Avakin Life is a different kind of virtual world. It’s a mobile app for iOS (Apple) and Android phones and tablets, although you can also play it on a desktop PC using Facebook Gameroom. I had never heard of it before today, so I downloaded the Avakin Life app to my iPad and iPhone to try it out.
You get all the basic avatar customization options, and a basic wardrobe of items to choose from. There’s a healthy fashion market where you can buy items, of course, including real-life brands such as Nike. Textures on clothing took forever to load in preview mode, though.
You also get a pet (a German shepherd) and a starter apartment. There are various places in-world to meet and socialize with other avatars, like this café (this a screenshot from my iPad):
Here is a screenshot from my iPhone, showing me standing on a dock in a tropical beach scene, chatting with another avatar, who is obviously looking for romance!
All in all, Avakin Life is just a slimmed-down Second Life for mobile devices. Interesting, but there’s not enough of a draw to keep me coming back regularly. I’m probably not in their target market to begin with! At age 54, I found I really had to squint at the screen on my iPhone to make out all the menu options and figure out what was going on!
But if you’re looking for a virtual world experience that travels with you, give Avakin Life a try. It’s free to join (you have the option of buying in-game currency), so you can kick the tires on it without making any investment other than your time. And I must admit it was fun exploring a virtual world on my iPhone over a coffee at the local Starbucks, or on my iPad from the comfort of my sofa!
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