Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How is the “metaverse” concept different from the Second Life boom?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 381 posts

Re: Ask HN: How is the “metaverse” concept different from the Second Life boom?

#71

Post by manquer »

cm2012 wrote: post #53
BoorishBears wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm shocked people are taking "Meta" at face value. To me it's a way to signal to outsiders that Facebook is still cool and hip. That's it. Now when recruiting they can play the Meta-not-Facebook angle. Now if they can pad earnings calls with the amazing success the metaverse is seeing (so what if it's losing us money, that's the future!) - It's like an inverse Alphabet. Where Alphabet silently serves as an umbrella…

They are spending insanely on r and d on this compared to companies their size. 10b a year.

honestly I am not sure how actually are they spending that kind of money.

I dont see a ton of fb recruiters hiring for VR skills, I dont see a lot of training/certifications /open source libraries /platform Sdks for other devs etc that feels like $10B a year kind of budgets are behind VR/AR.

That's a lot of money, Hard space companies like SpaceX or Blue Origin which have big hardware expenses spend only 1-2 billon/year and have thousands or tens of thousands of staff working and their progress is visible .

Does FB have 20,000 + engineers working on metaverse? even if so, doing what exactly ?

Re: Ask HN: How is the “metaverse” concept different from the Second Life boom?

#73

Post by qdot76367 »

mherrmann wrote: post #40
legostormtroopr wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the most dystopian thing about this - the best, most aspiration use for VR they can show case is… meetings, but in VR.

What's wrong with that? That meetings are necessary in modern working life is a fact. So might as well have products and services that make them better on some axes. And it doesn't necessarily have to be just office meetings either. University lectures or tutorials this way also sound pretty cool to me. You could have a student from Taiwan, the US, Germany and Sweden sit in the same classroom and interact, without ha…

Not sure what axis Horizons makes meetings better on though.

Re: Ask HN: How is the “metaverse” concept different from the Second Life boom?

#74

Post by retrocryptid »

perryizgr8 wrote: post #27
cybernautique wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't use a non-FOSS platform or experience for non-corporate reasons. My employer wants me to use a particular hardware? Fine, but I'm not using my money for it, I won't like it, and I'll break it every chance I get. The idea that I will work and play in the metaverse is forever and eternally blocked by which particular group of assholes is trying to wrangle me. If it's a group that allows me the same access th…

> I wouldn't use a non-FOSS platform or experience You are in the extreme minority, if smartphone trends are to be treated as any kind of indication. So your actions likely would not matter to Meta/Apple/Google.

you replied to this message using open source code and an open protocol.

Re: Ask HN: How is the “metaverse” concept different from the Second Life boom?

#75

Post by manquer »

nowherebeen wrote: post #19
juancampa wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not like he invented the concept. They are trying to take over the term though

Its a powerplay. If he succeeds, he can solidify himself as a product genius, but in reality its just his money at play. Its easier to use money to take over something than to use money to invent something new.

How is that different from FB 1.0 or apple under jobs for that matter ?.

Money is always needed, but money alone is not enough. Every funded startup has some money, many have raised a ton of money only to fail badly.

Also it is not his money i.e. he is not selling/leveraging his FB stock to invest personally. FB is investing shareholder money of which he only owns 16.7% .

Re: Ask HN: How is the “metaverse” concept different from the Second Life boom?

#76

Post by retrocryptid »

second life. lively. there.com/forterra. OpenCroquet/Cobalt. that thing diamond multimedia did in 2011-2012. entropia. eve online.

in the same way afghanistan was the graveyard of empires, virtual worlds are where corporate product development teams go to die. (and a couple open source teams as well)

Re: Ask HN: How is the “metaverse” concept different from the Second Life boom?

#77

Post by lazzlazzlazz »

There are three “branches” of the metaverse concept today:

1. VR rebranded (Facebook’s approach)

2. a specific family of games that allow you to buy and own land/territory, mediated by the blockchain (see Bit.Country[1] as one of many examples)

3. a term used widely in crypto/web3 world to refer specifically to the fact that we can finally build networks that people can own (buy/sell but also control directly via programmable governance) and built on without being rent-collected by extractive web2 companies (mitigated platform risk); using web3 platforms which externalize most of the value they create

Hacker News tends to understand the 1st but not the 2nd or 3rd. The 3rd is most interesting and less well-understood: the metaverse is about much more than a new viewing device (VR headsets). It’s about new kinds of economics around ownership and control.

[1]: https://bit.country/

Re: Ask HN: How is the “metaverse” concept different from the Second Life boom?

#78

Post by manquer »

88913527 wrote: post #25
rhizome wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatever anybody thinks "metaverse" means now, what it really means, Facebook is going to change it permanently or go out of business. They have to be able to define away every negative aspect of their new metaphorical identity or they'll be used to undermine every future development of FB. Meta was created out of a life or death situation (perceived or otherwise), so they have to gain control over their future so th…

We're all talking about the Metaverse instead of whatever else is going on with Facebook. So it changed the public narrative. However, the latest earnings report was fine, so rumors of Meta's demise are quite exaggerated. Their other web properties will remain profitable for a long time. I see many others here calling out FB's pending decline, but I don't see anyone offering a clear thesis for how it happens. It coul…

Not financial death. Oracle is having the best years and making a ton of profit, but it is boring company with mediocre work and toxic reputations. Oracle cloud is still being sold and no cares. FB doesn't want to become the next Oracle

It is about its relevance as a cool tech company. They will not be able to hire or retain the best engineers with current reputation problem they have.

Re: Ask HN: How is the “metaverse” concept different from the Second Life boom?

#80

Post by yesenadam »

lazzlazzlazz wrote: post #77

There are three “branches” of the metaverse concept today: 1. VR rebranded (Facebook’s approach) 2. a specific family of games that allow you to buy and own land/territory, mediated by the blockchain (see Bit.Country[1] as one of many examples) 3. a term used widely in crypto/web3 world to refer specifically to the fact that we can finally build networks that people can own (buy/sell but also control directly via pro…

And if I want to understand the 3rd, what are some good things to read? Thanks.
Post reply on HN