The features of AvatarSpace aren’t nearly as advanced as those of some of the larger virtual worlds – it’s more of a group chat that utilizes Oddcast’s existing avatar technology. Using your own voice, you can talk to other avatars in a given chat room, or type them a message via text. Users in the room can also watch videos simultaneously. Moving around is simple enough, and can be done either via your computer’s arrow keys or mouse.
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Meanwhile, as opposed to a service like Google Lively, where individual rooms around the Web can still be inter-connected, Oddcast’s rooms are strictly meant to live on the website where they are published. This is because the company is not looking to build a massive virtual world, but rather, provide an inexpensive solution to companies that want to keep visitors on their websites longer.
For Oddcast, AvatarSpace opens up a whole new line of business beyond the one-to-one interactions previously offered for functions like sales and e-learning. While CEO Adi Sideman tells me the technology will be used mostly for promotions with things like multi-user game shows and karaoke, it could also conceivably create a new way to do sales or customer service, especially with the built-in video player.