7 ms·

I still cannot see any reason I'd want to connect any identifier or avatar across different online worlds apart from gaming. Am I missing something? For sure M

I still cannot see any reason I'd want to connect any identifier or avatar across different online worlds apart from gaming. Am I missing something? For sure Meta wants to connect everything so it has a whole picture of its users so it can serve ads but why would people be compelled to connect their discords/linkedin/facebook or whatever personas when a key part of the web is anonymity, I don't even use the same handles for hn/reddit

jasondigitized 5y ago
It seems to me that Reddit would be a far more interesting place if you had separate identity with its own reputation / karma per subreddit.
- dhosek 5y ago
  That's one of the nice things about StackOverflow/StackExchange. On the flip side, some (maybe most? all?) communities are tyrannical about the question/answer format and the discussion forums on SO/SX are pretty awful. Why can't everything be exactly the way that I want it?
larrysalibra 5y ago
Because you might want to leverage the reputation, credibility and following you built in one online community to another. Example: I learned about patio11 here on HN and was impressed by him actions in this community which lead me to follow patio11 on Twitter. I agree that one of the great things about the internet is that you don't have to have the same identity in different communities. It's optional. Facebook's business model gives them a strong incentive to remove that optionality.
- Rastonbury 5y ago
  He's patio11 though that's his identifier like any in-game name, it make no difference if used as a username or as a 'metaverse' identifier. If I want to verify metaverse user 102372193, I'd go to their profile hoping they've linked their twitter
  - reginold 5y ago
    ENS is solving for this by creating a common identity across crypto wallets: https://ens.domains/ https://ens.domains/ That way he can be patio11 across all platforms if he wishes (and doesnt need to worry about getting "patio11" on every new platform that's created). Or, he can just create a subwallet with a different identity but still rolls up into his main wallet. It also protects against somoene putting their twitter in their profile and pretending to be patio11. i.e.: Hey HN I'm patio11, here's proof, I linked my twitter: https://twitter.com/patio11 https://twitter.com/patio11
    - patio11 5y ago
      Yes, and as I'm a notorious crypto skeptic, someone squat on that ENS domain (with good intentions) and I really don't care that much. Casually, rather than e.g. legally or as a matter of trademark, I "own" patio11 across all the namespaces because I've put in the work over the years to make people associate that with me. This doesn't necessarily work in reverse; you should probably not assume patio11 DMing you in a Chinese MMORPG is actually me and will actually wire you money if you give them all your dragon eggs. If I need to auth myself to a savvy technologist in a channel not known to be controlled by me, I don't say "Trust the display name" or "Trust that I also know my username on Twitter." I publish something somewhere where the technologist would know "Hmm compromise of that account would be a much larger problem for him than this transaction." (Bonus: invariably relies on public key cryptography; no blockchain required.)
      - reginold 5y ago
        If you do ever want patio11.eth, the team at support@rainbow.me will give it to you for free.
        eclipxe 5y ago
        Always Be Closing
        5y ago
TigeriusKirk 5y ago
I don't even use one handle on HN or Reddit over time, I change every couple years. But those are sites where there's not much value in keeping the same identity for the average person. Only at the very top end is your identity meaningful on some sites. On Twitter and Facebook, however, I've keep my real name identity for well over a decade. There is value for the average person there to be known by a consistent identifier. I don't know which approach I'll take with the metaverse. My instinct is that I'm going to want my identity to be quite malleable. In a place that's all about expressiveness (or at least that should be its core purpose) I think I'll want different identities depending on what it is I'm expressing.
bsedlm 5y ago
[delete]
- Rastonbury 5y ago
  If they already do it, then what is the point of a new 'metaverse' for government? Most manage taxes and what not just fine with whatever identifiers they have been using
meheleventyone 5y ago
Even in gaming having multiple identities is a bonus, or even if you have the same identity having radically different customisation per game is important. I actually find it weird playing games if they actually bother to use my steam profile picture.
- Rastonbury 5y ago
  That's why I find many aspects of the metaverse antithetical to what the internet is. Like the reduction of privacy of anonymity. Or the ownership of internet things, the internet is scalable and open in that I can own a website or in a games I can dress up my characters in anything I want without buying an NFT, I can even perfectly replicate your 1 of 500 limited edition metaverse sneakers, obviously I don't own the real thing but is anyone going to check the blockchain? I can definitely picture a vibrant market where people trade these things, but compared to the market that Meta dominates now I can only imagine it being tiny in comparison.

