5 ms·

I thought the market has repeatedly shown there isn't much demand for persistent virtual worlds?

ARandomerDude 5y ago
Don't question it, just drink your Kool-Aid.
Kye 5y ago
VRChat seems to have landed on something close to the right balance of whatever it takes to make it happen. It's apparently easy enough for someone to make a whole meme world for an event in the news in time for it to be relevant: https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2020/11/9/21557029/four-seasons-total-landscaping-furries-vrchat-trump https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2020/11/9/21557029/four-season... The video in the initial tweet is up to 2.1 million views: https://twitter.com/thecoopertom/status/1325710953305026560?lang=en https://twitter.com/thecoopertom/status/1325710953305026560?... VRChat or someone building on their proof of concept is likely to make it happen. It won't be Facebook with its VR Slack.
- echelon 5y ago
  Facebook will try to buy VRChat.
  - astlouis44 5y ago
    1000% this, it's only a matter of time.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- bsanr 5y ago
  If only. Arguably, part of their secret sauce is their restrictiveness of new users. You have to spend quite a bit of time in-game to gain the ability to even be seen by a lot of other users, and more still to be able to upload avatars and worlds. I'd planned on opening an art gallery space on the platform this summer, only to find that I didn't have enough friends to reach the "trust" level necessary to upload worlds. It's probably a good thing for the quality of the community itself, but anathema to growth or casual use. (And as for me, I'm stuck trying to figure out how to hack up a WebXR experience with, ah, limited programming skills. Until then, it should be at https://vrchat.com/home/launch?worldId=wrld_559152a2-44d3-442c-88f2-9a4907de922e https://vrchat.com/home/launch?worldId=wrld_559152a2-44d3-44... , but it's inaccessible without adding me as a friend and accepting an invitation to an instance I spin up. So, practically useless. And support is no help in terms of what, exactly, I'd need to do to raise my trust level.)
  - stonecraftwolf 5y ago
    Paying for a VRChat+ subscription comes with an increased trust level, so possibly that.
    - Kye 5y ago
      I didn't know they launched a premium thing. I wondered how they planned to pay for it.
bmhin 5y ago
> the market has repeatedly shown there isn't much demand for persistent virtual worlds I don't know if you have a more narrow view of this idea or specifically mean VR/AR, but that just sounds like what massively multiplayer online (MMO) games such as Ultima Online, Everquest, and World of Warcraft are. I think Roblox is even a broader use case, though I am fairly unfamiliar with that. MMOs have been very viable from both a business and user stand point and have been a fairly big thing for going on a quarter century or so at this point. Whether these branch into more of the Second Life non-game social space or into being largely AR/VR driven is pretty up in the air, but it's not some sci-fi concept really.
- bduerst 5y ago
  MMORPGs are not really persistent worlds though. They're an environment crafted to scratch a dopamine itch by providing instant gratification for work, with a social layer attached on top. I write this as someone who used to play MUDs back before MMORPGs even became a thing. Unless Facebook is planning on releasing their own WoW branded as the metaverse, I don't see how they're the same.
  - Darmody 5y ago
    They will create some sort of gamification. That's something engaging if it's well done and then, on top of it, their monetization.
    - bduerst 5y ago
      Facebook does this already, and they're not an MMORPG.
- tsimionescu 5y ago
  MMOs live or die based on constant new content and even new mechanics, not persistent worlds. There are some niche products with stable worlds, but those are a minority of a minority.
- debaserab2 5y ago
Tiktaalik 5y ago
What you mean to tell me folks didn't love Playstation Home?
- mattowen_uk 5y ago
  I thought PlayStation Home had promise, but Sony didn't invest enough into it. It was very limited, and didn't have enough for people to do. I did enjoy wandering around the TARDIS though.
ajmurmann 5y ago
"I've come to the insight that there really aren't any bad ideas at all. Only ideas at the wrong time.[not quite verbatim]" - Marc Andreesen
dbbk 5y ago
You would be correct. I do not see any logical data to say that this is "the next big thing".

