Livelyzens Costume Party!

Happy Birthday Kana !

Time: 01:00 JST 29th Dec 2008 Other time zones

Party Room

Grand Awards Show and After Party

Everyone is invited to attend the biggest event in Lively history, the Grand Awards Show where we will announce the winners of six contests. The big event will be held on December 14th at 1:PM PST in the Lively Awards room at http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=7558771319950950056

After the awards show, its party time in the amazing room, Quiddity. Let's make this a good time to remember and honor our friends for their hard work and dedication!

((Hugs))

Lurks

Happy Birthday YZ !!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YZ !!

Join YZ's Birthday Party at the Lively Room below

Midnight JST time December 11th. (See Other timezones here)

Happy Birthday Solum Deus!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOLUM !!

Our Letter # 2 To Google

An Appeal from Citizens of Lively
(#2 - sent 12/9/2008)

Dear Google,

Thank you for your timely response. We are glad to note that you have read our letters, blogs and are visiting our rooms!

Since our last writing to you, we have several things to share with you.

1) The power of Lively - Concept rooms
We told you about our plan to create concept rooms to show how Lively could be extended usefully and in conjunction with other Google products. Our friends RandomHuman, freecoconuts and Binmei have worked tirelessly on these!

a ) BabelMiss - TranslatorBot roomWe created a a Lively room BabelMiss that has a translator bot integrated with Google Translator. BabelMiss has now gone multilingual! - Spanish, Portugese, japanese.Room url: http://www.lively.com/search?query=babelmiss

b) "Constructor's Break" - A Lively Board GameYou can now play games on Lively! This boardgame room lets you roll a dicebot by saying "roll" and avatars move on the board till they reach the lemonade stand!
Room url: http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=3969167695737978121
Video: http://blip.tv/file/1548846

c) "Sam - The clairvoyant crystal skull" - Fortune Teller RoomThe room loads random fortune text in a picture frame to tell your fortune!
Room url: http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-6843311765851474965

d) Lively Chime System - Avatar entry notifier via emailThe room displays your entry time in PST, EST, JST, GMT and also sends you an email indicating you have a visitor in your room!Room url: http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-5139025568371294386

Imagine the possibilities! So many ways you can leverage it for your core business of search, ads, and apps.

2) Lively for Business interaction
Lively was used as a Virtual Recruitment Tool by Weavelink - a french event organizer company who conducted the first Virtual Campus Recruitment for students on Lively.http://livelyzens.blogspot.com/2008/12/mystery-solved.html

3) Lively Contests
As you may know, we are conducting a machinima video contest, slideshow contest, Stained Glass competition using Lively glass tile objects and a Lolcats/Lolbears contest! The response has been amazing and we have some stellar entries! The grand awards show will be conducted at Lively on December 14th 2008. We will be sure to send you an invitation! You can see the contest entries at: room url: http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=7558771319950950056

4) A Lively Wedding
IzzieBellah & mrfoxyy had a lovely lively wedding on Saturday, December 6th 2008.
Invitiation: http://livelyzens.blogspot.com/2008/12/lively-wedding-invitation-izziebellah.html
Video: http://pony.blip.tv/file/1555273/

5) We also have some sad news to share with you
Our good friend Malon from Germany lost his childhood friend "Achille" to throat cancer and writes:

"Its a story about a guy, a nice guy, a sportive guy whos fate was to become ill
of cancer of the throat. Finally they had to remove his throat and that meant to
leave his voice. He never was fond of using special technical equipment like the
mechanical voice, it was to him like a robot was speaking. Then in July he
discovered Lively by announcement in the newspapers. He used long ago
3-D-platforms like second life and World of Warcraft. But when they moved
out his voice he abandoned these systems because they showed him worlds of sane
and strong characters, and he himself felt not to be able to fulfilling these
options. But there were these funny comic-looking guys and girls in a some
comic-surreal looking environment of so much and awesome looking worlds of
shells. And he was magnetised of these characters running up and down in them,
laughing, crying, sadding, cheering, bowing, pleading, rofling..... And he
discovered that this were the hands of every of them behind the keyboards in
front of their screens acting these characters and - this was a very important
expression to him - "saying" all the words to be read in the bubbles. And
he began to run an own avatar, an own character, laughing, bowing, crying,
rofling!His own hands became his own voice, and it was not even more the robots
voice, it was HIS OWN VOICE ! "I feel happy", he wrote to me on his PC,
standing at the side of his bed in the hospital. And he lived up as a nice
sportive guy he was. He died 3 days before Google announced to shut Lively
down. They said to his family that he died smiling......"

6) "In Google We Trusted and Now Our Project's Busted"
The 7th and 9th graders at Camilla, Geogria are heartbroken because their Digital Citizenship project is coming to an abrupt end just when they have finished making their rooms.
As their teacher Vicki Davis (coolcatteacher) writes on their blog:

"A heck of a great potential tool is about to go away on December 31, 2008.
Google's lively - while not perfect in many ways runs on a standard web browser
and provides a way to create private rooms to teach in a 3d environment

.....

Google sets a precedent here and unless we make it very loud and
clear, other services will go away in the future with no warning and no user
alternatives."

These students even wrote a post 10 Ways for Lively to Make Money as a message to you. They love everything Google and are using Picasa, google Docs, and Google Blogger for their Digiteen Dream Team blog.

And they are not the only ones. Laura's high school students at Liceo Gramsci school at Ivrea, North West Italy are using Lively for language learning and creativity. Antonio's students at Portugal have been using Lively for language skills. Kern Kelly's elementary school students at Maine are disappointed too. Google Lively served as an easily accessible 3D medium for these and many other students. Least did they or anyone expect that you would pull out a public beta product.

As Kern Kelly, the teacher from Maine writes "As a teacher, Lively has been an amazing platform to showcase student work. We use the space for students, teachers and parents to virtually walk through the projects my students are doing. As a vehicle for 'newbie' parents to immerse themselves with the work of there children, it is invaluable."

The fact that you have not provided a way for us to download our rooms that we worked so hard on is making our anguish greater. While the rooms are all made from basic objects like tiles, benches and couches... the end product is beyond anything you can imagine. They are truly pieces of art that need to be preserved - and pictures and video just do not do justice. Please see these samples: Red Muffler, Cafe Racer, Aether, Sphere

We know that you have re-stated your decision in your reply to us. What we are asking you to do is re-consider your decision or atleast let Lively stay for atleast 2 more months - it is just gaining popularity especially among the student community and would give people a chance to see if the service is worthwhile. We think your product is way ahead of all other virtual worlds out there in terms of concept, art/animation and ease of use. Further as you can see, you have serious users of the product that are being affected drammatically by your decision.

Ok, so what are we asking for?

1. Please RECONSIDER continuing Lively atleast for an extended period of time (even without upgrades/new features). Livelyzens and the student groups will take on responsibility to bring in new users and increase userbase. If you can open content development during this extended period of time, that would be very useful in getting new users.

2. After serious reconsideration, if you still think you will not be able to continue Lively or even extend it for a short time, then we ask

a) That you allow us to download our rooms as standalone 3D objects that we can view even though we will not be able to interact. This is very important in order to preserve all the wonderful artwork on Lively.

b) That you consider open-sourcing Lively or seeking a buyer who can continue Lively. It truly deserves to live on.

