Just in case you were getting bored with SL, two new virtual worlds appeared on the Internets this week (July 7, 2008).
By Victoria Wheeler
LIVELY UP URSELF
Google premiered Lively (http://www.lively.com), an online chat application, where the user, disguised as an avatar, can participate in text conversations with other members in a virtual world. What a novel idea! Lively is administered by Google’s R&D venture, the imaginatively named, “Google Labs”.
Lively requires Windows Vista/XP with Internet Explorer or Firefox, it’s not [yet?] available for Mac or Linux. Being a Mac user, I have thus not been able to demo Lively.
While it’s not clear if their target audience is children (Lively was ‘field tested’ by students at the University of Arizona for several months, perhaps some of them were minors), Lively intends to reel you in by offering a line-up of intentionally cartoonish avatars.
Lively avatars are less realistic than SL’s general issue avi’s. Some are bug-eyed anime-ish, others remind one of Looney Tunes characters, and some are downright scary (think Nightmare Before Christmas and Tyrannosaurus Rex) – if you’re three years old.
Chat world marketing execs apparently believe that cuteness is a highly desirable avatar trait. No one told me that when I bought my Scarlett Johannsen SL shape. Perhaps that’s ‘cuteness’ of a different order, and I won’t even mention those cute Furrries, who, as everyone knows, take themselves very seriously. IANK.
Some lively, er, avatars
A feature that Lively offers is the ability for users to create chat rooms for up to 20 of their fellow Lively members, which can be linked to from any web page. This is handy if you have a blog, Facebook, myspace, personal or a special interest site. These custom chat rooms can have their own ‘environments’ (sorry, I can’t be more informative about that), with streamed-in videos from YouTube, and static images from Picasa (two other Google enterprises).
VIVATY IS IN UR FACEBOOK, SELLIN’ U STUFF
The second, similarly named chat app offering on Monday was Vivaty (http://www.vivaty.com), designed for use with Facebook and AOL Instant Messenger (aka AIM). I’ve also only read about Vivaty, since it’s also only available for Windows Vista/XP. Although I’m a Mac user, I’m not anxious to try it, largely because of Vivaty’s plans to foist in-world product placement on its users. For instance, Facebook Vivaty-ites can decorate their virtual dorm room with ‘real’ furniture from the aptly named Target. SL has some product placement, but at least you can avoid it.
Vivaty will also be linkable from your favorite web page. I hope they get a catchier, more pronouncable name, though (Viv-a-tee? Vye-vah-ee? Vie-vat-tee? I give up).
At least Vivaty has better avatars than Lively. On second thought, they’re sorta nerdy looking, in a homogenized, zombie kind of way, but that may just be my brain dead perspective.
Reanimated human corpses of the Caucasian kind are yours for the asking on Vivaty.
These two brave new chat realms promise to give SL and other existing virtual worlds a run for your money. They’ll be easily accessible from already popular venues, they’re commercially viable and marketably cute. Plus, with such active sounding names, they’re bound to be big hits with the young, hip, high-energy crowd. Join them, join them!
—————————-
In other virtual world news, IBM and Linden Labs have successfully teleported an avatar between virtual worlds – from Second Life to IBM’s OpenSim (see: http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/07/08/ibm-linden-lab-interoperability-announcement/). I guess the Lindens won’t be fixing my inability to teleport between sims now that they’re playing with the big boys. It is heartening to know your avatar does not have to die in order to visit the next virtual world, although there’s no question of what it will want to eat after it’s been there a while…
—————————-
Contact Victoria Wheeler in SL for a free tin foil hat. It just may save your avatar’s life.
secondlifetribune 