Don't question it, just drink your Kool-Aid.

Kye 5y ago

VRChat seems to have landed on something close to the right balance of whatever it takes to make it happen. It's apparently easy enough for someone to make a whole meme world for an event in the news in time for it to be relevant: https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2020/11/9/21557029/four-seasons-total-landscaping-furries-vrchat-trump https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2020/11/9/21557029/four-season... The video in the initial tweet is up to 2.1 million views: https://twitter.com/thecoopertom/status/1325710953305026560?lang=en https://twitter.com/thecoopertom/status/1325710953305026560?... VRChat or someone building on their proof of concept is likely to make it happen. It won't be Facebook with its VR Slack.

echelon 5y ago
Facebook will try to buy VRChat.
- astlouis44 5y ago
  1000% this, it's only a matter of time.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
bsanr 5y ago
If only. Arguably, part of their secret sauce is their restrictiveness of new users. You have to spend quite a bit of time in-game to gain the ability to even be seen by a lot of other users, and more still to be able to upload avatars and worlds. I'd planned on opening an art gallery space on the platform this summer, only to find that I didn't have enough friends to reach the "trust" level necessary to upload worlds. It's probably a good thing for the quality of the community itself, but anathema to growth or casual use. (And as for me, I'm stuck trying to figure out how to hack up a WebXR experience with, ah, limited programming skills. Until then, it should be at https://vrchat.com/home/launch?worldId=wrld_559152a2-44d3-442c-88f2-9a4907de922e https://vrchat.com/home/launch?worldId=wrld_559152a2-44d3-44... , but it's inaccessible without adding me as a friend and accepting an invitation to an instance I spin up. So, practically useless. And support is no help in terms of what, exactly, I'd need to do to raise my trust level.)
- stonecraftwolf 5y ago
  Paying for a VRChat+ subscription comes with an increased trust level, so possibly that.
  - Kye 5y ago
    I didn't know they launched a premium thing. I wondered how they planned to pay for it.

bmhin 5y ago

> the market has repeatedly shown there isn't much demand for persistent virtual worlds I don't know if you have a more narrow view of this idea or specifically mean VR/AR, but that just sounds like what massively multiplayer online (MMO) games such as Ultima Online, Everquest, and World of Warcraft are. I think Roblox is even a broader use case, though I am fairly unfamiliar with that. MMOs have been very viable from both a business and user stand point and have been a fairly big thing for going on a quarter century or so at this point. Whether these branch into more of the Second Life non-game social space or into being largely AR/VR driven is pretty up in the air, but it's not some sci-fi concept really.

bduerst 5y ago
MMORPGs are not really persistent worlds though. They're an environment crafted to scratch a dopamine itch by providing instant gratification for work, with a social layer attached on top. I write this as someone who used to play MUDs back before MMORPGs even became a thing. Unless Facebook is planning on releasing their own WoW branded as the metaverse, I don't see how they're the same.
- Darmody 5y ago
  They will create some sort of gamification. That's something engaging if it's well done and then, on top of it, their monetization.
  - bduerst 5y ago
    Facebook does this already, and they're not an MMORPG.
tsimionescu 5y ago
MMOs live or die based on constant new content and even new mechanics, not persistent worlds. There are some niche products with stable worlds, but those are a minority of a minority.
debaserab2 5y ago

Tiktaalik 5y ago

What you mean to tell me folks didn't love Playstation Home?

mattowen_uk 5y ago
I thought PlayStation Home had promise, but Sony didn't invest enough into it. It was very limited, and didn't have enough for people to do. I did enjoy wandering around the TARDIS though.

ajmurmann 5y ago

"I've come to the insight that there really aren't any bad ideas at all. Only ideas at the wrong time.[not quite verbatim]" - Marc Andreesen

dbbk 5y ago

You would be correct. I do not see any logical data to say that this is "the next big thing".