We implore you, live up to your "Don't Be Evil" motto. Please do not just close this email and ask your Lively help team to give us a generic reply. Please please revisit your decision and we look forward to your response to our specific requests.

And finally if you have 7 more minutes, you can view our video appeal at: http://blip.tv/file/1548918

As we have stated, we are prepared as a group to work with Google to help make Lively a vibrant and successful operation. Thank you for your time and attention.

Yours sincerely,

The Citizens of Lively
livelyzens@gmail.com
http://www.livelyzens.com/

Google's Response to Our Letter #1

On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 12:12 PM, Lively Support Team <help@lively.com> wrote:


Dear Citizens of Lively,
Yesterday we received your letters, and we wanted to thank you forsharing your feedback and ideas on the future of Lively. The LivelyZenswebsite, rooms, and blog posts have been making the rounds internally.We truly appreciate your passion for the product.


The decision to shut down Lively was a difficult one, but in the end, itwas a question of setting priorities. We've always believed inexperimenting and taking risks, and Lively is an example of this. However,as a company, it's important for us to focus resources on our corebusiness of search, ads, and apps. This is why we've decided to shut downthe product.


We are considering several alternatives with respect to Lively'stechnology, however we have nothing to announce at this time.


We'll continue to communicate our plans and shutdown time line through theLively help group (http://groups.google.com/group/lively-help).


Again, thank you for contacting us.


Best regards,

Google

Our Letter # 1 To Google

An Appeal from Citizens of Lively
(#1 - Sent on 12/1/2008)



We are writing this letter on behalf of the varied and many citizens of Lively. Your recent decision to terminate Lively at the end of the year both saddened and shocked us.

The world you created – Lively – is the finest 3D world on the net today. Its excellent graphics, ease of use and interactive and harmless animations have brought together a group of users worldwide. The citizens of Lively (Livelyzens) are made up of all nationalities, all ages and all professions. We interact daily in rooms that have been built by ourselves with incredible attention to detail and artistic love. Some of these rooms like "CRY (Child Rights and You)" and "Multiple Sclerosis Sucks" have been created to serve a social good by their owners. We have created lasting friendships and have brought our worlds closer together. To see this end so dramatically has created an emptiness for many of us and anger for a few. We have attempted to demonstrate our passion for your 3D world by making other netizens aware of Lively through letters to social networking sites and blogs, news reports such as VirtualWorldNews.com, NetworkWorld.com etc., conducting YouTube machinima video and Lolcats/Lolbears contests as well as the preparation of an online petition which can be seen on our website at www.livelyzens.com.

We emphasize that this is your 3D world and we are aware that you are free to do with it as you see fit. We also understand that the current economic times are difficult and companies must and will attempt to rationalize their operations in turn. However we strongly believe that the decision to terminate Lively is a mistake. Having seen about 14 other 3D worlds recently has simply fortified our belief that Lively is the strongest and best built 3D world on the internet today. We believe that over time this will be seen by many new users as the 3D world of choice. The ability to integrate current Google products such as Translator, Search, Gmail/Gtalk, Google Earth and others exists as does the ability to advertise. This can be demonstrated by the recent Lively rooms creation of "BabelMiss - Spanish" and "BabelMiss - Portugese" which have a TranslatorBot Avatar that translate Portugese/Spanish to English and other languages. This feature not only facilitates communication within our multilingual virtual world but also demonstrates how Google Lively can be used as a learning tool. The room was engineered by by RandomHuman and Freecoconuts – both Livelyzens.

We understand that our plea should not be a one way street. We, as a group, are prepared to work with Google to make Lively successful. Our group would be prepared to aid Google in monitoring of the site for inappropriate behavior and content with the aim of becoming a self -regulating community governed by community-driven-standards like other sites like DMOZ and forming a volunteer team to ensure members follow the standards. Furthermore, our group, among other things, would be prepared to source new users and host events to enhance the users experience and develop long term users like ourselves. We stress that our group is prepared to discuss all options including a fee based service and would look forward to an opportunity to discuss further concepts with you in more detail.

We, the citizens of Lively, ask – no plead – that you reconsider your decision to terminate Lively. As we have stated, we are prepared as a group to work with Google to help make Lively a vibrant and successful operation.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Yours sincerely,

The Citizens of Lively
livelyzens@gmail.com


Please also see our personal stories and appeals, you will be amazed:
http://livelyzens.com/blog.aspx
http://groups.google.com/group/livelyzens/web/appeals

Petition Signatures at:
www.petitiononline.com/golively/petition.html

Lively Rooms we'd like you to see:
"BabelMiss - Spanish" http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=7499084429716312257
"CRY (Child Rights and You)" http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-6651047970893709589
"Multiple Sclerosis Sucks" http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-9150027984174659009
"LHP: Best of 2008" http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=983957584344161318

Related Links:
Our website: www.livelyzens.com
Pictures of Livelyzens: http://livelyzens.com/picturegallery.aspx
Lively Contests: http://www.livelyzens.com/contests.aspx
Our Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/livelyzens

Lively Wedding Invitation - IzzieBellah & mrfoxyy

Enter Livelyz Only Wedding Chapel (click below)

Mystery Solved...

...and a showcase of Lively's utility for business.

The Lively Active list was filled with popular company names on December 3rd and December 4th night.

Given the recent decision by Google to shutdown this awesome 3D product, our curiosity was piqued and we speculated on what these companies were doing on Lively! Imagination ran amuck!

Well - here's what it was. The rooms were for the first forum of Weavlink's Virtual High Schools. Quoting from their website (using google's translated page):

Students

and Graduates, participate in the 1st Forum on Virtual High Schools

Weavlink!

Team Weavlink, Thursday November 13 2008 at 17:47:: News

3 and 4 December 2008, we give you the opportunity to participate in the 1st Big Schools virtual forum! This event is organized with the school Supélec and will run

alongside the traditional forum. You are students or graduates of a high school or engineer of Commerce? Meet so privileged in the 3D world of Google Lively, recruiters of the most prestigious and create virtual interviews with the HRD in the context of your job or internship!

TALKS NOW ON section "Events"

ATTENTION PLACES LIMITED

Forum Virtuel Supelec 2008 by WEAVLINK

To Mel Guymon from Jessikah

Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 19:43:16 -0800 (PST)


To:
Mr. Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Hello my name is Jessikah Mercer and I will start by saying that I think it is obsurd that Google would choose to shut Lively down without even mentioning it to anyone until the last minute. I have seen all of us put so much time and work in our rooms and I just can't believe we are being told to take pictures.

We all come on everyday and are inspired to do creative things with our rooms. I have met so many wonderful people on here. A few of my fav. rooms were made by Jmichael, Kos, CS, Rossen, Imajika, Shane and Tanya, Thor, Blacksheep, Brittany, Luis, Sqeak, jeetix, Cristal, Merigoth, Nova, Kat,­­ Yole, Rose, DolphinMermaid, Beetle, Solum and these are not the only people trust me I could go on for hours. But these people here not in any order they all have left a spot in my mind and my heart with thier wonderful conversation and they are fantastic Artist's. They all are wonderful people and great to have finally met so many great people from all over the World. Now after we have finally found a great place to come and spend time together and time building our lovely rooms. Your asking us to take pictures of it and give our email addresses to keep in touch.

