IBM claims that online video games are helping to groom future business leaders, teaching them the core skills needed to successfully lead a team. 

Closely-knit teams working on long-term strategy in close quarters will be replaced by virtual teams that constantly reinvent the business in multiple time zones the world over, according to the report.

The research suggests that online games, specifically massively multiplayer online role playing games, train leaders to deal with the motivational, emotional and social needs of their fellows.

IBM partnered with Seriosity, a software company that develops enterprise products and services based on online games, together with researchers from Stanford University and MIT. 

"If you want to see what business leadership may look like in three to five years, look at what is happening in online games," said Byron Reeves, professor of communication at Stanford, and co-founder of Seriosity.

The team analysed over 50 hours of online gameplay, surveying hundreds of gamers and conducting interviews with gaming industry insiders.

The objectives were to better understand how successful leaders behave in online games, and to determine the aspects of game environments that leaders use to be more effective.

The research showed that the transparent environments created in online games made leadership easier to assume, and that leadership in online games is more temporary and flexible than it is in the business world.

Online games also give leaders the freedom to fail and experiment with different approaches and techniques, something that any Fortune 500 company that hopes to innovate needs to understand, according to IBM.

Online gamers self-organise, develop skills and settle easily into various roles. Leaders emerge who are capable of recruiting, organising, motivating and directing large groups of players towards a common goal.