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Journalism of Courage
As if Google didn8217;t have a strong enough hold on the planet, on Tuesday it has launched its own world 8212; a virtual world, to be exact.
Lively, which Google likes to call a 8220;virtual experience8221;, allows you to create an avatar, decorate your own virtual room, invite friends to your room and do things you8217;ve always dreamed of, like blow up oil barrels on an island.
It also ties into other Google services. You can stream YouTube videos into your virtual living room or post your Picasa pictures on your walls. 8220;Our intent is to be part of the users8217; everyday experience,8221; said Niniane Wang, an engineering manager at Google who helped create Lively. 8220;We designed it to be easy to use.8221; An early look into Lively suggests that Google succeeded at that mission. It8217;s easy to choose avatars from a number of different options, including a turban-wearing bear. It8217;s easy to change their clothes, hair color and skin color. It8217;s easy to drag and drop furniture and lava lamps to position them around your room. Want your turban-wearing bear to wave to the hot mama across the room? Just type ave. Want him to giggle? Just type ugh. Lively looks hip, too. It8217;s sort of a combination between anime and a Disney movie, with wide-eyed avatars and colorful, angular scenery. Chat bubbles are brightly coloured and attached to avatars with long stems. All of which leads to the big question: Is Lively going to be the site that finally brings virtual worlds into the mainstream? Probably, said Chris Sherman, executive director of Virtual Worlds Management, an industry trade group.
8220;With a player like Google jumping into this, you8217;re going to see a lot more people understand this space and pay attention to it,8221; he said. Lively8217;s popularity with the virtual world crowd will depend on a few factors. Will Google allow avatars to buy and sell virtual goods? Will there be any currency at all in Lively? A Google spokeswoman said that there isn8217;t any currency in Lively, but that users will be able to add objects from Lively8217;s catalog to their rooms free of charge. And users can8217;t yet create their own items but should be able to down the road. 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, said Michael Gartenberg, research director at Jupiter Research.
