Why, though? Google tried to take on Second Life

In 2021, Facebook became Meta, driven by Mark Zuckerberg’s infatuation with the metaverse — a concept that we’ve heard increasingly about as AI has come to dominate today’s tech buzz.

But long before Facebook’s pivot, Google attempted its own foray into a nascent metaverse.

In 2003…

… Linden Lab launched Second Life, a virtual platform where people around the world created avatars to interact online.

Users could explore highly customizable worlds and experiences, and even buy virtual items or content using in-world currency. Anshe Chung became the first person to earn $1m+ selling virtual real estate on the platform.

By 2007, Second Life claimed it had 2m “residents,” though CNET estimated its active user base was likely closer to 200k-230k.

Wanting a piece of the pie…

… Google Labs launched its own social platform in 2008. Known as Lively, users chatted in virtual rooms via text bubbles that appeared over their avatars’ heads. (See a video here.)

Users could decorate chatrooms with digital furniture, art, and YouTube videos — but unlike Second Life, Lively had no in-game currency or user-generated content, nor did it allow adult content.

So what happened?

Though promising as an accessible world that people could access right in their web browsers, there wasn’t much to do aside from chat with whatever strangers you could find in a given room.

It also didn’t seem lucrative for Google. It didn’t appeal to advertisers, and while Google may have eventually installed a digital economy, the Great Recession meant people began cutting back on discretionary spending.

Five months after launch, Google reported that Lively only had 10k weekly active users and would be shutting down.

Today…

… you’ll still find people dwelling in Second Life, but getting people to adopt virtual worlds has generally been tough. Meta’s Horizon Worlds has struggled to attract regular users, as has Decentraland.

So far, it’s the gaming platforms — like “Minecraft” and “Fortnite” — that have seen wild success. Perhaps it’s better when players have clear objectives and tasks, versus wandering around trying to make a friend. That’s hard enough IRL.