SLENTRE.COM

By Avarie Parker

I recently had the chance to ask Google about the future of Lively, it’s new 3D chat platform. Most importantly – would they be making any improvements that might make it more of a draw for Second Life residents, such as user generated content and access to content creation tools? Lively content creation tools are already undergoing a private beta test and you can see some of the results here: http://dusanwriter.com/?p=724. Based on the images of the initial results, Lively has a long way to go before attaining the level of sophistication that Second Life has achieved. However, considering Lively has only been around a few weeks, it’s future is very bright.

What additional features are in the works for Lively?

In the near future, we’ll support customization for all skill levels using
programs that people already have. For example, users with limited design
experience will be able to change clothes and furniture by just modifying
an image in their favorite paint program (e.g., they could take the image
for a plain white t-shirt and draw their own design on the shirt).

(Lively Residents discuss Paint, a very simple graphics editing tool.)

More experienced artists will be able to add new animations and shapes using
industry-standard tools. In the less-near future, we would like to create
customization wizards that will allow users to customize clothes and
objects as easily as they can now customize their avatars.

What sort of features/improvements can we expect to see in future
versions of Lively?

We hope to improve Lively by improving collaboration and communication
among users. Longer term, we expect scripting and games to be possible as
well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(By ‘scripting’ we can hope that will include some sort of animation control. Currently there are not animation overrides to short circuit demonstrative animations every time a user types a term such as ‘LOL’. Above screenshot demonstrates the ‘lol’ animation that automatically runs with an audio laugh track.)

Are there plans to have a Lively currency that can be traded for US
dollars?

We are always thinking about new ways to monetize our products but
have nothing to announce at this time.

How does google plan on dealing with the adult content ‘rooms’ that
have sprung up? Will Lively ever move beyond PG?

Lively is a family-safe place for users to connect with each other, share
information, and express themselves. We have Terms of Service that
prohibit certain content including spam, sexually explicit images, and
child sexual abuse images, on Google. We rely on our community of users to
flag inappropriate content, which we expeditiously review. If we determine
that flagged content violates our Terms of Service, we act quickly to
remove it, and in some cases, disable the user’s Google Account (e.g., if
the user is under 13 or has had multiple violations, and in cases of child
sexual abuse content, which we remove and report to appropriate
authorities).

Lively also allows users to easily submit abuse reports for inappropriate
behavior, including harassment and bullying. We review abuse reports and
take appropriate action, which could include disabling or terminating the
user’s Google Account. Additionally, Lively has a specially designed tool
that allows users to ignore another avatar for any reason. When you ignore
someone, you can no longer see any of their animations or chats, and you
can stop ignoring them at any time.

If we receive a report of a user-generated object, animation, or avatar
that violates our policies, we will review the flagged content to
determine whether it violates our Terms of Service and act quickly to
remove it if we determine that it does.

We’re also working with ConnectSafely.org to ensure a safer environment
for Lively users with helpful safety tips. Here is a link for more
information:
http://www.lively.com/help/bin/answer.py?answer=98420&topic=13359