In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Kevin Hanna – creative director on Google's Lively – discusses the nascent virtual world's transition to a proper online gaming platform.
The interview centers around a point I've wrestled with myself: what, pray tell, is the point of this Lively thing anyhow? With so many virtual worlds and social networking apparatuses already clogging up the intertubes, why does Google's foray into the field, a Second Life-meets-IRC hybrid, merit attention?
Hanna's answer is typical Google: Its aim is to revolutionize the space, and to make the application so ubiquitous that everyone and their dog will have a Lively persona. Taking the form of an invisible plug-in, the ideal evolution of Lively would be seamlessly integrated with your browser, providing a three-dimensional space to explore, chat, and ultimately play a few games in.
Will it work? Since it first launched back in July, I've fired up Lively exactly twice. As it stands, there really isn't much to draw my attention to the space. But toss in a few games, and content creation tools for the general public (not to mention support for Macs, or even Google's own browser, Chrome), and Lively could at the very least become an interesting diversion. Besides, where else can I be a pig and watch YouTube videos?
Image: Wired.com
Getting Lively [Gamesindustry.biz]
