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The metaverse is bullshit

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Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#81
post #44
post #35

I think people should not underestimate this. The presentation is cringeworthy, but VR is very attractive for teenagers and preteens. I know this from personal experience with my kids. Same with the concept of NFTs. Using real money to pay for an in game asset like a fortnite skin is completely natural to them.

> VR is very attractive for teenagers and preteens Headsets are horribly bad. The day I can get my VR onto my glasses, that's the day that VR will be for everybody. My headset, and many people I known headsets, is in a box. I love VR, I love the games, but I find it too cumbersome for day to day use compared with my screen. > NFT Yes. This is already extremely popular, but you do not need NFTs. Your old and proved in…

Got an oculus quest 2 this week. Better than last time I tried one, but still not great. Often going out of focus, and I have problems with fog.

I tried all the things, from VR experiences to porn. Kind of neat, but I still very much prefer the real world. I guess I will play through resident evil 4 and half life alyx, and then the thing will collect dust in a corner again.

One thing that felt quite dystopian was the giant house you can get as your home environment. I can see people living in a tiny apartment with no access to beautiful nature using this to escape from the real world, as soon as the quality gets a bit better.

Regarding NFTs: I don't get it, but I also don't dismiss it completely as a scam. There is of course a large FOMO / get rich quick component, but also an underlying desire for digital ownership and agency.

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#83
post #52

> In a September 2021 Washington Post interview, Tim Sweeney imagined the future of advertising. "A carmaker who wants to make a presence in the metaverse isn't going to run ads," he said. "They're going to drop their car into the world in real time and you'll be able to drive it around. And they're going to work with lots of content creators with different experiences to ensure their car is playable here and there,…

One way to make money in a metaverse would be to artificially create limitations to what a user can do and then sell them the solutions to those problems. So why not add thirst and hunger meters and then sell food items? Or why not make travel non-instantaneous and then sell faster modes of transit? This is how heavily-monetized games work today and it's not surprising that some in the industry are salivating at the…

If the metaverse is truly a decentralized, collaborative space, how can we add these limitations without others breaking them? If all that's stopping them is code, why wouldn't everyone have all the most powerful items, all the time? If the metaverse ever becomes a reality, I promise I will publish a blog post for people to copy/paste some code to make their own custom overpowered equipment and free food and break the whole economic system.

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#84
It's not even a question. We're long overdue to exit online and return back to the real world. It's a struggle but it's doable. Meet other real people IRL. Go to bars and shows. Have sex instead of watching porn. Marry. Have kids. Have real, physical hobbies instead of computer games and scrolling instagram all day. Exercise. Play sports with other people instead of watching them on TV. Sleep well. Read paper books that you actually own. Cook instead of buying premade processed garbage. Buy durable physical assets instead of renting or buying subscriptions, or buying cheap trash you don't even need. Build lasting relationships and things that matter, not something that will be obsolete within 30 seconds.

As a side bonus piss off Big Tech by not participating in their extractive, and increasingly authoritarian surveillance capitalism and brainwashing.

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#85
post #35

I think people should not underestimate this. The presentation is cringeworthy, but VR is very attractive for teenagers and preteens. I know this from personal experience with my kids. Same with the concept of NFTs. Using real money to pay for an in game asset like a fortnite skin is completely natural to them.

Personal experience with my kids shows the opposite.

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#86
post #52

> In a September 2021 Washington Post interview, Tim Sweeney imagined the future of advertising. "A carmaker who wants to make a presence in the metaverse isn't going to run ads," he said. "They're going to drop their car into the world in real time and you'll be able to drive it around. And they're going to work with lots of content creators with different experiences to ensure their car is playable here and there,…

Instead of watching a professional driver smoothly going around a switchback, you sit in first person POV in a car that feels, handles, and accelerates better and faster than the real thing. It even cheats to make you feel like you're a better driver—that the car makes you a better driver. You probably won't buy it on the spot, but you could ; the car as an impulse buy right at the peak of your high. Even if you don'…

I hate to tell you this, but in most driving games, the center of gravity is so low that it's below the ground. That keeps you from rolling the simulated car.

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#87
> The metaverse is bullshit because it already exists, and it's called the internet

You may be right, but here's an anecdote: David Brevik did a post-mortem on Diablo[0] on GDC. He first mentioned they accepted the contract for developing Diablo for Blizzard for $300000 which was extremely underpriced for a team of 15, so they have to look for other revenue such as accepting other contracts developing lame football games for $1 million.

As they were busy shipping Diablo, Sabeer Bhatia came to them with an idea of "making the email over the Internet", he replied, "dude this is the dumbest idea I've ever heard! What're you talking about - I've already had my email over the Internet!". Sabeer insists this is a big idea, and offer them 10% of the company, only for an empty office in the back which they're not using in return. But David was stressing out because they were about to ship Diablo, so he turned him down because he want no distraction, ..plus "it's the stupidest idea ever".

And the company of Sabeer was called Hotmail. 14 months later the 10% would become $40 million...

[0] https://youtu.be/Mlrrc_vy79E?t=2046

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#88
post #52

> In a September 2021 Washington Post interview, Tim Sweeney imagined the future of advertising. "A carmaker who wants to make a presence in the metaverse isn't going to run ads," he said. "They're going to drop their car into the world in real time and you'll be able to drive it around. And they're going to work with lots of content creators with different experiences to ensure their car is playable here and there,…

bruce willis surrogates anyone? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0986263

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#89
post #52

> In a September 2021 Washington Post interview, Tim Sweeney imagined the future of advertising. "A carmaker who wants to make a presence in the metaverse isn't going to run ads," he said. "They're going to drop their car into the world in real time and you'll be able to drive it around. And they're going to work with lots of content creators with different experiences to ensure their car is playable here and there,…

> why the heck am I driving a car around? I can fly, can't I?

Flying? I hope I can teleport as easily as I can jump to a web page by clicking a bookmark or typing its URL.

Second Life had teleport. I walked, drove a car, went flying only for the fun of it or for very short distance movements.

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#90
post #52

> In a September 2021 Washington Post interview, Tim Sweeney imagined the future of advertising. "A carmaker who wants to make a presence in the metaverse isn't going to run ads," he said. "They're going to drop their car into the world in real time and you'll be able to drive it around. And they're going to work with lots of content creators with different experiences to ensure their car is playable here and there,…

Instead of watching a professional driver smoothly going around a switchback, you sit in first person POV in a car that feels, handles, and accelerates better and faster than the real thing. It even cheats to make you feel like you're a better driver—that the car makes you a better driver. You probably won't buy it on the spot, but you could ; the car as an impulse buy right at the peak of your high. Even if you don'…

If everybody is making cars that handle much better than they do in the real world, wouldn't this result in an arms race of upping the "cheese" of the mechanics to heighten the intensity? And this only works until people recognize the grift -- once they know the actual car experience and the demo experience aren't related, suddenly it won't be a useful ad anymore.
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