jasondigitized 5y ago

It seems to me that Reddit would be a far more interesting place if you had separate identity with its own reputation / karma per subreddit.

dhosek 5y ago
That's one of the nice things about StackOverflow/StackExchange. On the flip side, some (maybe most? all?) communities are tyrannical about the question/answer format and the discussion forums on SO/SX are pretty awful. Why can't everything be exactly the way that I want it?

larrysalibra 5y ago

Because you might want to leverage the reputation, credibility and following you built in one online community to another. Example: I learned about patio11 here on HN and was impressed by him actions in this community which lead me to follow patio11 on Twitter. I agree that one of the great things about the internet is that you don't have to have the same identity in different communities. It's optional. Facebook's business model gives them a strong incentive to remove that optionality.

Rastonbury 5y ago
He's patio11 though that's his identifier like any in-game name, it make no difference if used as a username or as a 'metaverse' identifier. If I want to verify metaverse user 102372193, I'd go to their profile hoping they've linked their twitter
- reginold 5y ago
  ENS is solving for this by creating a common identity across crypto wallets: https://ens.domains/ https://ens.domains/ That way he can be patio11 across all platforms if he wishes (and doesnt need to worry about getting "patio11" on every new platform that's created). Or, he can just create a subwallet with a different identity but still rolls up into his main wallet. It also protects against somoene putting their twitter in their profile and pretending to be patio11. i.e.: Hey HN I'm patio11, here's proof, I linked my twitter: https://twitter.com/patio11 https://twitter.com/patio11
  - patio11 5y ago
    Yes, and as I'm a notorious crypto skeptic, someone squat on that ENS domain (with good intentions) and I really don't care that much. Casually, rather than e.g. legally or as a matter of trademark, I "own" patio11 across all the namespaces because I've put in the work over the years to make people associate that with me. This doesn't necessarily work in reverse; you should probably not assume patio11 DMing you in a Chinese MMORPG is actually me and will actually wire you money if you give them all your dragon eggs. If I need to auth myself to a savvy technologist in a channel not known to be controlled by me, I don't say "Trust the display name" or "Trust that I also know my username on Twitter." I publish something somewhere where the technologist would know "Hmm compromise of that account would be a much larger problem for him than this transaction." (Bonus: invariably relies on public key cryptography; no blockchain required.)
    - reginold 5y ago
      If you do ever want patio11.eth, the team at support@rainbow.me will give it to you for free.
      - eclipxe 5y ago
        Always Be Closing
        5y ago

TigeriusKirk 5y ago

I don't even use one handle on HN or Reddit over time, I change every couple years. But those are sites where there's not much value in keeping the same identity for the average person. Only at the very top end is your identity meaningful on some sites. On Twitter and Facebook, however, I've keep my real name identity for well over a decade. There is value for the average person there to be known by a consistent identifier. I don't know which approach I'll take with the metaverse. My instinct is that I'm going to want my identity to be quite malleable. In a place that's all about expressiveness (or at least that should be its core purpose) I think I'll want different identities depending on what it is I'm expressing.

bsedlm 5y ago

[delete]

Rastonbury 5y ago
If they already do it, then what is the point of a new 'metaverse' for government? Most manage taxes and what not just fine with whatever identifiers they have been using

meheleventyone 5y ago

Even in gaming having multiple identities is a bonus, or even if you have the same identity having radically different customisation per game is important. I actually find it weird playing games if they actually bother to use my steam profile picture.

Rastonbury 5y ago
That's why I find many aspects of the metaverse antithetical to what the internet is. Like the reduction of privacy of anonymity. Or the ownership of internet things, the internet is scalable and open in that I can own a website or in a games I can dress up my characters in anything I want without buying an NFT, I can even perfectly replicate your 1 of 500 limited edition metaverse sneakers, obviously I don't own the real thing but is anyone going to check the blockchain? I can definitely picture a vibrant market where people trade these things, but compared to the market that Meta dominates now I can only imagine it being tiny in comparison.