So we are all not asking we are all begging that you do not shut Lively down or make it an open source so that way we can go on. We have so many great minds involved here so it can definitly be done. I have seen so many great things and been to so many great places on here and I will be so torn to see that all thrown away because your project isn't doing how well you want it to be doing. It will only get better from here. Now that we all know there is a problem we are doing everything to get everyone we know signing up for Lively. If you also needed to make a subscription price whatever is nec. we will do because we love the people we have met and we need to be able to keep the art we have made. Thank you so much for your time! And please do take all that we are doing into consideration.

~Jessikah
http://www.livelyzens.com/
http://savinglivelyforthezens.ning.com/

To Mel Guymon from Shiakara

Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 15:44:40 -0800 (PST)


To Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,

First, I want to thank you for whatever part you had in bringing Lively to fruition. In the brief time that it has existed I have made friends with such amazing people. We may live thousands of miles apart and speak in a cacophony of native tongues but what Lively has done is allowed us to discover a common bond that connects us. In fact, I think it may be the single greatest bond that people can share. We have discovered the things that make us different are minimal and unimportant, they are brilliantly outshined by those things which make us the same. We all have joy and sorrows, triumphs and disappointments and incredible life stories waiting to be told.

We are not Matty Bears, Heathers and Hamlets, we are living breathing people who are sharing a marvelous experience. In this short time we have become a real community, a tiny Utopia of friends living in peaceful co-existence. You should be proud that Lively has allowed such a magical thing to happen.

I know it's your job to look at the bottom line and that even if you understand how we feel your obligations lie elsewhere. That is why we hang onto the hope, as a community, that we can somehow work with Google to come up with a way to ease the financial burden that keeping Lively would create.

Please respond to us, Mr. Guymon, as we anxiously await a reply from Google. Thank you for reading our letters.

Sincerely,
Shiakara, Proud to be a Livelyzen

To Mel Guymon from KosmiK Guru

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:58:42 -0800 (PST)

To
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,

I am not sure what is compelling me to sit here and write to you today. There's something about Lively... !!

When the announcement came, I logged into Lively and made a room to Keep Lively Alive. Within seconds, the room was full - I put out extra couches to accomodate everyone. We sat in a circle watching our chat bubbles - of shock, of disbelief, of panic, of grief... I knew then that what we had here was too precious and it had to be saved. I have spent the last 6 days ever since the announcement doing nothing but think about how we can save Lively from being shutdown. And I am not alone - there is a big community on Lively that is devastated bythe news about the shutdown. We are all working overtime trying to figure out how we can reach out to Google and explain our reasons for not shutting it down.

We know you would have thought long and hard too before making this decision. Did you think of us - the community on Lively? Did you even imagine that you will have all these people rallying for a "half baked beta product" as Lively has been called by the media? That we would be willing to do whatver it takes? Well here we are.

Lively is a truly unique 3D world and I have not seen an equivalent in graphics/animation aesthetics in any other virtual world that I have seen so far. It is easy to use and has attracted people from all corners of the world. 3 months ago, I would not ever imagined that I would have a friend called Pony at Taiwan or a friend called Imajika at Florida or a friend called Cherry at the UK or a friend called Oriste at Crete or a friend called Rossen from Lebanon or... the list goes on. Lively has this unique ability to connect people from all over the world from the simple uncomplicated rooms.

To be honest, when I first tried Lively after having tried Second Life for some time, I was disappointed. Lively wouldnt let me add content or create objects. The mouse movements were different from SL. etc. But then I tried it once again - and then once more...and I am glad I did.

From what I have read on blogs and news sites about Lively - most people tried it only once and gave up OR they had never heard about it at all !! I feel strongly that Google did not give Lively the right ingredients to succeed. Not enough advertising and not opening for content development were some pitfalls that worked against Lively's success.

To justify your business, add advertisements in our rooms or make it a paid service if you like. We have several ideas that we want to send to you and will send them to you shortly. In the meantime, I want to personally appeal to you to give Lively a chance - a real chance to succeed. Make the content development public. Give us Livelyzens a chance to spread the word and get people to register. We have already started a Machinima contest (see http://livelyzens.com) for details. We value this platform and are willing to be the ambassadors of Lively. ...Just give Lively a Chance...KEEP LIVELY ALIVE !!

Sincerely,
KosmiKGuru
http://livelyzens.com

To Mel Guymon from Cherrystar

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:55:39 -0800 (PST)

To
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.
Dear Mr. Guymon,

I found Lively on launch day...and Ive been here ever since. I hadn't used a VW before and Lively's set up some how appealed. Working through the buggy issues that seems to have deterred some early users, Lively has now become a very unique product. It has so much potential and to see it shelved after 6 months is not doing the users or the team that worked so hard to raise this project and justification at all!

Lively works in different ways for different people, never before online have I witnessed a place that encourages people to express themselves and promotes individuals creativity. This is the exact reason Lively was created, to embed in your own blog or space, a way to reach out to new people or existing friends.

There is a very strong community feel on board this site. Lively links people together under one common source, and that's conversation. It allows users to sit and talk promoting new ideas for rooms and projects. It allows ideas and themes to roll on and inspire other people and the ball continues rolling. There are some awe inspiring rooms that have been created in here from very basic inventory items. There are also some very informative rooms that bring detail on certain topics direct to the Livelyzens fingertips.

Since joining in July, I am yet to meet a Livelyzen that hasn't learned something from their time on Lively. Its a font of knowledge that can only be used to yours and us the users advantage! For starters, until I used Lively I hadn't used gmail, gtalk and other Google services. It was Lively that introduced me to the services that Google provide and currently creating. What better platform than to promote other products.

Finally as Kosmik has to rightly pointed out this is a place to meet people from far and wide, to understand and learn about their own culture, language and point of view on topics. And as a friend on here just pointed out its a place to "creating and foster very real and very sincere friendships".

Keep Lively Alive!
Sincerely,
Cherrystar

To Mel Guymon from Brittany.cda

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:21:29 -0800 (PST)

To
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.
Dear Mr. Guymon,

I am taking this opportunity to express my sadness at the decision of Google to terminate its Lively 3D Virtual World.

I have had the pleasure of being a citizen of Lively since July 12th. During this time I have made numerous friends and look forward to my daily chats with them and others. We have shared stories and experiences. We have shared laughter and tears. All of this we have shared in what I believe to be the finest 3D community environment on the web.

As my friend Cherrystar indicated in her letter to you, it is during this period that I began to use many of the Google products including search, mail and instant messenging. The unique and fulfilling experience I have encountered in Google’s Lively has extended to your other fine products. It is this continued exposure through Lively that I believe has been a significant although unseen benefit of Lively to the Google group.

Although I imagine that your decision was not an easy one and was based on many and varied criteria, I do hope that Google would reconsider that decision.

Brittany Mansell
Calgary, Canada
http://livelyzens.com

To Mel Guymon from oriste

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:35:32 -0800 (PST)

Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,

Being a non-native English speaker I can only hope to be fractionally as articulate as the previous poster. Nevertheless, I too feel compelled to address you personally today in an effort to describe to you what Lively means to me. I will do so with no other expectation than you reading my story. What you subsequently do with it, I will leave respectfully to your own discretion.

When I first participated in Lively I knew the phenomenon of virtual worlds only by reading about it. All my professional life I had been involved in "serious" Information Technology. I was a no-nonsense manager making decision based on reasoning and careful calculations. All this 3D and virtual this and that seemed pointless to me. Addictive maybe, but still pointless. A short-lived diversion for hormone-stricken teens maybe, but still pointless.

