Google announced today that they're killing Lively as of December 31st. For anyone in the virtual world space, I think this is a double-edged sword. Sure, its nice in some respects that Google didn't come in and sweep everyone else out of the market with the killer app that would take virtual worlds mainstream. At the same time, it sucks that Google didn't come in and sweep everyone else out of the market with the killer app that would take virtual worlds mainstream.
Most people agree that the internet will be transformed within 5 years to include virtual environments, avatars, and 3D interactions as a matter of course. Most people agree that virtual worlds are likely to be a primary means of interaction and communication in the future.
But until the technology comes along that has sophistication for skilled users and intuitiveness for everyone else, virtual worlds will continue to die.
RIP Lively.
no place like home
3 years ago
Agree and (somewhat) respectfully disagree. The idea that the Google brand could not sufficiently provide enough critical momentum to VW as mainstream offering is disconcerting.
ReplyDeleteThat said, from a business context it's pretty simple. Lively died because, frankly, it sucked and no one used it.
IMO, virtual worlds will have greater market penetration when they cultivate two necessary handshakes: meeting some sort of measurable business need (which is your area) and developing some sort of technical symbiosis with text-based 2D Web experience as it currently exists (I'm on that one).