flickr.com Google lively

Google has launched 'Lively', a new 3D interactive virtual world built around the concept of each user having an avatar and a personal virtual room which can be embedded anywhere in the Web. In other words, Google is trying to create a massive distributed virtual world, where every single Google account can have its own avatar that can be used wherever a lively virtual room is present like on a blog, a social networking profile like Facebook, MySpace etc where users can connect with each other. Niniane Wang, Google Engineering Manager said in the official Google blog.

If you enter a Lively room embedded on your favorite blog or website, you can immediately get a sense of the room creator's interests, just by looking at the furniture and environment they chose. You can also express your own personality by customizing your avatar's look, showing people who you are without having to say a word. Of course, you can chat with each other, and you can also interact through animated actions. In our user research, we’ve been amazed at how much more poignant it is to receive an animated hug than seeing the text.

flickr.com A virtual room created using Google Lively

Google said any person who is having a Google account can download the software from the site. It works in both FireFox and IE. Presently, only Windows users will be able to use lively. But a Mac version is expected to be released soon. At present, sites like second life, IMVU, Habbo, WeeWorld, and Gaia Online are offering users to create their own avatars in a 3-D virtual world. Google lively offers some more features to it's users like users can have a free account, multiple worlds, users can watch You Tube videos on televisions in the virtual rooms created by them etc.