Being in semi-retirement however I figured it wouldn't harm to indulge in some frivolous exploring of this hyped "brave new virtual world". A few days in Lively turned my world upside down. It soon became addictive indeed, but no longer pointless. With quite a few hormone - stricken teens around looking for a short-lived diversion indeed, but no longer pointless.

What I found in Lively, after scratching the surface as I suspect so many industry pundits stopped short of, was a community of interesting people from all cultures and age groups that I could connect to. This didn't happen overnight, and I didn't realize this overnight either. Being an old-timer in this industry I grew up with IRC, bulletin boards and chat rooms before they were called that way. I professionally participated in forums and mailing lists. They were functional sometimes, a necessity at other times, a waste of time and energy most of the time. Not once had I felt an emotional connection. Being the obsessive analytical mind that I was trained to be, I didn't understand at first why Lively had this effect on me, why I enjoyed being in Lively.

Slowly it dawned on me: Lively is the first conversational environment that makes talking to a person feel like talking to a person. It's an enabling platform. I started investigating other virtual worlds and they all fell short. Without being blind for its shortcomings, I think that only Lively offers this characteristic. What sets it apart is that Lively offers a conversation a sense of place and person. Being able to move around a room to "physically" (as far as the avatar is concerned) join a conversation, or inversely, move away from a conversation, are extremely strong visual clues. The speech ballons help a lot in keeping focused on the participants in a conversation. With the right easy-to-adjust camera angle it's no problem to filter out other conversations in the same room. All this is only possible thanks to Google's implementation of the virtual world concept. For all the criticism that Google received for Lively's execution, this is one thing Google did right, and I thank you for it. Google managed to take the virtual world concept and turn it into the (almost) perfect chat room. Lest I offend my artistic friends in Lively, who have created beautiful works of art, beyond my imagination of what would be possible with the limited resources, I should add to my previous sentence: ... with a lot of spare room (no pun intended) for artistic expression.

You being in the position that you are, I take it you're an adult, mature, business-type alpha male, like me. Have you ever had tears welling in your eyes in a chat room, because of what someone said? Someone you only knew through his/her moniker or avatar?

I have.

Only in Lively.

Please... KEEP LIVELY ALIVE !!
Sincerely,
oriste
http://livelyzens.com

To Mel Guymon from juanpa31

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:38:02 -0800 (PST)

To
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,
mi full name is juan pablo braca. im from argentina.
i can understant the things in the world today. i see the world wild crisis. the figth agianst microsoft and understand some tipe of accions. maybe you need to consider that lively program didnt have the best managment and see the power of a tool like this..

even to take new peoples to your future projects. you only can see in the rooms to see the capability of creation in lively.

you did create a new generation of 3d chat. if you take time to enter in lively an see the kind off people you will see a kind of "protocol".
whats that??
the users are kind off worm and educate.. allways hi, welcome, thanks for coming. thinks like this... lively become in some "upotia". of how real world must be... in me. lively reborn the child i have inside. inspire my creativity and curiosity too. i understand you are a beasy man.. but maybe you need to see for your self the kind of things in lively.. i invite you to join mine and all livelyzens room.. you will see what im talking abut.

dont kill lively.. can be used for multi proposit. even to promote chrome. google are not like this.. dont work shut down... google is about to figth for your ideas.. and make it works....
like youtube.. we already are making a good campian to know lively. we just need a litle more of time the hardware and sotware is already there. give us a litle more of time and you will see.. lively will gonna lift off like a rocket..
thanks for yout time..
--------
-------
juanpa31
http://livelyzens.com/

To Mr. Mel Guymon from jenl2881

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:59:57 -0800 (PST)

To
Mr. Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,

My letter is concerning the imminent shutdown of Lively, which is set to occur on December 31, 2008.

You could say I come from a generation of techies. The majority of my life it seems has been spent on the internet or on a gaming console. Some might see this as a negative fact, but I would stand by the contrary. Without ever leaving the country I have dipped into the diversity and culture of a world I would never have known existed if not for sites like Lively. Lively is, however, by far the most capable I have ever seen an online chat site of bringing together the creative, the logical, the culturally diverse, and the most amazing people I have ever met in my lifetime.

Through Lively I have acquired new friendships and an amazing network of contacts. Shane and Tanya are artists from Michigan and Montana. Skip is an incredible programmer with a skill for 3D creations. Ross is always a good laugh but also a wonderful artist. Count is a composer from Romania, Lively lives in Australia, Deb is my good friend from Argentina, Squeak is an artist from Seattle with amazing talent, and KosmikGuru is creative and a born leader. There’s also Ammy who is a from my state, Texas, and a great friend, Queen Bee works with plants, and Luis and Monih both speak Portuguese (they’ve taught me Boa Noite which means good evening or good night). I have made some great friends and met some wonderful people.

Lively is more than just avatars, 3D rooms, and chat. It’s a place where people of different cultures, location, and histories come together to learn and grow from one another. Lively is like a community, a town. The Sims couldn’t come close the what Lively has become. The characters, who seem alive half the time, are better created and far more unique than any Sim character I have ever seen. Taking away Lively is like taking away a home and a family.

I know that sometimes I have been unhappy on Lively. Does that mean I want it to go away, no. A speaker came to my school a while back to talk about Google search. He told us he was the product manager of search. He explained the history of search, Google’s mission, and some facts to us. I also had lunch with him and some faculty afterward. He spoke about how while all the other companies went with one way of searching Google took a different approach. Microsoft scoffed at the idea. Google is now a leading name in search and is almost untouchable. Why then is Google giving up on something that has a chance to be their next big break-through?

I understand there are bottom lines, shareholders to satisfy, and a bleak economic projection. Yet even in these hard times, the gaming industry is booming. EA is making millions with games like The Sims and some games are projected to be almost impossible to find. Hugely popular are MMORPGs like World of War Craft and even sites like Neopets.com are moving into interactive 3D content with their Petpetpark.com. Lively has a huge potential for success. It’s differentiated by its style and ease of use, you’ve already invested variable and fixed costs into it you are unlikely to see returned, and it can create a stronger image for Google. As well, you have the potential for contracts with console companies like Nintendo, cell phone companies like Sprint, and social networking sites like Facebook.

Please know that there are many people who have their creativity, time, and lives invested into Lively. Regardless of the outcome, I thank you for this amazing site where I have met the most amazing people. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Sincerely,

Jen
Jenl2881

To Mr. Mel Guymon from Xavier

Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:45:26 -0800 (PST)

When I first joined Lively it was simply out of curiosity to see what a Virtual World was all about. I'd previously been rather sceptical about the whole VW scene, as I thought this in general was mostly a playground for horny teenagers and computer geeks. My main reason for trying out Lively was the Google label, as I considered - and still do consider - Google as a mature and decent company and that a Google approval would keep this VW "cleaner" than other VW sites.

I'm happy to say that my expectations were fullfilled, and even more so. I've made many new friends from different countries, and I know that they all are as satisfied as I am that Lively showed itself to be a family-friendly and clean site. In addition to that, Lively has very low entrance barriers and can be used by everyone with any interest in making new friends - without any need for training or computer proficiency.

