Google launches MMO game, Lively

Google has today launched a new competitor for Second Life, dubbed Lively. The new non-game provides an arena for users to create avatars and environments and then socialise and interact with each other in.

Lively is currently completely free to use, requiring only a quick sign-up process and an existing Google or GMail account.

The current build of Lively is compatible with both Firefox and Internet Explorer, but is only available for Windows users at the moment - so Mac gamers will have to forego the experience for now.

Lively has been online for less than a day, but the huge popularity and ubiquitous nature of the search giant means that the online world is already brimming with content - there's hundreds of avatars and rooms for players to experiment and interact with, with Google promising much more in the future.

That said, Lively is essentially a non-game, so aside from social possibilities the actual appeal of the game is going to be fairly limited. Other than toddling around chatting to other Google users there isn't an awful lot to do - no overall aim or boss to kill.

Still interested in Lively, or are you only about the focused and meaningful gaming experiences? Let us know what you think in the forums.

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