Google's version of Virtual Reality

Ooh, Google made an IMVU.

I think thats all this is ....at the moment

It isn't even that to be honest. Though to be fair, it has only just launched, so I won't hold its utter failure to work properly against it.

Hehe

Somebody already creatd a room in there named "Linden Lab"

Thank god they didn't name it Linden Labs

i welcome competition!

The age restriction is set way too low for this girl..........at least by 5 years. I think Google is catering to the teen group.

Thanks but no thanks.

Yes, be warned when talking about "just IMVU". The IMVU structure does look limited compared to Second Life, but it's optimised for consumer users, who are the majority. As a result.. it has greater concurrency and greater regular population than SL. Which is rather worrying and disappointing, to be honest.

Only worrying and disappointing if you want to hang out with teenagers. I'lll go out on a limb and guess that most people to who try and stick with SL do so because they really aren't interested in a pre-packaged cartoon chat room. Does that limit the potential of SL? Well, yes it does. But you cannot be all things to all people. Network television has tried that and lost most of their audience to niche cable channels providing targeted content. See also: newspapers & radio. SL is just too complex for mass appreciation and will continue to be so until LL releases a "lite" version of the client that will run on any low-end computer and even my mother can figure out how to use.

We would see greater retention and concurrency if the client was stable! How many people have quit in frustration over crashing, I don't know. But I've lost a couple of good tenants because of it. If something personally affects me, I guess it's pretty widespread, since I am but one small fish in a huge pond.

Actually I see a great deal of promise IF they get to the point so that you can create customs rooms and wardrobes. When I shop although the items are set at free there is a place to put an amount. With a micro payment setup and what could end up being a huge audience then it could end up being another way to make a little bit of money.

The other big plus is that you could have an unlisted room to hand out to freinds. And don't forget that you do it through your browser(work freindly?)

Well, yes, it _could_ be great if they

(a) changed the whole system to let you upload things;
(b) made it work properly and not freeze/kick you out every few minutes.

I just tried it in FF3 and nothing worked. Didn't join a room, couldn't customize my avatar. It felt quite familiar in that respect.

While trying things such as that you might want to try the Papermint beta.

Seriously, though, has anyone ever heard anyone refer to IMVU except in conversations about virtual worlds? Say that they were in IMVU the other day and X happened? Complain that they couldn't get into IMVU for some reason and ask for help? Apart from on an IMVU-related forum of course. I have seen all of these things regarding SL in entirely random contexts.

I doubt Google is getting into this just to make a fun chat room. They have a bigger idea on a back burner somewhere, I'm certain of it.

Anyway, once programming is instituted, I'd watch for the Lively/SL integration to be created by someone not long after. This could get really interesting if Google follows the route its taken with past products.

Some better viewpoints would be nice.

You can move things, and sit on the chairs and couches.

I suppose there re instructions. The tiny text in gray on gray is not much use to me.

I can see it's already taken a cue from SL: I signed up, logged in, and it assigned me a female avatar.

Yes it's basically just a chat room. I agree this thing is probably going to do more than IMVU in the future and who knows? They can just add features continuously. I think this lively avatar is going to be like your Mii that is linked to all your accounts with Nintendo. Sony is going to avatars... Microsoft is rumored to be making some too... everyone is making avatars. Somewhere down the line it's all going to come together.

Sketchup + Lively = SL!!

just kidding, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.

I take it back. I typed "Hello, avatar" as my first inworld statement ... and the little female avatar flashed a GANG SIGN at me.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KKTDRqQtPO8

... I think I'll stay right here, thanks.

It has an outdoors. With dinosaurs that move!

Folks enter SL and shortly thereafter see goatse imagery, racist crap, and have ugly looking oversized penises stuck in there faces, so a little gang sign isn't much of a big deal.

Google's virtual world seems like a stepping stone from the 2D web to what LL envisions for the future. It is certainly something to keep an eye on.

Ah, but that's the danger.. the problem is that for many users SL _is_ just as much a pre-packaged chat room as IMVU is. Building, RP, and visual immersion still appear to be minority activities.

good. more money for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.