Over the summer, Google launched Lively after three years of development. After four months, the project has been deemed a failure and is shutting down December 31st.
I wrote about The Effect of Google?s Lively On Virtual Dating Applications, which talks about the launch details as well as OmniDate, another browser-based virtual environment attempting to make it safer and easier to meet someone online before venturing out on a real date.
I asked:
What does this mean for OmniDate when you can create a similar environment in the browser based on Google API?s, platform and data-sharing?
Apparently, nothing. Irony alert: When Google attempted to buy IMVU at the beginning of Lively development, one of the co-founders left the company for Google. Oops.
I remain somewhat enthusiastic towards browser-based virtual environments. Computers are just about fast enough to run them without slowing your system to a crawl, and the tools to create realistic environments continue to improve. Now someone has to figure out how to make these environments compelling and fun. Give people the tools to collaborate, create and explore, without turning into anything-goes SecondLife.
Vivaty launched a similar virtual environment several weeks ago. Read Vivaty?s Great For Virtual Dating for more information.
