Popular Virtual Cat Breed in SL Now Exportable to the Web!

This is quite cool and innovative and I'd love to see more like it: KittyCatS, a popular breedable animal in Second Life (the developers prefer to call them "fully interactive pets that can breed"), are now exportable to the web. (On the official site, on a page called The Cattery.) I haven't met my cat on the web just yet, but Emerald Wynn has, and writes about the experience on her blog:

KittyCatS has developed an online Cattery that allows owners to transfer their cats from Second Life to a Web page . . . and then bring them back inworld whenever they feel like it. And even when they're living on the Website, they can still breed and live their normal little cat lives — for instance, they also need to eat there, as you'll see in the picture below.

The cats are a creation of Dennis Lagan, Equinox Pinion and Callie Cline; the idea to make them importable and exportable to the web, Callie tells me, is to give their owners more flexibility:

"Some are pet enthusiasts, some love to keep and breed for hobbies, and some try to make a business out of being KittyCatS! breeders," she explains. "The online feature just adds another tool for them to care for their pets while being offline, as it works on any device which can show a web browser." The web functionality also means you don't necessarily need a lot of land in SL for your cat to live:

"Some of our customers have gone without house and home due to restricted prims," says Callie, "and this enables them to 'get their house back' while still keeping cats in-world and on the KittyCatS! CaTTery."

The Cattery is still in Beta with more features for it coming soon. But as I've said before, I think this is the future of great SL content: Gestated in-world, yes, then connected to the greater web with export features like this. The developer who comes up with a breedable animal that can exist in Second Life and, say, on a Facebook app? That's a huge opportunity.

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Comments

[Melanie]

I've been part of the KittyCats community for about a year now, and I can honestly say that everytime KC sends out a new update, I'm impressed all over again. Just the fact that they've held my interest this long, is saying something! :)

[Hitomi Tiponi]

My cat is not going anywhere near any web, unless she eats the spiders - when I'm not around her job is to make sure that our home is kept mouse-free.

[Pooky Amsterdam]

Brilliant & Bravo Callie Cline and KittyCats! woah!

[Nathan Adored]

I ask this sorta halfway tongue in cheek, but... Okay, so you can take your cat to the Web, but can you take them with you to your opensim grid of choice, and back? :D

Actually, that'd be a neat feature if you could.

[Allen Eppenberger]

The concept of allowing the cat to move freely from SL to the web to an app back to SL is cool. But what's to stop a website from thinking the cat is malicious botware?

[Dartagan Shepherd]

It's the new business model for those up to the technical bits.

SL has gone from innovator, to yesterday technology to stepping stone or gateway to proper technologies with stable product, better documentation and support, real programming languages, etc.

SL is too closed garden and buggy these days (as well as overpriced), the real numbers are "out there".

Like Raglan Shire, it's a good move.

Thankfully mesh also makes content volumes more portable than it used to be.

[Pussycat Catnap]

One more reason for folks to own land in SL now removed.

[callie cline]

Hey Pussycat, (nice name btw)

We've seen with our customers, this isn't getting them to not own land at all, it's just a way those who have more cats who would indeed like their house and other fun stuff, to keep what they can have in SL, and use the online CaTTery to do special projects.

As an additional tool that can be used in so many different ways, it's not intended so people wont have land, more just an added feature for them to care for and manage their pets as they'd like for their lifestyles and of course times they can't log into SL and want to make sure their babies are ok :)

In fact many have said they love this new feature but WANT to have as many of their cats inworld with them as possible. :)

@ allen, the cat goes into our online website, and so it knows it's not botware :)

all the best!

[Az]

Love my KittyCats!

[Emerald Wynn]

LOVE the online cattery!

I like the little dock that beams them back inworld - I want them to have little Star Trek uniforms now.

Thanks for the mention, Hamlet! :D