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Linden Labs' Second Life adds VoIP client

By Tim Conneally, BetaNews

September 3, 2008, 5:23 PM

At the Virtual Worlds conference in Los Angeles this week, entrepreneurs have gathered to discuss the big business that online worlds have become. Linden Labs' successful Second Life received some noteworthy "fourth wall breakers" today.

Linden Labs and Vivox partnered to create SLim, a messaging client scaled to the massively multiplayer world. SLim is a discrete VoIP/IM client that is meant to run alongside the Second Life viewer. It can complement onscreen interactions, or it can communicate with others not necessarily running the Second Life application.

Linden Labs encourages businesses to set up virtual workplaces and showrooms in Second Life, and hopes the addition of voice communication will enrich that. Currently, however, voice communication is only on a one-to-one basis.

Vivox was founded by VoIP pioneer Jeff Pulver, better known as the co-founder of Vonage, and originator of the VON (voice on the net) Tradeshow. Currently, Vivox is used for Sony Online Entertainment MMOs Everquest I and II, and Star Wars Galaxies.

Second Life has also been made accessible to mobile phones through a free open beta from mobile software company Vollee. Testing in private beta since June, Vollee's application offers the full three-dimensional Second Life experience on the mobile screen. Not exactly a porting down, Vollee adapts PC software for mobile consumption and streams it over 3G networks, attempting to preserve as much of the desktop experience as possible.

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By Harri

edited Sep 11, 2008 - 12:43 PM

My PC had a bios related Hardware crash . (fortunately , it has extended warranty). Anyhow, so I have used ajaxlife and Sleek , neither of which are that good , but do allow some chat inworld ( with my old PC) ,.....but OK , here is an idea , I had :
it would be nice , if one could have atleast a still snapshot , of the world sim you are in , in a litttle optional window , so that if say someone wants to show you something , or you want to just peak in world , who is where and what , ( in my case I like live music concerts ) , ... that would be a cool mini tool , i think some would really appreciate , if they are running SLIM say off a USB on an old pc somewhere , or even parallell in SL , to show eachother still photos . Cool sound efx , are cool , that signal communication activity , and personally , I like the 3d gui look games uses vs. say 2d look ofo some chat programs . Hope my little idea is useful , I share it free , as i can't code it myself . I also want a 'magic wand' with various sundry scripts , but that is another matter for my inworld friends to make me . ;)

Score: 0

By dean.collins

posted Sep 5, 2008 - 9:24 AM

Vinox isn't really that big a deal Mexuar implemented a 168k java applet using the open source Asterisk platform into Second Life about 18 months ago.

It enabled voice calls in both a many to many 'open voice' conference room but also the abilty to make 'real world calls' onto the pstn network either outbound or even inbound using the Asterisk servers PRI's or Voip channels.

At one stage there was a mockup of a virtual cell phone you could use in Second Life to make calls or link to your real world cell phone as well.

Cheers,
Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net

Score: 0

By ingram091

edited Sep 4, 2008 - 9:25 PM

I still don't know what second life is all about. I have had an account for ages. log into it occasionally to tinker around and make accessories and stuff. but whats the point really? Lets see what I do in there normally... Go to a club so I can chat in a room with friends (IE Chat room) and listen to a shoutcast broadcast, and tinker around with a 3d avatar while doing it... Why can you not do that in the way they are designed too? Sure SL makes it so its all in one place. I suppose thats nice. Give you an interesting distraction while its at it in that your in a 3d environment with a customizable avatar. But beyond that... its just a mixing of like 3 or 4 services that are available free outside of the game anyway.

And seems to me they already had a VoIP system in game, cause I could walk up to someone and talk to them no problem... I am assuming this is going to be something similar to Vent or Teamspeak? Maybe Skype?

Other then going around doing virtual clubs, and making 3d items to trade with others, I just do not see the entire concept of this game. it seems quite pointless. Much like life itself. Part of the reason to go online is to not have to deal with the mundane reality. This just adds another layer of boredom IMHO.

Score: 0

By morriscox

posted Sep 3, 2008 - 5:38 PM

Only having one-to-one voice chat will limit its usefulness. I myself play EQ1, EQ2 (most of the time), and SWG. The in-game chat works fairly well, though it wouldn't detect my hardware at first (but still let me use it).

As for Second Life, it already has voice chat in it and you can use it one-on-one or to anyone in your surroundings. Where SLim seems to come in handy is where you don't want to log into SL to communicate with someone or where you want to communicate with someone who cannot or will not log into Second Life, but has the client installed and running.

The biggest problem for Second Life currently is that it's not really stable. It has many other issues; however, that one tops them all.

Score: 0

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