Wow, Second Life is certainly inspiring many an imitator. We’ve not only got Home on the way from Sony, but Google’s having a pop at it too! Coming out of nowhere from Google’s Mountain Valley HQ, launched just yesterday, is Lively.

More details and some first impressions after the jump.

First off, you wonder what Google’s doing launching their own online virtual world, at no cost, out of nowhere. What’s inspired them to do this? My personal opinion is that along with holding your email, your documents and Powerpoint presentations, and even providing news services, price comparisons, video hosting services, photo organization and something called a ’search engine’, Google’s using Lively to get one step closer to stealing everybody’s soul. In all seriousness though, you wonder how much money Google has to throw around, such is their generosity in giving us yet another quality online utility to play around with.

So then, into Lively. As you’d expect, you need to use your Google account (essentially your Gmail if you have one) to login to Lively and from there you can select your generic avatar (bloke, woman, uhh…pig) and dress them up. This costs precisely nothing and it all works through your internet browser of choice, as long as it’s Internet Explorer, or Firefox. With a few clicks of the mouse (once you’re into a room, which can take a few minutes) you can launch Lively’s catalog of clothing, hairstyles, accessories and furniture to decorate your own room with and immediately apply it to your own character.

It’s simple, and it’s free. Unfortunately, it’s also on the bad side of ‘processor intensive’, especially if you’re using Firefox, ever prone to memory leaks which aren’t helped by a 3D online virtual world. It’s pretty but functional, minimal but at the same time just at the right level of conveying what’s going on. There’s facial expressions, all sorts of generic animations you can pull off (high fives, handshakes, Force chokes) and it’s all pretty fun, for something that’s free.

However, I’ve always been skeptical of online worlds since it’s far more rewarding talking to a friend in real life than it ever will be talking to some cute chick who turns out to be a guy and I suppose I couldn’t enjoy choking people with my mind as much as other people who’re accustomed to Second Life, IMVU and anything else like it. It’s fun for a little while, and it’s from Google so the chances are you’ll like it, but in the end it hoovers up your computer’s resources like a thirsty Dyson and the appeal is strictly limited.

Maybe that’s just me though. As for everyone else, get stuck in and get..lively, I suppose. Can’t say no to anything that’s free.

Lively by Google

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