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Google's 'Lively' Virtual World
Lively feels more like a Google Talk-powered chat room with 3-D camera controls than an immersive environment like Second Life. In part that's a function of the small in-browser window that presents Lively's various rooms -- full screen graphics are inevitably more compelling. And in part that's a function of performance. It's likely that the user experience is better with a better computer. The IBM ThinkPad T2500 (2-GHz Core Duo) I used to visit Lively for the first time responded too slowly for the experience to be enjoyable. Lively rooms, created by users or already constructed, can be embedded in any Web site. Visitors to Lively can enter the various rooms to chat. They also can modify the appearance of their Lively Avatar and can add furniture to rooms. Entering the Lively environment requires Windows XP or Vista, Internet Explorer or Firefox, and the Lively browser plug-in. Mac support may be a long time coming. Lively is certainly easier to use than Second Life, but it lacks the latter's programmability. For Google developers and content partners that may not be an issue -- the inaccessibility of the Lively's code infrastructure won't matter much if Lively generates lots of gadget use and ad page views. |
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