GoogleWorld ?

clipped from arstechnica.com Google testing “My World” for launch later this year Rumors of Google’s plans to create a virtual world that rivals that of Second Life have popped up once again over the weekend. The company could now be collaborating with Arizona State University to test the 3D social network, which may be tied into Google’s current applications of Google Earth and Google Maps. To us, it seems that a virtual world is natural progression of Google Earth and its 3D representations of… well, the Earth. Users could create avatars, like those in Second Life. But the purpose wouldn’t be to rival Second Life and all of its fantasy, sex, and moneymaking schemes. Google Earth CTO Michael Jones insisted (first comment after the post) in January that Google Earth would always remain true to the real world and not dive into the type of fantasy world that Second Life has become. Therefore, Google’s implementation would be more like “First Life,” but in virtual form.