3Di.jp Releases Second Life Web Interface, Movable Life
In July we reported that the NGI Group had established a subsidiary, 3Di.jp, to address virtual worlds.
One
of the major projects was a go at creating a Web and mobile interface for Second Life. That interface is now available in alpha as Movable Life, which is meant to allow you to "chat, IM, search, teleport, manage friends, groups, and much more. If you just want a quick and easy SecondLife experience without all the 3D graphics, then MovableLife is exactly what you are looking for."
In the screen grab from Firefox, you can see my avatar's location on a Google map of
Millions of Us Island where I'd last logged out, a (short) list of
friends, a search bar, and a chat window. Searching opens a new window
with the option to teleport to the new location or add new friends and
groups.
I wasn't able to try out chat, but it seemed like a very stable, clean interface. The TOS says that
From time to time, you may communicate with, receive communications from, be re-directed to, interact with, or participate in or use the services or obtain goods and services of or from, third parties such as our advertisers, sponsors, or promotional partners (collectively, the “Advertisers”) as a result of your use of this Site. All such communication, interaction and participation is strictly and solely between you and such Advertisers and we shall not be responsible or liable to you in any way in connection with these activities or transactions (including, without limitation, any representations, warranties, covenants, contracts or other terms or conditions that may exist between you and the Advertiser or any goods or services you may purchase or obtain from any Advertiser).
So it looks like 3Di may try to integrate with additional advertisers beyond those involved in Second Life. There's no word on whether it's successful in mobile phones, which the Yankee Group recently said was necessary for success in the States and Japanese marketers have said is crucial in Japan, but we've reached out to our contacts at 3Di.jp to check on future plans.
Their TOS doesn't allow anyone who might be involved with a business in SL to use their service. Too bad, I would have liked to try it and talk with clients who are in world when I'm not.
From their TOS
"Personal Use. Your use of this Site or any of the Movable Life Services shall be restricted for your personal and individual use. You shall not use this Site and/or any of the Movable Life Services for and/or on behalf of any other person, group of individuals and/or entity. You shall not use this Site and/or any of the Movable Life Services in any manner which does or is intended to promote or generate revenue for any business enterprise or commercial activity."
Posted by: Anthony Reisman | October 03, 2007 at 03:31 PM
It's worse than that.. their IP policy states that anything a user "makes" as a result of accessing the system is their IP. That's potentially ridiculous in an environment where content creators operate.
It could be a translation issue, but someone really ought to revisit their TOS. I can't see why anyone would begin to use that tool to collaborate under those terms.
Posted by: Robert Stratton | October 05, 2007 at 06:24 AM
There is no conceivable means of "creating" anything via a web client. For that a full 3D client is necessary.
The personal use clause is there so you don't use ngigroup servers/bandwidth for your personal gain. It has no relation to whether you happen to be conducting a kind of business at the time you are using it.
The TOS were received from a US lawyer who was doubtlessly covering all bases. Most of ngi aren't fluent English speakers. Moreover Japan is not nearly as lawsuit happy as the US. If it wasn't for US lawsuit-happiness, there probably wouldn't even be any TOS at all.
Other people have mentioned concerns we are recording passwords. We don't, and I personally would never stand for it. Trust is the most effective kind of security, because it cannot be defeated by attack. However, it does take time. Please allow us the time to earn your trust.
Cheers,
Posted by: ryan | October 14, 2007 at 06:15 AM
I understand that a company wants to be protected, but many companies have a TOS that isn't as restrictive, including LL.
The personal use clause opens up a business user of your system, legally. For example, if I wanted to use the system to discuss something with my business partner in world, or a client, I couldn't. That would be business use.
As to creating something. What if someone is using the system, and creates an idea? A business plan? What if that idea happened to be similar to Movable Life?
The same reasons that NGI would want to protect itself with a TOS that covers all bases are exactly the same reasons a business owner wouldn't agree to a TOS of this type.
Recording passwords is also a serious trust issue, but can be worked out when LL implements a better login authentication system.
Hopefully both of these issue will be worked out as I see great potential and would love to try the system out!
I've let Benjamin Duranske over at Virtually Blind know so he might be able to give a more lawyerly point of view.
Posted by: Anthony Reisman | October 15, 2007 at 09:02 AM
After Tony got in touch, I wrote a piece on this. My "lawyerly point of view" is that these weren't written to do what they do, but they do it anyway, and they need to be changed. Basically the TOS is in alpha too.
After talking to 3Di folks at VW2007, I'm pretty sure that Movable Life has no intention of enforcing these terms the way they're written, but that doesn't change the fact that the way they are written makes it basically impossible to a) do business over the service, or b) collaborate on anything with IP implications.
Article here:
http://virtuallyblind.com/2007/10/18/movable-life-grabby/
I expect they'll fix this, and hope they do.
Posted by: Benjamin Duranske | October 19, 2007 at 01:00 AM