Other users have their own reasons to appeal for Lively's survival - a.o. the unique possibility for artistical creativity within a VW framework. We have all our reasons to ask for Google to keep up their image as a responsible company. My Lively friends are all intelligent and serious people who deserve both Google's respect and to be heard through their appeals. I join their united voice in this appeal to Google to do the correct thing - Let Lively Live !!

Xavier

To Mr. Mel Guymon from Naboo Cat

Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:33:28 -0800 (PST)

To:
Mr. Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,

The first time I entered Lively, I found myself, within minutes, in a nicely decorated room having a pleasant conversation with friendly people from all over the world.

I quickly discovered how easy it is to meet new people in Lively. Many of those people have become friends, some very close friends.

Google got something just right in Lively: the simple aesthetic, ease of use, clean interface, emphasis on chatting and social networking, allowing people to be creative. All of it works to bring people together.

What makes Lively really special are the people. In my group of friends are men and women from all over the world and of all ages.

There is my friend from Beijing, a first-year university student. We talk about American pop-culture (which she knows more about than I do). I help her with her English-language homework. She tells me about life in China.

There is my friend from Crete, wise beyond his years (which makes him very wise indeed). He can tell you what makes people tick, and he knows how to roast a sheep -- a rare combo.

There is my friend from Lebanon, always full of life, good for a laugh, a talented artist, and generous. Like all of them, he is someone I would never have gotten to know without Lively.

There may not be a huge number of Lively users, but our dedication to Lively is huge. Lively means a great deal to us. Given the chance, I know we will help to grow Lively into a successful product.

Mr. Guymon, please reconsider the future of Lively.

Yours sincerely,
Naboo Cat

To Mr. Mel Guymon from Cláudia

Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:58:52 -0800 (PST)

To
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,

I never before spent many time in a online chat! Never had really liked it! When I knew about Lively, I tried it and I must confess that my first impression was not very nice, because of some people, specially men, that were there just to flirt and other things less moral! But when I heard there, that Google was making an effort to "clean" Lively from that kind of people, I thought i should give another chance..And i'm glad I did!!!

I live in Portugal, can't travel too much, don't have time to make new friends... well didn't had! Cause now I believe I found some good friends from around the world, that in other way i wouldn't met! In an friendly environment that you kindly provide us for 5 months... Just five... :(

And sundenly the announcement that Lively was closing doors, deleting our beloved rooms, One of mine took me more then 5 days making it..I really love it!! you should go visit, mine and the other wonderfull rooms that we, Livelyzens, build with love and care, thinking that we could spent good time with friends there.. And now, we must find a new home... But there's no other like Lively!!!

Please, I know the World has higher issues then one "insignificant" 3D Chat. Issues like ecomomic crisis, reducing employees, etc.. But its not money that makes the world go around, is Love, Friendship, Compassion, Care, Respect between people from all the Globe that make everything else possible!!

But, ok...Google is here to make money, not just to make us have fun... So, we've thought of that too!! You and us , friendly Livelyzens, could work together in a way to make Lively rentable for You.. If you kindly go to http://groups.google.com/group/livelyzens?hl=en You will find some ideas how to make Lively worth to continue!! Such as, advertising in the rooms, when the room is loading or we could buy credits to get some special items... And so many others ideas...

Please Mr. Guymon, reconsider the idea of shutting down Lively, and take a look in this campaign of beautifull people, my friends all around the world!!! We are fighting for a World for Love, Friendship and Respect, the same feellings I send to you, writting this letter!!

Thank you for your time..

Sincerely
Cláudia

http://livelyzens.com

To Mr. Mel Guymon from Veronica

Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:43:46 -0800 (PST)

I could try to convince you to keep Lively running through various examples of business, social, or marketing applications, but so many others have valid arguments in that light. What I can do though, is tell you my unique story relating to a totally different application of Lively.

I am a transgendered woman, only recently beginning the process of coming out and transitioning. It is a very grueling and heart wrenching experience to those who have been brave enough to do it; and for those who have not, it festers inside of them and breeds depression until the day they die. The only real way to solve the problem of feeling you were born in the body of the wrong sex, is to transition your body into one that reflects who you truly are. I was born a male and have struggled through so much pain and longing for the entirety of my 23 years of existence. Always chided and scolded for not being "man enough" or for acting "too girly" I soon tried to conform to societies standards set before me. I was after all born with a male body, so why shouldn't I try to act like one? For years I did my best to follow the male model set before me, but always felt inadequate and usually depressed for some reason. During this time I had no idea what affected me, nor did I have the concept of transgenderism. I merely tried to fit in with everyone.

Around the time I started college, I began to gain a better understanding of the world, and was exposed to more types of people. Through the help of forums and online chatting, I was able to discover and learn about transgendered individuals. I still hadn't realized I was in fact transgendered myself, but I expressed an interest in learning more about it. I began to have floods of emotions and memories of always feeling forced to act certain ways, wear certain clothes, like certain things, say and behave in certain mannerisms. After a long quest of self discovery I finally realized that I was in fact transgendered. I then had to face up to all the morals and doctrines I had been taught up until that point, slowly analyze them and determine if they were wrong or right in my eyes. I had to denounce my religion, accept that my family and friends most probably would not accept me, and steel myself for a society that largely would persecute me for who I am. After several years of soul searching, indecisiveness, and debilitating depression and despair, I eventually came across Lively.

What does Lively have to do with this long, seemingly unrelated story? A lot. While spending an evening at a friend's house my friend, who is a Google nut, showed me a new 3D chat client recently released a month or so prior. It was of little interest to him, but he presented it to me in a proudly zealous way as further proof of Google's genius. It immediately caught my eye because I have always had an interest in online worlds as well as building avatars of what I could be and was not (i.e. creating a female avatar since I could not at that time alter my physical appearance). So, I went home and tried it the next day. It was a whimsical little world, with excellent design and wonderful avatars reminiscent of Pixar and Dreamworks characters. I had mildly interesting conversations with several people from around the world, and it held my attention enough to come back some more. Shortly after joining, I cam across Leo's room, "Leo's In the Castro". There I met Leo and several other friendly folk who were very inviting and understanding, and I quickly warmed up. In the next few days I met several other nice people, and the list kept compounding. I was really hooked. Not addicted to a program, but addicted to the people I could freely interact with through the program. For the first time I could actually have a semblance of life as a woman. It was a social situation I could go into as if I never was plagued with my birth sex and freely interact with people as myself. I loved the way I was treated and felt. "So this is what it's like to be hit on by guys." "These people treat me so much nicer and don't expect me to act macho or competitive." "Girls actually approach me as a friend, not with distrust that I may be hitting on them." were several of the thoughts that went thought my mind. It was a trial version, if you will, of what was to come.

After a brief absence while moving to college and adjusting to life there, I returned one night to visit Lively yet again. I was quickly reunited with people I had met prior and quickly developed extremely close and meaningful friendships with them. One person in particular was able to help me in ways I never even knew I could be helped. I was able to come out and discuss my transgender issues with a few people on Lively, and I received unanimous love and support. I am eternally grateful to these people who have helped me so very much in being comfortable with who I am and giving me the confidence to be who I really am. They still are and will forever be my friends. Lively is not merely a 3D chat client useful here and there for business, social networking, or creativity, it is something so much more to me. It is an entity allowing me to vicariously connect with people continents apart with whom I would never have such a chance to share close moments with in such ways as I do on Lively. Never before has a product, client, or whatever you want to call it, captured the charm, marvel, and accessibility attributed to Lively. This project is still merely in beta phase. I repeat, only in beta. And look what it has accomplished for so many people. Imagine the potential it has! What started off as a marvelous project to begin with, now has a rock solid team of devotees behind it willing to do all they can to improve it and spur it's growth. It would be a severe mistake to scrap the Lively project now. Not when there is so many ideas and ingenuity compounding daily from it. There is a hope that Lively will stay, and there is a hope that it will become something better than anyone can even imagine. We are willing to see that happen, and we hope you are too.

