Virtual sex too Lively for brands?
July 17th, 2008 by Tim Greenhalgh

I was watching a rerun of the Mighty Boosh a couple of nights back and one bit clicked in a new way. It’s the moment when the Crack Fox plays Vince some Foxy Porn – “for the fuzzy tingle times” - instead of his life story.
I’d been back on Google Lively Beta that day for another underwhelming virtual experience and had trawled through the list of user rooms, a lot of them offering Foxy Porn (er – or similar). The Boosh gag was laced with that uncomfortable truth of the ubiquity and motive power of sex in all media.
Since then Google has responded to the harrumphing about porn rooms on Lively but I wonder how many brands will risk visibility in virtual spaces where an accidental click can associate them with, let’s say, humping foxes.
Meantime, has anyone else tried out Lively and has positive, smiley results? I love the virtual experience when it pings but I’ve rarely found it on the community worlds so far. I’m too old for Habbo and WeeWorld (even with its own new-ish virtual world). They keep growing and BarbieWorld now has 10 million registered users, so maybe it’s the more controlled, youth spaces that will win the brands’ respect and trust.
Tags: , google, google lively, mightyl boosh, vitual


