Yesterday I met up with Rich Weil, Director of Community Relations for the World of Kaneva, for a guided tour. He was wonderful and showed me around while he talked a little about what is happening in Kaneva now, as well as what is ahead.

Touring Kaneva

What - Kaneva is an online virtual world (currently in live beta) where participants can create a free account and download client software to log into the world. It is not a game, it is a virtual, social world - like Second Life, Active Worlds or There.com. When you create an account a space on Kaneva's community web site is also created for you that operates similarly to MySpace.
Where - My initial foray into Kaneva was unaccompanied and I missed a lot of what was happening - having no idea where to go. Upon logging in I found myself at the mall, the default location for everyone's first visit to the world. In the mall you can buy clothes, shoes, and a few other things to further customize your avatar. Things that you purchase are stored in your inventory until you are ready to use them. Although there are plenty of people who are happy to chat with you in the mall there are other places to visit too - this was the piece I was missing.

Rich showed me how to search for hangouts and people and use the Travel button to get to places I find (like teleporting in SL). Now Kaneva was beginning to feel much larger...