With great sincerity,
Veronica

To Mr Guymon from Adrian (webrunner1981)

To
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.
Dear Mr. Guymon,

My adventure with Lively has begun on July. I've seen how Lively engine works on youtube.com. I'm IT person and i know how difficult is to create new product, which is safe and useful. I think all Lively Team made a briliant job and i wish to thank all of them. I know which problems are usually on chat, but here - in Lively i have met smart people from many countries. I've never imagined it is possible to talk like that. In Poland we don't have nothing like this. I've met compatriots in Lively. I have many virtual friends now. All thanks Lively. I hope, you won't shut down Lively. Why? Cause it gives so many possibilities, which another wirtual world will never give to people. I think you did something, I was dreaming about from childhood - a safe place, where democracy exist and is respecting, place - where smart minds can show, what they can, can tell, what they think, where everyone has a chance to be, who want to be. I understand reasons as informatitian, why you've decided to end this beta project, but I think it's a cruel to kill human's dreams.

"But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

William Butler Yeats - quote from "Equilibrum"

Sincerely.

Adrian alias webrunner1981

To Mel Guymon from Kitty (Vicky Vixen Foxz)

Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 08:30:15 -0800 (PST)

To
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,

Lively has given me a chance to get away from the stress of life as a college student but i would like to thank you for creating lively and helping find more friend to talk to about the stresses of college but i would like to urge you to change your mind about shutting down the website.

lively is not just a website, not just a way of live but its a place i am proud to call home when almost everything in my life has been lost, lively reformed me and helped me socialize and i don't want to see it go as much as you do.

please help keep Kitty's dream lively just for a little longer...

To Mel Guymon from Rossen

Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:33:53 -0800 (PST)

To
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Hi, I would just like to give my opinion on Google's decision to shut down Lively. Shutting down Lively is a pretty big mistake on Google's part for many reasons, of which I’ll list few. First of all Lively, is a one of a kind Virtual world because it's a free way for 3D designers to show their work, as a designer Lively has been a massive help for me to break into the game design industry. Lively is a great way to show your work in a world out there already working and popular, after only a few months on Lively I have gotten emails asking to work on projects for Lively and days before the news was made public I had started a project for Lively. Google picked a bad time to shut down Lively, because it was just starting to get industrial notice and recourses put into it, maybe it wasn't as successful as Google had planned but in the last few years virtual worlds have EXPLODED and 90% of them are ghost towns, Lively did very well for a world that just came out of nowhere and people truly enjoyed using. The quality/style of Lively is unmatched anywhere else, we've had our group of Livelyzens (www.livelyzens.com) searching for WEEKS and no one has found anything EVEN CLOSE to Lively. Most of the Virtual world fans are loyal and would not switch worlds, making it hard to get a lot of people in Lively initially but as it evolves and gets more resources and build up more it will attract a lot of people. With the Google gadgets support it's limitless what Lively could be used for. Anything from a couple of friends watching some funny YouTube videos to a virtual conference or a company meeting using Lively for it's friendly user interface, there are few user friendly virtual worlds, SL (Second Life) for example is way too fussy for most of the people on Lively to enjoy using, on the other hand Livelyzens enjoy using the interface and dressing up, there are people that change clothes daily, simply because it's almost effortless and fun, specially for the women of Lively. And of course the level of creativity Lively allows is unlike anything else. I’m sure you've seen most of the rooms that don’t even use the pre-made shells but people spend HOURS and DAYS in their rooms simply having FUN building, there are... no virtual worlds that it's truly FUN to build in. Most are fussy, annoying, complicated, etc. Lively has a quality that makes is fun and unique for anyone at any age, I have met people from 12-50 years old who all say they love Lively because it's user friendly and fun.

From all the world Lively is the only world to successfully achieve a non-verbal communication that is both fun and effective, from a simple hug to kicking someone to bits, all express physical communication very well in ways other virtual worlds couldn't usefully do. So from a social tool, designers looking for a place to start or ameeting, Lively could meet the needs for all those. The lack of advertising didn't allow Lively to really get much attention, in all the other virtual worlds I tested NO ONE knew Lively and most were quite happy after they saw it. Lively even pays for itself in many ways it advertises Google products and people who would have never used Gmail or Gtalk or Google earth, have used them or use them daily now, because of Lively. With every person that is on Lively you get users of many other Google products. Well I could go on and on about this, but in short I just think you haven’t given Lively the chance to be all it can be, let alone shut it down after only 5 months, most worlds don't even have 10% of the population that Lively has in their first year.

Cheers,
Rossen

To Mel Guymon from Thor

Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:46:11 -0800 (PST)

To:
Mr. Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,

My name is Thor of Lively and I too must implore you to keep lively alive! I am 35 from Belgium and never would have imagined visiting any type of chat environment but lively got the best of my curiosity. would have never thought that id meet such wonderful people from all over the world nor build such strong friendships. I have a great interest an passion for electronic music and the creation of it.lively has giving me the opportunity to share that Passion with others not only that but have collaborating musically with other fellow livelyzens.I feel it is such a waste to let such an amazing product that brings intelligent and people from all over the world together.Lively has enriched my life tremendously and it would be a great loss to loose it.so please google keep lively and keep your motto not to be evil. KEEP LIVELY ALIVE! thank you,

Thor of lively

To Mel Guymon from mikeysoft

Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:05:52 -0800 (PST)

Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,

I, like many others, have been truly surprised by the announcement of the closure of Lively at the end of December. I know there are economic reasons for this, and you must have consulted your team widely, before making your decision. Many people are truly upset about this, and this is just one letter stating an individual case, amongst the many. I hadn’t liked the concept of chat rooms; laying yourself open to anyone on the internet, and we all know how people can lie, deceive and cheat each other. I’d read about cases where men lie about their age and try and seduce teenagers into meeting them in real life, with potentially fatal consequences. I made up my mind that if the occasion ever arose, I would just be honest with people, and not lie. Anyway, what was the point in trying to remember what lies you had told? I’ve been using a computer since 2001, and had some fun times, making websites and learning geeky things  I tried forums, and made a few friends through them, and it was always with the intention of helping others. There was a sense of humour in them, and a real sense of family, but was fairly limited in the sense that it couldn’t go that far, at that period in time. MSN and email was the main source of communication, and they served their purpose well. One day I saw a program called Second Life, and thought, hey, this is a new concept and idea, so tried it, but was soon put off by the impersonal nature, and difficulty of use. Then there was a small program called Hobbo Hotel, which looked cute, but this lasted maybe an hour before the novelty wore off. Still the concept of 3D chat rooms, to my mind, was an untapped resource, waiting to be found and used. Then one day, while looking on winbeta.org, I saw a post for a new Google program called Lively. I knew Google had a very good reputation; all the programs I had seen from them had a clean, professional look about them. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try? So a quick download later, I was presented with the Lively main page...a list of rooms, and avatars...thought I’d try Jen’s first as it looked good and had a few people in there. I wasn’t disappointed; after a little while taken reading the Help page, it was easy to find your way around, and navigate. Already after only a few minutes, I had met people like Cherry Star, or CS as she is now, and many other really friendly people. I soon accumulated many new friends from around the world. This was new...this was different...and many leagues above what I had previously seen in all those years. My first attempt at a room, like so many other new people, was based on a variation of Jens Coffee Shop. I don’t think anyone ever got it quite as good though. Many surpassed the idea, but that simple idea of a Coffee Shop was perfected at Jen’s, shown by the thousands of visitors it has to this day. The great thing was that we could meet people from so many countries...it wasn’t an invitation only thing, like I understand it is from many similar 3D programs. It was open to all! That’s the key to the continued success of Lively...freedom and integration. The sheer human strength of spirit is alive on Lively every day. As Oriste mentioned, someone might say something that was so wise and well beyond their years, it would bring tears to your eyes. It was a joy to go there. People became adventurous, and thanks to a few intrepid explorers, it wasn’t long before users started to go way beyond the standard shell. People formed groups of like-minded souls, and you could see friendships forming. It was becoming a family. Relationships grew as people began to know one another. I myself met Miss K, who spending a lifetime with seems too short. There was friendship, creativity, strength, weakness, love, a little hate, fun and romance. Everything that makes being human worth living. I met Miss X and Miss Y who had lost everything, and had attempted suicide, emotional people, who needed a strong environment in which to flourish. Lively gave them that strength; it gave them love. There is so much that Lively can do for people, ordinary people, if you will just give it a second chance. Lively has changed my life in a very positive way, and I’m sure many others can say the same. There are ways to create a profit I am sure. Advertising, paying for goods, sponsorship, annual or monthly fees...most everyone I know has said they would agree to this, if it was just kept alive. Mr Guymon, in conclusion, I would like to thank you and your team so much for creating Lively. It may have just been an experiment, but it was most definitely a success. Witness all the glowing reports from everyone here. I ask you humbly to reconsider your decision about closing it down. It literally has saved lives and brought love into our world, and surely something like that needs nurturing, feeding and tending...
Mikey

To Mel Guymon from joe3pl (Maciek Platkowski )

Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:29:49 -0800 (PST)

To Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,

I am on Lively for few months, i made some rooms that maybe don't have many vistors, but persons who have seen my rooms, told me, they like my rooms. Also i 've met many people from different countries and cultures. For me - Lively is nice place to meet people without carying about skin color, culture or religion. And now it supposed to end of this place there is no racism on lively or other matters like this. You can talk with people without carying from what country they are. I think that is all i have to say for now.

Maciek Platkowski

To Mel Guymon from KingofSiam

Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:50:39 -0800 (PST)

To Mel Guymon from KingOfSiam
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:50:39 -0800 (PST)

Dear Mr. Guymon,
Please don't shut down Lively, I'm still doing stuff there.
KingofSiam
http://livelyzens.com

p.s.
In retrospect maybe that's not an adequate appeal. In addition, I realize Mr. Guymon, that you may have little more power over this decision than Niniane Wang did. But as a guru of virtual worlds (imvu, there.com) there must be something you can do to help the lively souls that have spent the last 5 months building up this abandoned universe. On one hand you have a core of dedicated users who are volunteering to monitor content (similar to DMOZ), many members showing interest in a membership fee, and scores of promotional campaigns that have spawned simply from the livelyzens movement, including, LOLcats/LOLbears, Lively Machinima video contest, and Lively Concept Rooms. All this can be seen at http://livelyzens.com.

But personally what this comes down to for me, is that I've only been testing Lively since October, and just began to realize what was going on here. The Lively Artizen's Group (LAG) have been sponsoring contests since lively's inception. Members from across the world have collaborated on beautiful works of art. Just like imvu there are a large number of people that come to chat, and like second life, Lively has become an addiction for many, but unlike any of the 13 or 14 different virtual worlds we've visited in the last few days since the announcement---Lively has an entirely unique artistic community. Go visit Rana's Black Pearl, Rouget's Sphere, Mr. Foxyy's Abbey, or Malon's Riverboat. While you're at it, visit KosmikGuru's LHP (Lively Hot Picks) and note the 30+ rooms that have been nominated for the award show. Notice the wonderful potential of Lively through the efforts of this lively group of individuals---this global community of artists, dreamers, builders, conceptualists. This is something unique, and strong business model or not, should be preserved--- carried over somewhere, or recognized in its tragic closing. I strongly urge you to visit http://livelyzens.com and help to keep lively alive!

To Mel Guymon from Finola

Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:43:43 -0800 (PST)

To:
Mr. Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,

I joined Lively after seeing it in a news byte at work. That was the only time I heard about Lively and honestly the only time I heard it advertised even to this day. At first I thought it might be fun to see how a cartoon chat would be since my emoticon at work seemed so limited and instantly I was "addicted". I was submerged into a new world full of interesting rooms and people. Although the initial encounters sprinkled with immature or meat market minded people, after time I realized there were an eclectic group of people all around the world, I soon developed deep lifelong friendships with many of the people here. Friendships that would never have happened had it not been for lively as I am not one for chat rooms. From my experience, lively was far superior to the over hyped second life and attracted people of high caliber and diverse backgrounds. I was amazed at how it had opened me up to the world and I was able to speak french to real people in France. I was able to create a room easily to symbolize my oasis from real life... and enjoy conversations, dancing, and good memories. These rooms took a lot of love and effort and I will be very sad to lose them. Please visit them "Starry Seaside Escape" and "Findom Night" to see what I mean.

Lively is a home for many here. In this home, I have found myself also. For so long I have felt like I was just living my life and routine. In this Lively world, I was able to express myself and be truly who I was with no fear of biases. I was able to connect with people from all over the world and share interests, sorrows, joys and celebrations. In a strange way we all became family. I have seen people blossom and show their talents. Almost every soul I met on lively has had this unique creative side that resulted into a wonderful positive force propagating to the next individual they connected with whether it is artwork, poems, stories or humanitarian groups. To shut down lively without giving it a chance is contrary to the spirit of google and what it symbolizes: HOPE, CREATIVITY, HUMANITY, INNOVATION, INTEGRITY. I can truly say that lively and the people I have met here has CHANGED my life forever. I can see how a business decision comes down to money, but there is a human side to this decision and the fact that Lively was never advertised as it should have been or developed the the full potential to compete with other virtual environments which would have generated profits in so many ways. Please reconsider shutting it down and give us a chance to come up with solutions. Thank you for your time and please contact me if you have any questions. I do work IT and understand also there are always solutions that can be explored.

Sincerely,
Finola @[email address]

To Mel Guymon from Nova

Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:06:11 -0800 (PST)

To
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,

Since my introduction to Lively and 3d chat I have undergone a chrysallis of sorts. Indeed, many people have, but my own and that of BlackSheep seem particularly of interest. Let me explain.

