The Jeff Pulver Blog: Second Life Getting its Voice from Vivox

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February 28, 2007

Second Life Getting its Voice from Vivox

As Chairman and co-founder of Vivox, I've enjoyed watching the metamorphosis of Vivox into a company that is focused on being the "voice" in the world of MMOGs, where MMOG stands for "Massively Multiplayer Online Game." Just yesterday it was announced that Linden Lab will integrate the Vivox voice services into the fabric of Second Life. Second Life Residents will be able to speak with one another simply by walking up to other Residents and talking. There will be no need for a separate application, download, or login. Much like the experience of the Million Minutes program run this past fall by Vivox in-world when several Residents gathered around the microphones for group conversations. But now, no need to download a separate application. Spatial audio is also a feature and will allow residents to hear each other based on their positions - on their left, right, far away or nearby. Other capabilities will include controls for both Residents and land owners to manage participation in conversations, friends lists, presence, speaking indicators and tools that will allow people to stay connected in and out of world.

I’m looking forward to having this feature fully implemented on Pulveria.

Second Life plans to start a private Beta in the next couple of weeks.

This is a tremendous step for Second Life and for Vivox. Real time communication gives users a lot of choice and opportunities to connect. It will be great to see how Residents will use the technology for business, education and social endeavors. Stay tuned!