Google Lively (lost online virtual environment game; 2008)
The logo for Lively
Status: Lost
Google Lively was a web-based virtual world that was made by Google Inc. An open beta for the game started in July of 2008, where critics were quick to point the similarities between Lively and the massive virtual world game Second Life.[1] Though the game was hyped up to be a competitor to Second Life and other virtual world games which had dominated the internet throughout the late 1990's and into the 2000's, Lively had nothing new to offer which inturn sealed the game's fate.
Background
On July 8, 2008, Google announced Lively which was going to be their take on the virtual world genre of games. In Lively players would be able to customize their own avatars and create their own custom spaces. Lively could also be embedded into a blog, Facebook Web pages, and MySpace page. Lively could be downloaded, but was also accessible by using Internet Explorer or Firefox. Lively did not have an in-game currency system.[2] PCmag.com gave Lively a 3/5 stating Unsophisticated graphics. Not yet a rich enough experience to become addictive.[3] Other websites pointed out that the fact that Lively was only supported Windows, limited content, and in order to play, the player would first need to download a web browser plug-in.[4]
Discontinuation
On November 19, 2008, after only five months of the game going live, Google announced that Lively would be no more, but servers would still be up and maintained until the end of December. Google stated that the reasoning for shutting down the game was to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads, and apps business. Google encouraged players to take screenshots of their creations before Lively went offline.[5] Though many disagree and think it was due to the overall bland nature of the game as it did not offer as much as other games like Second Life did. On December 31, 2008, the servers and the website for Lively were shut down and became inaccessible. The website Lively.com now redirects visitors to the announcement of Lively's closure.
- ↑ An article about the beta version of Google Lively Retrieved 5 Apr '18
- ↑ Google announces Lively Retrieved 5 Apr '18
- ↑ PCmag's review of Lively Retrieved 5 Apr '18
- ↑ a review for Lively Retrieved 5 Apr '18
- ↑ Google announces that Lively will shut down Retrieved 5 Apr '18