I suffer from clincial depression, and have for much of my life. This lead to a stunting of my social skills that left me an outsider. I have trouble reading ordinary social situations and lack the skills to cope with dealing with strangers in real life. This has made my life awkward and my ability to form new, lasting bonds frustrating. Similarly, some monthes into Lively I encountered a man who quickly became a fast friend; BlackSheep. Black is charming, in an old world manner, well spoken and rather charismatic. So it came as quite a shock when I found out that he suffers from the rare asoergers syndrome. Aspergers, quite briefly, is an extremely rare form of autism that is marked by an extremely intelligent individual who is, unfortunately, almost completely unable to come across in life in any meaningful way that does not cause people to keep him at arms length. I am a student of psychology, and some years away from my degree. My meds enable me to keep from doing anything drastic, but before Lively I was a miserable loner. Since Lively I have been astonished to find myself something I have never been before, save for short periods of time: popular. I have formed within these digital walls lasting bonds, friendships and deeper relationships still. Similarly, so has Black. I feel that shutting down Lively would be a sin. If I had the influence, I would be recommending a psychological study of 3d chat to see if it does somehow allow those who suffer from social anxiety disorders to function with some normalcy, and if there is any way to develope therapy methods to transfer these skills to real life. That, succintly, is my plead to google to find an alternative to simply shutting Lively down and letting it collect digital dust.

To Mel Guymon from Rose

Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:36:22 -0800 (PST)

To
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon-
Many people have asked me just what Lively has meant to me and I have given it great thought. It has given me the opportunity to meet people from all over the world in a safe and fun environment. These people have given me insights into different ways and types of life that I would in no way have a chance to do in my own real life. Lively has limitless possibilities in regard to opening up a new frontier of communication and community. I have made lasting friendships with many of the people I have met and will miss our medium of getting together enormously. There may be other virtual worlds out there, but nothing can compare to Lively in it's character, make-up and heart. Because that is what is at the center of the workings of Lively - it's community and it's heart. Please reconsider your decision to cut the heart out of our community.

Rose

To Mel Guymon from johnnymahalo

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:53:29 -0800 (PST)

To
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.

Dear Mr. Guymon,

Google you have hit a homerun with Lively... don't strike out in the bottom of the ninth! Lively has brought together folks from all over the world... wonderful friendships have been made. Worlds have been created... Lively is truly... alive...

I truly believe Lively can be one of the Best of the Best of online vr communities... please... don't pull the plug.

sincerely,
John McCullough, aka Johnny Mahalo

To Mel Guymon from Belavar Planiie

Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:04:23 -0800 (PST)

To:
Mel Guymon.
Head of 3D Operations.
Google Inc.

Mr Guymon:

First I would like to express thanks for your overseeing of this wonderful product. In a sense you are the Giuseppe to all of your Pinocchios....there must have been a time when you wanted to see LIVELY prosper, to "become real". Notwithstanding sour reviews in certain places we were gleefully learning to dance, to sing, to laugh. We learned that we could walk under water, turn somersaults in the clouds or leap from high places.

We met friends who astonishingly would turn out to be actually in Russia, Turkey, China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan,Portugal, Italy ,Norway, Sweden, Colombia....need I go on? Then one day it all changed. A Heavy Cloud swept over our sunny dreams... for yourself, as well as us.....we had not known there was any problem, we had taken our freedom for granted...as did Pinocchio! Giuseppe wanted to help Pinocchio, but he was caught in the storm and swallowed by a giant whale...he was spat out and tossed up on the shore among the seaweeds. It was only THEN that the TRUE MAGIC happened...Pinocchio cried : his first tear ran down his once wooden nose and plopped on the sand, now he was "really REAL"! So, likewise did it happen to us "Livelyzens": realizing, as the news made it's awful and inexorable way through all the time zones that our Lively friendships are with real people, not animated puppets! So we overnight became "really REAL", in joining together with one purpose...often working through our tears...and through the night...we were surprised by our own reaction! Are tears ever wasted? Beauty for her Beast? Pinocchio for Giuseppe? We so wish to help the whole 3D team as well as ourselves, and all those who have never had the chance to even discover the great joys and Beauty of LIVELY. In a way, I hate to be doing this, I hate to possibly burden you with this. It reminds me of Dicken's 'Christmas Carol': where Scrooge wakes after his nightmares of what might have been/what might be. He leaps from bed and looks from his window and...shouts: "OH..It's STILL Christmas!". If only that could happen.... Perfectly aware that Google's brilliant engineers know how to promote or "improve" the product, the only little thing that WE can do is focus on the subjective.....so that you may at least remember what a great and good thing it was, in which you have participated....if only for a little while... I remember meeting "KITTY" (see previous post) the day she was making her first coffee shop! She had spent hours and as yet no-one had come to see it! I stuck around making small talk and giving encouraging comments to this new acquaintance. Then behold! her first "customer" arrived...(these early meetings were a little awkward, like the first days in school!). Later that evening I returned and the room was now full of visitors. Kitty was having the time of her life, even when a mock fight broke out! Kitty's time zone is several hours ahead of mine, so I reluctantly went to bed. The next visit we exchanged "contacts". From there I have watched as Kitty demonstrated what a talented person she is, and how prolific her creations! I understood early on that her commitment to these projects demonstrated the possibility of a very successful future for her, aided by the practice she was acquiring within the Lively 3D world.... It is known that Google envisioned Lively as a social environment rather than a "content creating" fantasy life, (with the evident intention of promoting Gmail, Gchat etc.) In fact part of the shared fun in Lively is the improvisational skills shown using what is available: eg. fireplaces made from cupboards, motorcycle wheels from floor lamps, a whole riverboat from assorted objects, mountains from several "skydomes" placed one behind the other, a sea monster and a hot air balloon made from rotating photo spheres...but the list is endless.

I had often wondered what it was that made my childhood kaleidoscope so fascinating: I knew it was a simple one with pretty colours inside, but....what exactly was that elusive magic, that "something" I could never recapture in my work? It occurred to me to take shots of the inside of a little ($2.49) model. I first put these onto rotating photo spheres in the "void". I became very fond of using the void because of it's feeling of immensity: creating this and that, one day I put the kaleidoscope shots onto a "photofloor" then another, and another...adding matching Rotating spheres...some music from "Cosmos"...falling snow...and suddenly I was in that "Special Place" again! Totally absorbed in creating for the love of it....I realized with a shock that 3 hours had gone by...I really could not wait toshow it to some friends. (You can see it at the room called "Heavenly" before it is gone).* I went on to make a Christmas themed version too...a very happy place like an infinite Emporium. I had intended to make this much bigger in time, having only made the "gift wrap Plaza"...but. (You can see this at "Christmas". Bel's Emporium).* I have a place called SKYRIDE, where you can climb way up behind 6 skies and come zooming down again "like a comet" as a friend said.* I also made 2 Discos* and a Carnival,* and many other things. Best of all I love my "HOME" ("Once upon a time..." constructed in the shell called multi-goth which to everyone's satisfaction was provided with built-in fireplace!)* When I first 'rented' it, I left it open to the public and it was largely unfurnished . I still remember the shock and unexpected delight when I returned next day to find gift wrapped packages with "notes", a candy wreath, several Christmas trees...all provided by someone who became a very very dear Friend. This I will remember to my dying day. Being a member of Lively has returned my heart to me...a heart I assumed had been mislaid...umm...somewhere...? I rediscovered with a shock that all that made this person "me" in the promising days of youth is still there.... never gone away, but for lack of opportunity for expression. I understand much better how it is that people never get to use their gifts and share them with others. I only WISH that everyone could find Lively, and learn to live again in a new way. There is such potential for this electronic international networking that Lively or not, it will happen. if it is allowed to. And.."YES Virginia there is a Santa Claus!"