Google’s Niniane Wang said that entering a customized Lively room can give users an immediate “sense of the room creator’s interests, just by looking at the furniture and environment they chose.”  To us, Lively feels more like a chat room with 3-D camera controls, but hey, it’s still early, so we are somewhat excited at the possibility of portable virtual environments for the masses, by the masses.

Visiting Lively rooms requires Windows XP or Vista, Internet Explorer or Firefox, and downloading the Lively browser plug-in.  Mac support is not available, and may not be an option for same time. 

User-created Livelry rooms can be embedded in any Web site.  Visitors can chat within the various rooms and also add/move furniture and other objects.  The appearance of avatars can be modified in some basic ways.  Lively rooms can also display YouTube videos on virtual TVs and display photos (via Picasa) in virtual picture frames.

How does Lively compare to Second Life?  It’s certainly easier to use, but for now, it lacks the latter’s programmability (Second Life has an object oriented scripting language called Linden Scripting Language, or LSL for short.   We’ll keep you updated on how Lively progresses over time.

Moore makes three basic points: (1) Virtual worlds ARE already social networking sites, to some degree; (2) Social networking sites provide profiles and buddy lists for your WHOLE life, not just your virtual one; and (3) On social networking sites you play yourself, while in virtual worlds, you play someone else.  He then explores whether it’s a good idea to combine virtual worlds and social networking sites.

Read the article on Terra Nova.

• In short: Combining a virtual environment and a social network, Kaneva,
• URL: http://www.kaneva.com
• Maintained by: Kaneva, Inc. since 2004
• Price: Free access
• Kaneva System Requirements:  Windows XP or Vista, 515 MB hard drive space, 512 MB RAM, high-speed internet, Nvidia 5200/ATI X700 series graphics card or better
•  Platforms supported: PC

Kaneva Overview

Kaneva is touted as a place for 3D friends and good times.  You can meet new people and hang out, go shopping for virtual clothes and accessories, customize a 3D home, open your own 3D dance club, among other things. 

Kaneva, inc. is a privately owned Atlanta-based company.  Founded in 2004 by Christopher Klaus and Greg Frame, Kaneva supports 2D web browsing, social networking features, and the ability to share media.

History 

Kaneva originally started as a product to help game developers build games.   The first version of Kaneva’s game platform was released in late 2004, allowing game developers to produce games.  Soon thereafter, Kaneva decided to use its own technology to develop a virtual environment that combined a 3D world, video sharing, and aspects of social networking.  In 2005, Kaneva started development on the Kaneva virtual world, which was ultimately released into beta in mid 2006.

Kaneva takes place in a modern-day setting.  It boasts a world “full of real friends and good times” and a “a more human way to connect with friends online.”

Members create avatars, digital version of themselves, and gets their own 3D space called a Kaneva City Loft.  Lofts can be customized, decorated, and furnished.  Videos, photos, music, and games can be watched on 3D televisions.  Friends can come hang out in the 3D home or one can use one of Kaneva’s public spaces to chat syncronously.  Users can dance, shop for the latest fashions, play games, watch TV and movies, and explore.

Kaneva seems to target teens.

Kaneva Screenshots

Kaneva Resources

Kaneva Official Site

Kaneva Logo and screenshots are ©2007 KANEVA, INC. All Rights Reserved. The Virtual World of Kaneva is a trademark of Kaneva, Inc.

Could a new virtual environment platform, Metaplace, bring virtual spaces to the masses? Raph Koster, one of the former developers of massively multiplayer online game Ultima Online who quit his job to form a brand new MMO company, thinks so. He recently announced Metaplace, a brand new virtual world venture that promises an open-platform, open-ended approach to virtual worlds. Users of Metaplace (http://www.metaplace.com) will be able to build 3D virtual worlds quickly using simple, sharable building blocks and templates.

The resulting online spaces, which could be used for gaming, e-commerce, or socializing, can be embedded in a webpage, MySpace or Facebook profile or weblog.

“We are out to democratise virtual worlds and bring them to absolutely anybody,” said Mr Koster, founder of Areae, the company that is producing Metaplace. “You can come to the site, press a button and have a functioning virtual world that supports multiple users in about 30 seconds.”

While details are sparse at the moment, all we know is that Metaplace is a very ambitious attempt to go beyond merely building a virtual world. It’s an attempt to build an open virtual world standard. Metaplace claims that the platform will be able to integrate smoothly into current web standards. This means that people should be able to integrate whatever is built in Metaspace into websites, RSS feeders, and more.

Recently featured as one of the top 40 hottest startups at the TechCrunch40 conference, Metaplace is definitely a virtual environment to keep an eye on.