Googles free app lets people create custom virtual realms
Second Life now has a competitor – Google. The search engine giant just rolled out a challenge to the virtual world giant. Google now offers free software, “Lively,” that lets people create their own online 3D worlds. Those worlds can be embedded on websites and melded with other online functions.
People can now place virtual "rooms" on websites, customize "avatars" to be online proxies, and decorate their fantasy worlds with photos or streaming videos from YouTube, Picasa or other online sources. The software is expected to lend a whole new dimension to social networking.
Free is a critical factor in the offering. Second Life and other animated online worlds charge for admission and require memberships and don’t let people move their virtual worlds into their other worlds.
Gamers and geeks may be thrilled but not everyone else is.
"I'm wondering if this isn't a bridge too far," analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group said of Google expanding into virtual worlds.
"They are facing an awful lot of competition. It could be Google is anticipating the next wave on the Internet. We are not in the place where 3D is the way to render web pages, but we are heading there."
Vision is everything and even more so online it seems. With Lively, a user can adapt his personal online realm to his own imagination and literally create a world of his dreams. Now people can party online – literally. Lively allows users to invite friends avatars over for visits via email or instant messages. Once the visitor enters the room they get not only a sense of the three dimensional space but of the room creator’s interests.
Creators can customize their rooms, their avatar’s look and can chat and interact through animated actions say Google spokespersons.
Lively code is available at www.lively.com and an application has been customized for the social-networking website Facebook.
Free is a critical factor in the offering. Second Life and other animated online worlds charge for admission and require memberships and don’t let people move their virtual worlds into their other worlds.
Gamers and geeks may be thrilled but not everyone else is.
"I'm wondering if this isn't a bridge too far," analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group said of Google expanding into virtual worlds.
"They are facing an awful lot of competition. It could be Google is anticipating the next wave on the Internet. We are not in the place where 3D is the way to render web pages, but we are heading there."
Vision is everything and even more so online it seems. With Lively, a user can adapt his personal online realm to his own imagination and literally create a world of his dreams. Now people can party online – literally. Lively allows users to invite friends avatars over for visits via email or instant messages. Once the visitor enters the room they get not only a sense of the three dimensional space but of the room creator’s interests.
Creators can customize their rooms, their avatar’s look and can chat and interact through animated actions say Google spokespersons.
Lively code is available at www.lively.com and an application has been customized for the social-networking website Facebook.
