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Ok, here we go - the metaverse is not a single 3D/VR social app or group of apps, vendor-locked to an specific platform and OS. The metaverse is quite simply T

Ok, here we go - the metaverse is not a single 3D/VR social app or group of apps, vendor-locked to an specific platform and OS. The metaverse is quite simply THE spatial successor to the internet, but more specifically the World Wide Web. Because of protocols like HTTP, TCP/IP, and HTML, you can read and view text + photos + videos on webpages because of agreed upon standards. The metaverse will most certainly utilize old standards, but it will also need entirely new ones built from the ground up. The way users currently navigate the web via hyperlinks will be mirrored in the metaverse, but instead of shareable URL's we will have portals instead, so as to not break immersion and to deliver a sense of seamless teleportation from one immersive destination to another. We'll also need a universal SDK and API that every world can hook into in order to tie all of this together, so as to share data back and forth and to allow for true interchange of virtual goods. Blockchain will provide the base layer to enable this. WebGPU will allow us to render using modern hardware, as the browser equivalent of Vulkan, Metal, and DirectX 12. WebAssembly will allow for programs to be compiled to a universal bytecode. WebXR brings all of this together, enabling a true sense of presence inside a webpage. As more headsets by Meta, Valve (and Apple!) are sold and they become a part of our daily lives, it will become apparent that we need a way to link worlds together that are hardware and platform-agnostic. The web seems like the most straightforward, obvious solution to this problem. Also, now that Facebook has soured the term "metaverse", a term originally termed in Snow Crash and now has connotations with a social media company... may I propose a new one? How about The Immersive Web? My startup Wonder Interactive is working on building the immersive web, and our current focus is on bridging the gap between native game engines and the web. We're have UE4 support up and running, with WebGPU actively being worked on as well as WebXR. Our 2D web as we know it today has to evolve to become 3D-first and immersive. If you're interested in trying out our platform, you can register your intent here via our website or join our Discord below: Website: https://www.theimmersiveweb.com/ https://www.theimmersiveweb.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/zUSZ3T8 https://discord.gg/zUSZ3T8

spicybright 5y ago
Souce that this is how it will work? I've heard nothing of an open platform on existing standards so far.
- drusepth 5y ago
  The metaverse is very much like the "Web 3.0" trend going around right now. Everyone has their own definition that they insist will be THE definition of what things will look like once it exists, but nobody knows for sure (and most people trying to say they do are just doing so from trying to build it themselves). The reality is that most, if not all, of them will be wrong. And that, if either comes to "fruition", it'll probably be some amalgamation of pieces from every "this is what that is" post out there.
kmnc 5y ago
People have been envisioning virtual show rooms and virtual stores/malls forever... but I don't believe they serve an actual purpose. What function does it solve? Unless you have fully realistic graphics and fully simulated senses (touch), why would a virtual store ever be better then just browsing a webpage? Things like "try your clothes on virtually", "buy furniture and upload your room schematics" have existed for decades, and have all been pretty much failures. I don't think most people care about a more "immersive" experience when it comes to commerce, a picture on amazon does the job. A product/review video on youtube does the job. I don't think people care about a more immersive meeting room, or a more immersive online event, because again those products have been tried for decades and have all failed. It honestly seems to me like the only actual feature of the "metaverse" is to force people into a gated experience, and to try and get them to stay there for as long as possible. Then you can advertise to them, then you can hook them into addictive behaviors (games, casino), then you can sell them worthless "pieces of the metaverse". The only function of the metaverse that I can see is to hijack 100% of a persons attention. In that sense, it is the obvious evolution of social media, yet as an evolution of the Internet as a whole it completely misses the point. Of course, I am likely completely wrong, and leaps in VR/AR could change everything, and what you are doing is very cool. It just seems like and updated VRML is just promising the things people 20 years ago said would exist. At the end of the day, there is still no Virtual Mega Mall, because amazon.com beats it in functionality by a long shot. Give me the best VR available, I still think amazon.com beats it by a long shot. The day I can't distinguish VR and real life, well maybe then you got something, but we are many moons from that sci-fi dream.

spicybright 5y ago

Souce that this is how it will work? I've heard nothing of an open platform on existing standards so far.

drusepth 5y ago
The metaverse is very much like the "Web 3.0" trend going around right now. Everyone has their own definition that they insist will be THE definition of what things will look like once it exists, but nobody knows for sure (and most people trying to say they do are just doing so from trying to build it themselves). The reality is that most, if not all, of them will be wrong. And that, if either comes to "fruition", it'll probably be some amalgamation of pieces from every "this is what that is" post out there.

kmnc 5y ago

People have been envisioning virtual show rooms and virtual stores/malls forever... but I don't believe they serve an actual purpose. What function does it solve? Unless you have fully realistic graphics and fully simulated senses (touch), why would a virtual store ever be better then just browsing a webpage? Things like "try your clothes on virtually", "buy furniture and upload your room schematics" have existed for decades, and have all been pretty much failures. I don't think most people care about a more "immersive" experience when it comes to commerce, a picture on amazon does the job. A product/review video on youtube does the job. I don't think people care about a more immersive meeting room, or a more immersive online event, because again those products have been tried for decades and have all failed. It honestly seems to me like the only actual feature of the "metaverse" is to force people into a gated experience, and to try and get them to stay there for as long as possible. Then you can advertise to them, then you can hook them into addictive behaviors (games, casino), then you can sell them worthless "pieces of the metaverse". The only function of the metaverse that I can see is to hijack 100% of a persons attention. In that sense, it is the obvious evolution of social media, yet as an evolution of the Internet as a whole it completely misses the point. Of course, I am likely completely wrong, and leaps in VR/AR could change everything, and what you are doing is very cool. It just seems like and updated VRML is just promising the things people 20 years ago said would exist. At the end of the day, there is still no Virtual Mega Mall, because amazon.com beats it in functionality by a long shot. Give me the best VR available, I still think amazon.com beats it by a long shot. The day I can't distinguish VR and real life, well maybe then you got something, but we are many moons from that sci-fi dream.