Google today introduced a 3D chat room plug-in called Lively that is easy to embed in websites and blogs. Ars Technica went hands-on to see if Google actually has introduced us to "another dimension of the web."

Unveiled on Google's blog with the disclaimer that it was a "20 percent" project, Lively is designed to be a portable 3D space where users can build rooms and interact with visitors via avatars. "Second Life in a web browser" is an applicable analogy, though Google appears to have made sure that rooms and user activities remain in the G to PG range. Each room can be linked with a unique URL—I Hate Ewoks and Lively: Google Room are two good examples—or even embedded in a website through an iframe.

"If you enter a Lively room embedded on your favorite blog or website," Google's Niniane Wang said in the announcement post, "you can immediately get a sense of the room creator's interests, just by looking at the furniture and environment they chose." Apparently, a WordPress theme, Flickr photostream widget, and a Twitter Flash badge aren't enough to show off one's personality anymore; we need to know people's architectural preferences as well.





The Lively room is rendering while we customize our avatar



For now, Lively is only available for Windows XP/Vista PCs running Internet Explorer and Firefox; Mac and Linux clients are on their way. While Lively is a custom platform Google has designed, it requires Flash in order to run embedded in a site. Lively rooms offer a pop-out option if you need more space to strut your 3D stuff.

We hopped into the "Lively: Google Room" to take a virtual walk around. The room was obviously full of other users just taking their first steps, which were all pretty awkward. Controlling our avatar on a more-than-capable Vista machine was clunky, and avatars sometimes snapped around the room in jerky movements. A limited amount of interactivity with objects is provided, though avatars can chose from a range of actions like shaking hands, hugging, picking a fight, or even choking Darth-Vader-style.





Conversations are displayed above individual avatars' heads while they navigate the room



"Of course, you can chat with each other, and you can also interact through animated actions," Google's announcement explains. "In our user research, we've been amazed at how much more poignant it is to receive an animated hug than seeing the text [[hug]]."

Considering this goal of increased interactivity, Lively's initial offering looks like a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's a very beta Google Labs project and its complex environment is new to everyone trying it out right now, so we saw less interaction among users and more poking around to test the boundaries of the system. Basic chatting is easy enough to do, but users were spending more time figuring out how to navigate the environment and perform relatively basic actions.





Traditional chat is still around to make sure you don't miss a word



On the other hand, since Lively is so easy to embed in a website and the plug-in is such a quick install, Google may be on to something here. 3D environments like this are a pretty big hit with a large segment of the gaming market (Exhibit A: The Sims and Second Life), and Lively packs that rich interactive experience into a free plug-in. If Lively grows some legs during its Google Labs beta phase, the company can monetize it in obvious ways down the road by embedding text and video advertising in the rooms. Site owners can probably get a slice of the pie as well, giving them an incentive to try the platform.

For now, however, Lively is a clunky beta. Perhaps more importantly, from a social perspective it's going to take some time for users to get used to Lively's cartoony environments and get attached to the ways people can communicate and express themselves. There is also something out-of-character about Lively that users may need time to digest. Google is known for its spartan search box and text-based UIs with pastel highlights, not rich, 3D chat rooms embedded at the bottom of blog posts.

You can check out Lively for yourself, as we've embedded one of the most popular rooms below.