Will Linden Labs launch mobile virtual worlds with opportunities for intimacy?
Linden Labs changed what was possible in 2003 with the virtual playground Second Life (SL). Now the company is bringing its sensibilities to the iPad with the new title Creatorverse. As Apple does not allow even vaguely sexual content in its app store, it doesn’t have the potential sexual universe that SL does. However, it may point to future mobile virtual worlds that are less constrained.
Like SL, Creatorverse is all about you making something and seeing how it interacts with a virtual universe. Creatorverse emphasizes shapes and physics. Make a wheel, draw a diagonal line below it, and, once you put the screen in motion, you can watch the wheel roll down the “hill”. As shown in the video, the physics setups here can become quite elaborate.
“Linden Lab makes shared creative spaces that let people have fun while they explore the creativity that is in all of us,” CEO Rod Humble said earlier this year, something that can apply to both Creatorverse and the hit SL.
The first major 3D open world a decade ago, SL has been trying to find its footing since user interest dropped. In 2010 Linden Labs let go 30 percent of its staff and had less than a million repeat user log-ins, a serious drop from the several million engaging in the virtual world when it first launched. Less interest could be blamed on several factors, including the rise of more accessible social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Users have been on the decline ever since.
Around the release of the iPad, Linden Labs told the Wall Street Journal that it planned on getting Second Life on the iPhone and iPad as soon as possible.
At the time, Apple’s stranglehold on adult content probably pushed the SL idea to the back burner, though it’s still unclear why SL hasn’t appeared on the essentially uncensored Android devices.
The launch of Creatorverse may now point the way for SL – with its accompanying sexual activity – to be launched on Android. Perhaps it will also encourage pure virtual sex worlds such as Red Light Center [NSFW]to move onto tablets and other mobile devices.
Creatorverse is currently available on the Apple iPad, Google Android and Amazon Kindle tablets.
