, play, home, work and commerce there.

"We're really at the very, very bleeding edge of companies doing this," said Mark Oehlert, an associate at the Booz Allen Hamilton technology consulting firm in Herndon, Va.

"For one thing, I think people are still trying to answer, 'What can we do better in Second Life than the other ways we're already doing them?' "

IBM's interest is significant, he believes, because it brings instant credibility to this frontier.

For example, IBM created a serious game called Robocode, said Chuck Hamilton, in the company's center for advanced learning. Players learn Java programming because they must use it to create a robot that they take into virtual battle against others' robotic creations.

Also, IBM has set up a virtual corporate headquarters in Second Life, where anyone in the company can send his or her avatar to appointments or meetings with other IBMers from all corners of the world.

"I've met the avatars of many people before I've met them," said Jack Mason, in the company's strategic communications section in New York.

IBM also uses its virtual self to guide some far-flung new hires through employee orientation, benefits sign-ups and lessons on expense reports.

Even retired IBMers come to the Second Life location to volunteer as mentors or enjoy their own meetings and events.

Hamilton has noticed that people create their avatars pretty much in their own likenesses.

"There are basically no restrictions," he said. "I mean, they can't show up as a fish if they wanted to. But regardless of their culture and where they come from, people choose skin color and clothing and appropriate attributes indicative of who they are."

That might be because of the relative humanity of Second Life.

"It's a social space, and when people interact with each other in a virtual world they actually feel they are with someone else," said Giff Constable of the Washington-based Electric Sheep Co., which advises companies on virtual applications.

"I can't really put my finger on why, and I think psychologists will have a field day with this for the next 30 years," Constable said.

After all, avatars' faces don't change expression, and most still talk by texting.

"But the phone is disembodied, and e-mail and chat rooms are even more disembodied," he said. "Second Life is between that and real life."

The Department of Homeland Security did a lot of the early experiments with serious games, such as unloading in hostile areas, Constable said.

Some insurance companies use the same concept, Oehlert said. They send claims adjusters to house fires and car crashes in Second Life, where they get "experience" before they start their real-world work, he said.

Other businesses are already heading to Second Life for sales purposes. Nissan shows off its cars there.

Also, Sears and Circuit City have prototypes of "virtual showrooms" in Second Life, according to IBM, which is working with them.

Eventually, instead of driving to a store or ordering from Web sites, people might send their avatars into virtual stores, handling the merchandise and talking with clerk avatars.

"There are a lot more folks using this who haven't told the world they're in Second Life yet," Constable said.

"This is all still very crude, and bumpy, and there's a lot of experimentation going on," he said. "I'm not going to say it's fully baked, but it's for people who are experimenting and pushing the boundaries."