Internet search engine giant Google Inc. (GOOG) launched its browser-based 3D virtual world, Google Lively, in Beta version. The web site helps the user to express oneself in a more fun way, with 3D graphics and real-time avatar interactions. The web site is a Google Labs Project.
Google Lively is a free, browser-based virtual environment with tight integration to social networks like MySpace, Facebook and OpenSocial, as well as Google gadgets like Picasa and YouTube. Unlike some previous integration's of virtual worlds and social networks, Lively helps users' friends lists, feeds, and logins to tie directly to the social network. Google's platform will run in a browser, differentiating it from client-centric worlds like Second Life and can be embedded in a Web site.
Taking expression to the next dimension with Lively, the exciting experience lets the user interact and express oneself with avatars, while streaming personal photos and video within 3D chat rooms. The users are able to chat with friends or meet new contacts online within a room that they create and decorate as well as invite friends over. Users can also personalize their surroundings with an ever-growing catalog of avatars, outfits, furniture, and rooms to build up. In Lively, most users can't create 3D models or textures to add to their scenes, but should be able to do at a later stage. Instead, they draw from a free library of hundreds of thousands of virtual goods.
Google Lively is seen as a combination between animation and a Disney movie, with wide-eyed avatars and colorful, angular scenery. Chat bubbles are brightly colored and attached to avatars with long stems. Chat rooms can be private spaces, with entry by invitation only, or open-topic rooms, where users can meet people interested in discussing topics they love. Users can also stream YouTube videos into their virtual living room or post Picasa pictures on their walls.
The minimum hardware requirement for running Lively is, Pentium III 800 MHz System with 512 MB RAM, a 32 MB 3D graphics card such as GeForce 2 or above and a broadband connection. Currently, Lively only runs in IE and Firefox on Windows XP and Vista machines, though the company has said that a Mac OS X client is a priority for the future. Google limits Lively to users aged 13 and over.
There isn't any currency used in Lively, so users will be able to add objects from Lively's catalog to their rooms free of charge. With all these features and more rolling out later, Lively is likely to give Second Life and other popular virtual worlds a run for their money. Like most Google products, Lively is free.
While some have compared Lively to Second Life, the better comparison is with IMVU. The core of Lively content are avatars, rooms and catalog. This is true for IMVU as well, though IMVU offers home pages, groups, forums and more. In particular, Lively chose the IMVU-like metaphor of the virtual "room" instead of a sprawling virtual world or land like Second Life. However, Lively is currently a free offering, while IMVU charges for each accessory used and Second Life charges a flat fee, with the basic version provided free.
IMVU is a new way to hang out and have fun with friends online. Members of IMVU have fun meeting new people with similar interests and expressing themselves through personalized 3D avatars, themed rooms, one-to-one chats, and the creation of new and unique virtual products. With over 1.5 million user-generated virtual items, IMVU offers the world's largest catalog of virtual goods. Revenue is derived from the direct sale of virtual credits, which are used to purchase virtual products such as room decorations, clothing items and hairstyles.
Second Life is a 3D digital world imagined and created by its Residents. While the Second Life interface and display is similar to most popular massively multiplayer online role playing games, it provides near unlimited freedom to its Residents. Instead of paying a monthly subscription fee, Residents can obtain their first Basic account for free. Additional Basic accounts cost a one-time flat fee of $9.95.
GOOG closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $554.53, up $10.62 or 1.95% on a volume of 4.93 million shares, lower than the three-month average volume of 5.18 million shares.
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