Serendipity

1. The unexpected beneficial result which may emerge as a consequence of engaging in most forms of activity. For example, many advances come out of basic research, which by definition tends to produce serendipitious results for applications, since the research is not directed toward practical ends, but toward obtaining information and understanding about some important area.

2. Serendipity often results from applied research, when an application is found in a different field than the one intended. The rich interaction characteristics of simulations and gaming may generate outcomes which were neither sought nor predicted but which may be of profound applied and theoretical significance.