4 ms·

I would argue that the metaverse is not competing with Google Hangouts or Discord. In fact, you will still be able to use these things inside the metaverse and

I would argue that the metaverse is not competing with Google Hangouts or Discord. In fact, you will still be able to use these things inside the metaverse and will still get value out of them. The metaverse is not competing against the 2D internet by trying to make it immersive, but rather against the physical world by trying to make it more useful. From that perspective, VR offers value everywhere the laws of physics are inconvenient, which is just about everywhere. Take the example of walking to a college class on a rainy day. In the physical world, you have to carry an umbrella, and the walk takes 15 minutes. In the metaverse, you can tell the rain not to make you wet, or you can teleport to class without ever going outside.

RhodesianHunter 5y ago
How does your example show an advantage over logging into Zoom from your home laptop?
- adultvrgames 5y ago
  It’s the spatial factor. Imagine being in a room with 40 other people and then breaking up into groups of 5. My group of 5 will organize together spatially so that we can hear each other well but still being able to hear some background noise from others. If something from another group catches my eye, I can walk over there and see what’s up and interact. This is not possible to do in a zoom meeting because it doesn’t even have a sense of 2D let alone 3D space.
- niknoble 5y ago
  Similar to what I said in GP, the metaverse is not a competitor to Zoom but to the physical world where you are using the laptop. In the physical world, you have to buy that laptop and maintain it. You need to keep it close to you in order to access Zoom. It takes up space, has weight, and has one screen of fixed size which may crack or degrade. The layout of the keyboard can't be changed if you decide you want to try DVORAK instead of QWERTY, or if you decide you would type faster with a numpad. Any of the keys may stop working. Fashions may change so that the laptop looks ugly or retro, or simply looks bad to you, and your only recourse if you want to change that is to buy a new one. If you are using the laptop and someone is standing behind you, he can see your Zoom call and hear what you say regardless of whether you want him to. Earbuds give some privacy but come with a lot of the same issues as the laptop. Eventually, there will be none of these physical limitations in the metaverse. There will be limitations on the headset, or whatever hardware you're using to access the metaverse, but that's only one item instead of every aspect of your life. We're living in a prison of physical constraints, but we see them as so inevitable that we don't even bother to complain.
  - notahacker 5y ago
    The physical world and its constraints don't cease to exist because you're wearing a headset, but a headset-based metaverse does cease to exist if you've only got a pocket sized phone with you. In that respect the metaverse adds rather than subtracts physical constraints compared with a world where we interact with people remotely over low bandwidth video rather than expensively rendered high definition virtual environments

RhodesianHunter 5y ago

How does your example show an advantage over logging into Zoom from your home laptop?

adultvrgames 5y ago
It’s the spatial factor. Imagine being in a room with 40 other people and then breaking up into groups of 5. My group of 5 will organize together spatially so that we can hear each other well but still being able to hear some background noise from others. If something from another group catches my eye, I can walk over there and see what’s up and interact. This is not possible to do in a zoom meeting because it doesn’t even have a sense of 2D let alone 3D space.
niknoble 5y ago
Similar to what I said in GP, the metaverse is not a competitor to Zoom but to the physical world where you are using the laptop. In the physical world, you have to buy that laptop and maintain it. You need to keep it close to you in order to access Zoom. It takes up space, has weight, and has one screen of fixed size which may crack or degrade. The layout of the keyboard can't be changed if you decide you want to try DVORAK instead of QWERTY, or if you decide you would type faster with a numpad. Any of the keys may stop working. Fashions may change so that the laptop looks ugly or retro, or simply looks bad to you, and your only recourse if you want to change that is to buy a new one. If you are using the laptop and someone is standing behind you, he can see your Zoom call and hear what you say regardless of whether you want him to. Earbuds give some privacy but come with a lot of the same issues as the laptop. Eventually, there will be none of these physical limitations in the metaverse. There will be limitations on the headset, or whatever hardware you're using to access the metaverse, but that's only one item instead of every aspect of your life. We're living in a prison of physical constraints, but we see them as so inevitable that we don't even bother to complain.
- notahacker 5y ago
  The physical world and its constraints don't cease to exist because you're wearing a headset, but a headset-based metaverse does cease to exist if you've only got a pocket sized phone with you. In that respect the metaverse adds rather than subtracts physical constraints compared with a world where we interact with people remotely over low bandwidth video rather than expensively rendered high definition virtual environments