What or who is Second Life's Avaline for?

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Filed under: Betas, Business models, Opinion, Second Life, Virtual worlds

We've been giving a lot of thought to Second Life's new voice service, Avaline (currently undergoing an early beta). Avaline will allow you to pay to reserve the ability for someone on an external phone to call a voice-user through their avatar, by dialing an access phone number and entering a code (much like your basic teleconferencing service, though with just the two of you, apparently). The phone number of the caller is presented before you choose to accept the call.

What, exactly, seems to be the use-case here? If the caller is a Second Life user themselves, it is probably more convenient (and cheaper) to fire up Second Life and establish a voice session directly with you, if you're online. Otherwise, we're a bit stumped. Do you tell people, "No, don't call my office. Dial my Second Life avatar instead, because it will be just like talking on the phone!" - Pretty much that would be because it is talking on the phone.

It seems hard to envision a niche that the service fits into. We're open to suggestions.

Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop. What or who is Second Life's Avaline for? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 26 May 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.




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