The metaverse is bullshit • Hacker News Board

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#621

Post by hammyhavoc » Sat, Oct 30, 2021, 5:31 PM UTC

sumedh wrote: post #344

hammyhavoc wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As somebody who mixes TV and film, I can tell you right now that the overwhelming majority of consumers don't care about surround sound, even if it adds a lot to the experience. Consumers are easily pleased. The average consumer doesn't want to immerse themselves and inhabit another world, they want to append to their existing one in an unintrusive way. This is an America-centric fantasy. Internet connections aren't…

> Consumers are easily pleased or because most consumers dont have surround sound setup in their homes?

Not like surround sound kits aren't available easily and cheaply. Consumers simply aren't interested. Huge 4K television despite very little 4K content being available? Yep. Surround sound? Nope. I've seen playback stats for a large streaming service, very few people bother.

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#622

Post by hammyhavoc » Sat, Oct 30, 2021, 5:32 PM UTC

JohnFen wrote: post #365

hammyhavoc wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution is simple. State that you are not comfortable with it. If others cannot respect that then that is their own issue.

That wouldn't necessarily be easy in the long run. Look at how many people hate Facebook but use it anyway because they're essentially socially forced to.

Appearing on a camera doesn't prevent the conveyance of information in real-time if we assume that both parties aren't deaf.

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#623

Post by tracyhenry » Sat, Oct 30, 2021, 5:40 PM UTC

The amount of snub and ignorance from people who might have never put on a VR headset is insane. Can we put aside who owns the Metaverse, and just talk about whether it's something valuable to a wider audience than a large portion of HN who can just live with text only?

Quoting someone in this thread: "Metaverse is bullshit" is going to be the Dropbox comment [1] in 10 years!

And why did the Dropbox comment existed? It's because people on HN think if something doesn't fit their needs, it's then useless everywhere.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#624

Post by Griffinsauce » Sat, Oct 30, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

schleck8 wrote: post #313

emilsedgh wrote: post #305

Metaverse is not bullshit. It's a sign of desperation. Facebook has _nothing_ for the future. * Blue app is already on it's death bed. * Instagram is already seeing a massive decline in quality and engagement as its getting close to the end of its lifecycle. * They managed to survive Snapchat, but I think that made them think Instagram is too big to fail. Thus, they didn't go after TikTok. It was a mistake. * What's…

> What's App is not monetizable It is, they talked about introducing ads to the status tab before. I agree on the rest though

The only thing whatsapp has going for it right now are network effects and the low friction of getting less-technically-inclined users to install a new app.

Something like that that has no benefit to users is an absolute death warrant for them. The other apps only need to reach a tipping point and they will be absolute dead in the water, they're already creeping up.

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#625

Post by arctics » Sat, Oct 30, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

tracyhenry wrote: post #623

The amount of snub and ignorance from people who might have never put on a VR headset is insane. Can we put aside who owns the Metaverse, and just talk about whether it's something valuable to a wider audience than a large portion of HN who can just live with text only? Quoting someone in this thread: "Metaverse is bullshit" is going to be the Dropbox comment [1] in 10 years! And why did the Dropbox comment existed?…

All I care about is that VR is usable right now, I watch movies and you know what every week, not interested in gaming much. Also, please stop comparing VR to crypto, apples and oranges.

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#626

Post by jen20 » Sat, Oct 30, 2021, 5:56 PM UTC

ARandomerDude wrote: post #435

capableweb wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, no? A library lends out books/media to people at no cost. How is Netflix, a publicly traded for-profit company, anything like a non-profit, usually government-owned library?

The library costs you money too, in the form of taxes. At least Netflix only charges its actual users. I'm forced to pay for the two public libraries in my town even though I've never been in them.

The cost of civilization. It appears lost of many.

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#627

Post by imbnwa » Sat, Oct 30, 2021, 6:03 PM UTC

alternatetwo wrote: post #497

abakker wrote: post #494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The movie is missing so much of the detail that made the book great, though. I agree, incomparable, really. IMO, the best movies are NOT adaptations.

The best adaptations are short stories, like Predestination, from All you zombies. They also didn't meddle with the logic there, since the writers already found it perfect.

The Mist comes to mind, a novella originally IIRC

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#628

Post by kerng » Sat, Oct 30, 2021, 6:07 PM UTC

edanm wrote: post #327

DeusExMachina wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could not find much data but it seems that the finale of Games of thrones had 19 million viewers [1], while the books sold 90 million copies [2]. Since I guess the latter are cumulative over all the five books, it looks like books and series have a similar performance. Looking at something similar, the Lord of the Rings had around 80-90 million viewers (very rough estimation from the global box office [3]) while th…

> I could not find much data but it seems that the finale of Games of thrones had 19 million viewers [1] Umm isn't that just on the date it airs? That's like comparing it to the people who read the book in the first month (year?). There is no way as many people read the books as saw the tv show. I would bet it's at least one order of magnitude difference, if not possibly more.

Not sure, maybe I'm odd but I only ever read the books.

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#629

Post by gugagore » Sat, Oct 30, 2021, 6:08 PM UTC

gugagore wrote: post #23

VRay wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’re you talking about? You can make a low end VR headset out of a $100 smartphone and a $5 plastic box today 5-10 years after VR starts to really take off, you’ll be able to get a decent standalone VR headset for $200 or less. They’ll probably be cheaper to make than laptops or TVs in the long run because of the smaller displays.

How am I going to have a video chat while I wear VR goggles covering half my face?

Avatars. Really. So what do I do to convey my facial expressions?

Re: The metaverse is bullshit

#630

Post by benatkin » Sat, Oct 30, 2021, 6:15 PM UTC

tsimionescu wrote: post #239

benatkin wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought modeless was wrong and that you weren't discounting the experience of driving, but rather the experience of driving a mediocre car. However, with your followup comment, it seems you're discounting the experience of driving. Suffice it to say that plenty of people genuinely love driving, both in video games and in the real world. Flying won't make driving obsolete any more than mountain biking has made hikin…

I think they are discounting that there would be anything new at all in a "Metaverse" offering driving compared to what exists today in gaming. Of course you can have fun with virtual driving, there already exists a plethora of ways, from realistic-ish high speed racing in Gran Turismo to wacky racing in Mario Kart to realistic-ish long-form driving in Truck Simulator.

How about new places to drive?

Virtual reality can have all sorts of landscapes, and moving along a surface, whether it be hilly or flat like Tron, will be popular. Driving is one way to move along a surface, but there's also running, swimming, base jumping, skiing, snowboarding, skating, and others. I'm sure all will be common in the metaverse.

For an example of something where driving is exciting and totally unnecessary, see Rocket League.