To
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.
Dear Mr. Guymon,
So I think we can see the areas where Lively succeeded and where it failed. You have the best looking avatar chat program online, with mobility and style. Where it fell apart was in the early production and neglecting to incorporate game play.
The only reason this product doesn't fall into your core products is because of the way you planed it in early development. With nothing to do but chatting, nobody has anything to do in the program, and you loose most of your users. In fact, that was the question most users would ask before they would leave. What is there to do here? This is also why you have such a low user turn out after the launch.
Now to keep the product as it is makes no sense. It's virtually worthless as just a chat program, as evident by your cost, user turn out and your ability to shop this out. But to neglect a product like this as the future direction of online interactivity I think indicates a major lack of vision.
So while there's been rumors of Google venturing into games, everything you've actually done, at least to the public, says otherwise. And here's the major point where you failed. Without the ability to add game content, you don't have people that can develop mini games for you. You WANT to get into distribution. Mini games is a cost effective way to venture into this market. You use lively to incorporate these games, which can be posted where ever on the web. Google Lively becomes this casual gaming network, connecting people, as well as boosting searches and traffic to Google.com. If you wanted, you could incorporate features from Google Trends, so better trace users visiting habits.
You've ventured into this some already with YouTube, so distribution isn't particularly new territory. As well it continues your ability to expand your core products into all media. You want the public library all on Google? It's much easier to make that argument if you've already got games and video going. Get the games incorporated, you have a product. You know this is where gaming is going. A large number or networks have their own avatar systems. Each major video game console has an Avatar network now. And Google is abandoning theirs, just as this phenomenon is reaching critical mass?
You get the games in there, you get the options to expand the worlds by letting users build and sell content, selling advertising space, etc. You get the room shards ability in there, you've got companies looking to promote their product online with rooms and events. You'll expand your searching and people look for these rooms with these products. As well, the rooms could be supported even farther with banner advertising, like you see in many racing games where the
billboards actively update with new adds with an online connection.
You had the right idea, poor production. If you're going to make this happen, you need to do your research. Get people who were previously involved with virtual worlds and games on it this time. The targeting system in Lively is obviously flawed, as well as the interaction abilities, as far as transiting all xyz translation and rotation data, which extremely cuts down your interactivity and makes it painfully obvious that is was created by armatures in this market.
I could see an eventual relaunch of the project after some reworking, but from everything I understand, it'd take a major reworking of the core programing of Lively to get these features due to the neglect mentioned before. You're so close, don't make the mistake and run away from this when you're so close to the next big thing to happen with interactivity. The major flaw you have with something like Google search is that it's a product that takes users away from your website after using it. With something like lively, you have the opportunity to incorporate your other products into something your users are in all the time.
It's a risk, but if you actually spend the time to plan it right this time, with a clearer direction and goals, directed by more familiar with this territory, it becomes a calculated risk, where the returns could easily outweigh the cost and you guys could be THE example for online virtual systems.
The only reason this product doesn't fall into your core products is because of the way you planed it in early development. With nothing to do but chatting, nobody has anything to do in the program, and you loose most of your users. In fact, that was the question most users would ask before they would leave. What is there to do here? This is also why you have such a low user turn out after the launch.
Now to keep the product as it is makes no sense. It's virtually worthless as just a chat program, as evident by your cost, user turn out and your ability to shop this out. But to neglect a product like this as the future direction of online interactivity I think indicates a major lack of vision.
So while there's been rumors of Google venturing into games, everything you've actually done, at least to the public, says otherwise. And here's the major point where you failed. Without the ability to add game content, you don't have people that can develop mini games for you. You WANT to get into distribution. Mini games is a cost effective way to venture into this market. You use lively to incorporate these games, which can be posted where ever on the web. Google Lively becomes this casual gaming network, connecting people, as well as boosting searches and traffic to Google.com. If you wanted, you could incorporate features from Google Trends, so better trace users visiting habits.
You've ventured into this some already with YouTube, so distribution isn't particularly new territory. As well it continues your ability to expand your core products into all media. You want the public library all on Google? It's much easier to make that argument if you've already got games and video going. Get the games incorporated, you have a product. You know this is where gaming is going. A large number or networks have their own avatar systems. Each major video game console has an Avatar network now. And Google is abandoning theirs, just as this phenomenon is reaching critical mass?
You get the games in there, you get the options to expand the worlds by letting users build and sell content, selling advertising space, etc. You get the room shards ability in there, you've got companies looking to promote their product online with rooms and events. You'll expand your searching and people look for these rooms with these products. As well, the rooms could be supported even farther with banner advertising, like you see in many racing games where the
billboards actively update with new adds with an online connection.
You had the right idea, poor production. If you're going to make this happen, you need to do your research. Get people who were previously involved with virtual worlds and games on it this time. The targeting system in Lively is obviously flawed, as well as the interaction abilities, as far as transiting all xyz translation and rotation data, which extremely cuts down your interactivity and makes it painfully obvious that is was created by armatures in this market.
I could see an eventual relaunch of the project after some reworking, but from everything I understand, it'd take a major reworking of the core programing of Lively to get these features due to the neglect mentioned before. You're so close, don't make the mistake and run away from this when you're so close to the next big thing to happen with interactivity. The major flaw you have with something like Google search is that it's a product that takes users away from your website after using it. With something like lively, you have the opportunity to incorporate your other products into something your users are in all the time.
It's a risk, but if you actually spend the time to plan it right this time, with a clearer direction and goals, directed by more familiar with this territory, it becomes a calculated risk, where the returns could easily outweigh the cost and you guys could be THE example for online virtual systems.
SeanH
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