Google's biggest mistake with Lively may not be the Windows-only release, nor the sketchy functionality. Instead, it's in forgetting (or ignoring) the driving force of the Internet, which, as the Broadway musical Avenue Q explains, is porn.
Google introduced Lively as an all-ages 3D chat application. But, as The Guardian noted a mere day after Lively launched, users quickly figured out how to take things as far as they could with adult content. Google tries to police the adult content as much as possible, but a search will quickly yield scores of rooms designed for cybersex of all kinds.
As Wagner James Au notes on his blog New World Notes, however, Lively is really more of a "foyer" for Second Life; an introductory course in virtual worlds. Linden Lab has not only allowed, but embraced, the idea of an adults-only world, and areas full of adult content, from clothing to animations, to "entertainment" abound in-world. While some of the adult-themed rooms in Lively may shock those new to virtual worlds, I'm willing to bet they have nothing on activities in Second Life.
Bonnie Ruberg, cybersex advice columnist for The Village Voice, reports via Terra Nova that Lively's limitations make cybersex kludgy at best. The freedom to build animations and objects in Second Life leads to an environment much more conducive to sexual interactions, which naturally leads to the question of why anyone would bother trying in Lively to begin with.
Still, Google is bound to face an uphill battle trying to keep Lively a family-friendly environment. Like the cliché about why should someone climb a mountain ("because it's there!"), virtual world users will always try to recreate every part of the real world in the new medium -- including sex.
Comments
I think Lively is going in the right direction. Especially once Google merges in real life 3d data from Google Earth and Google Sketchup. They will figure out how to clean it up I'm sure. They already have integrated into Google Maps:
http://www.livelyworlds.com
Mapper, how (and why) do you think they are going to clean it up? No matter where you are online, there's bound to be some type of sex. Not to mention hacks, like there are for The Sims, etc.
I think it will be just like YouTube. Of course they show intent to prevent copyrighted material from being uploaded, but they can't moderate it 100% without human supervision all of the time. Just as in Lively, they allow users to report abuse, and I'm sure they remove rooms as they find them, but too often are the sex rooms appearing on the top / popular rooms list on lively.com
In any case, share, promote, and help develop Lively!
You can find out more about developing with the Google Beta team at http://www.lively.com/help
And you can also share Lively rooms and screenshots at http://www.google-lively.com
I like livelyworlds.com's approach to integrate more of a world into Lively, I wonder when/if Google will ever do that.
Of course the sex rooms are going to appear on the most popular lists! That's the Internet! I really think it's a poor man's Second Life. Sure, it's free, but it's so hobbled that it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I liked the comparison to a "foyer" since it may be a gateway for those who haven't felt comfortable diving into something like Second Life or World of Warcraft, but I'm not sure of its long-term viability.
Windows only is the smartest thing these kids have ever done!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
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