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.
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
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