Impact of Google Lively

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Permalink Reply by Miranda on July 9, 2008 at 11:25am

I agree with Dave, though.

I think it is very rough around the edges at the moment, but it is very much the thin end of the wedge.

Pop this onto the google toolbar, get it running nicely, involve the users in the creative side of things and I think it will soar.

I don't think a Second Google Earth Life affair is in the offing, however.

The appeal of offerings like IMVU, Habbo and Lively is very different to that of MMORGS and Second Life.

All these programs offer the user an immediate gratification, without the need for the extended immersion of SL.

Part of the fun is setting the Avatar up, sure,browsing the catalogs for new virtual goods, certainly.....but the real joy is that one can sign up, dress up and instantly enter into a conversation with whomever else is online at the time.

Get a quick fix of chat and offline again if that is all you want.

It is immediate, which has a huge appeal for the quick click generation.

It also has an appeal for the non geek element.

I know an awful lot of people in IMVU, for example, who have never used any other kind of interactive communication software beyond MSN or Yahoo.

A lot of these people are in their late 30s and beyond, and a hell of a lot of them are women.

Programs like this allow people to remain in contact with virtual friends, even if they are stuck at home watching over two toddlers.

The real hook then lies in finding out what else you can do, building rooms, buying furniture and rearranging it,completely customising the avatar, forming more enduring contacts and friendships, but all done without the need to totally immerse that is required by the bigger, more complicated worlds.

They are virtual doll houses, in effect.

I'd say that IMVU in particular has been very successful in introducing people who would never have otherwise learned to use Max or Photoshop to a means of expressing themselves creatively.

If Google can follow those principles - and I see no reason why it would not, having one of the original team members that founded IMVU as project leader - then I can see this taking off in a big way.

If Google can persuade third party advertisers to provide or sponsor content either by product placement or simply by clickable linkage then I see Google standing to make a lot of money from this as well.

The fact that it sits in the browser is a step beyond the downloaded offerings from elsewhere as well.

I'll be watching very closely.

MM

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Lehmann on July 9, 2008 at 11:31pm

Alot of this idea going on out there. Check outYoville, a Habbo like chat on Facebook, and Vivaty, an imbedded 3D chat enverinment that is X3D based, and ExitReality, that literally turns your Myspace page into 3D. It seems there is alot of interest in this sort of easy, seamless interface.

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Permalink Reply by Ken GB on July 10, 2008 at 8:22am

The trouble with those latter examples is that they quite 'complex' products. Lively isn't targeted at that sort of demographic, it's been mooted as a way to 'interface' with social networking sites and as a primary result 'chat' and 'socialising' is the forefront of that sort of activity.

Lively is very much a 'casual' thing as opposed to X3D, ExitReality et-al seeming to be geared towards 'business' users.

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Permalink Reply by Debbie Swee on July 9, 2008 at 10:31pm

Hi guys, since I mentioned Cyworld, I thought this update on the Asian front might be of interest:

Cyworld 3D launches officially

Cyworld 3D, dubbed Cyworld Mini Life, officially launched. Cyworld Mini Life users (who are represented by 3-D avatars) can chat with others, purchase virtual items, and decorate their Mini Life rooms.

It seems all the existing minihompy users are given a new Mini Life, if they choose to have one. Cyworld Mini Life runs on a minihompy-sized screen, meaning the service doesn't use the full screen real estate as Second Life does.

http://www.web20asia.com/300

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Permalink Reply by Hiperia3D - Jordi R Cardona on July 10, 2008 at 7:47am

I will publish a review on this and other 5 system for having 3d on a web or facebook soon, but for now I can tell you that I tested Lively. I have a computer with much more requirements that what they ask for, and Lively runs slow as a slug. I think it needs a serious performance tweaking. It's the most "beta" of all the solutions that I'll review.

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Permalink Reply by ChickaFlicka on July 10, 2008 at 8:08am

I noticed this too, however being an IMVUer...I guess I am accustomed to lagalicious internet activity :)

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Permalink Reply by Ken GB on July 10, 2008 at 8:25am

Only time I've found it laggy is when opening up ones inventory or waiting for content to load in. Thankfully one doesn't have to suffer through the experience of poorly optimised content... yet, heh.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Fedotov on July 10, 2008 at 7:58am

Metaforum topic digest: Lively by Google®
http://yolto.com/FeedTopic.aspx?Id=1505

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Permalink Reply by Tony Breindal on July 10, 2008 at 8:37am

Linden Lab and IBM are working together to make their ’DNA avatar factory’. That is, I can (will be able to) use one and only one avatar in various games, in Second Life (SL) and on different websites.

Linden Lab is working on the possibilities to integrate SL on websites and through their project ‘HTML on a Prim’ to integrate web content in SL.

Google has 3D imaging in Google Maps and now the first primitive avatars.

It will be interesting to follow the battle among the giants in the years to come. Or as in the old old old rumor: When will Google buy Second Life ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Whystler on July 10, 2008 at 9:54am

A few things disturb me about Google's Lively...

The first is "I can't get the plugin to work!" :) I have installed it, but every time I try to view a Lively world, I am redirected in some fashion to download the plugin. Ah well ...

Another is the name... At the same time we see another 3d embed-to-social-networking-page platform called Vivity... Vivity-Lively-Vivity-Lively. They mean the same thing and have the same conjugation. Sounds very knock-off-ish. So which is the knock off? They do, however, have very different styles.

And finally, Lively has an unnnnn-canny similarity to IMVU. It almost makes you wonder if the lead artists at IMVU have been moonlighting. The difference is only subtle. Again, seems like knock-off tactics. I'm not a fan of em. Something niggles at my brain that somewhere in history I've felt the same about Google for something else, but I can't quite remember.

-Whystler

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Permalink Reply by Alex Fedotov on July 10, 2008 at 10:48am

It must be the browser settings. Or some 'exotic' browser... Or Linux machine... It works fine in IE on WIn computer for sure.

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Permalink Reply by Ilene Frank on July 10, 2008 at 10:49am

Of course Google's always the company to watch - but really! My first reaction to Lively is that it's remarkably unsophisticated. I was disappointed. I also tried Vivaty via Facebook and I liked it somewhat better though both of them managed to crash my computer in short order. I suppose they'll catch up, but... I wonder if some of these very very basic virtual environments will actually drive more users to Second Life where you can create your own content.

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