Google Lively: The 3D Chat Rooms
At the height of the game SIMS, the interactive Second Life and IMVU along comes Google Lively. Formerly known as Google Metaverse, Google Lively is a three-dimensional chat world pulled out from Google’s magic box. It is an eye candy three dimensional social networking chat tool that soon to invade every home, office and other areas where there is a flat surface that a computer can sit, a broadband connection and some excess time to burn.
Since I’ve been warned that installing Google Lively on your computer makes it Uber slow and ultimately makes your PC crash, I decided otherwise to read a bundle of reviews and FAQs to satisfy my killing curiosity of the matter.
If you’ve got a Google account then you can set up Google Lively. Once it is installed, you navigate your avatar to talk to others in the chat world. You can talk; you can even show your emotions, dance around, change furniture, mingle with others, build your own rooms complete with facilities or embed a 3D chat widget on your website for your visitors to interact with you in cyber environs.
Google Lively is a very SIMS-ish, Second Life-ish kind of thing. As if not satisfied with chatting through web cam, they offered 3D chatting and interaction in a silver platter. What’s the fuss? I have nothing against techno advancement, of course who wouldn’t want to grow? But the question is: for what is it all worth? Hate to tell you guys but communications among fellow humans should not be all that complicated, and if the inner core in making this Google Lively application is to bridge people through fun communication—well this bridge is made up of fancy yarn thread.
For Google this thing is a massive income generator for years to come, it’s like having the reality show ‘Big Brother’ with millions of ‘housemates’ lurking around the cyber world full of ads splashing at every nook and cranny. This ginormous social networking/virtual world space will be more appealing to the youth of this generation and as they replace their old PCs (Google Lively does not work with slightly old trashy PCs—sorry!) communications maybe confined to 3D chatting. And what a sight if Yahoo follows, far more,Microsoft is planning something of this genre—oh, what a world we’re in!
I know many people drooling over to try this thingy but wait! There’s more, check your computer to see if you’re in, your computer should have the following:
* a video card with at least 32 MB of video memory
* Pentium3 800
* 512 MB RAM
* DirectX 9
* 32MB GPU, like GeForce 2 or higher
* Flash 9 player and up
* Broadband connection
Rules about profanity and nudity are being set, but hey it’s chatting on the cyber world since when somebody reprimand someone as he/she blurts out profane and vulgar language in chat? I don’t think 3D avatars will add much social experience to anybody unless he/she breathes and eats computer every day. And reprimanding/banning one’s Google account would hurt so much because you use a single Google account on all of this.
This thing Google Lively in my opinion should not be taken seriously, unless you’re a hardcore gamer who takes a break from shooting aliens in ‘Half-Life’ by chatting as thumb thumping Uber shrewd girlie in pony tail. Communication is simple don’t complicate it. And oh, did I tell you that it only runs on Windows?
Update: Google Lively is Shutting Down on December 31, 2008.
Do you want to ‘Chatback’ with me?
Yes, you can can chat with me! Or chat to any bloggers whenever you see the Google Talk Chatback badge in their site.
If there is something you would like to communicate to a blogger and he has a Chatback badge on his blog or site then it would be very easy. When you see he is online, then just click on that bubble and wait for his response. You don’t have to download anything, or log-in to your account.
On the other hand, if you are a blogger and you want your visitors to reach you quickly, then all you have to do is copy the code for the widget. And embed it on your website or blog.
So if a visitor sends you a message, and you are using GTalk that time, you will get this alert from Google.
When you click the confirm link, you will be directed to launch the Google Talk Gadget, and each of your guests will have different tabs in the gadget. Google reminds you though to be careful on what you discuss in the Chatback since you are chatting with an unidentified person.
However, if you are using your Gmail when your guest tries to chat with you, you will receive this window. One guest, one window.
Though the Gtalk Chatback is a very convenient widget to use since it promotes quick interaction, only few bloggers would try to use the Chatback. Bloggers who have a lot of visitors in their site found the Chatback not practical since they couldn’t entertain all the chat messages that they will receive.
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