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My initial reaction is "wow this is incredibly stupid," but my second take is, wouldn't it be nice to be able to walk around with someone on a video call? I thi

My initial reaction is "wow this is incredibly stupid," but my second take is, wouldn't it be nice to be able to walk around with someone on a video call? I think a 3D space like this will always suffer as when compared to a video game, and it might also suffer when compared to productivity software, ie, Zoom, but I think as a new avenue this could have some kind of utility. Certainly, compared to World of Warcraft this is very boring, and compared to a Google Meet you're probably not going to be as productive on a work call, but maybe there's something to a format that's not just an uninterrupted view of someone's face for an hour while you catch up. The meta here however, which is Mozilla focusing on yet another random product, is alarming, and I think a lot of people in the comments are responding to that, probably fairly.

davidkunz 5y ago
I honestly have no idea why so many software products try to mimic the real world instead of focusing on the advantages of the digital medium.
JohnBooty 5y ago
but my second take is, wouldn't it be nice to be able to walk around with someone on a video call? Why? I've played plenty of FPS games online in my life, and I "get" the power of doing things in a shared 3D world together. Also talked to a lot of people online, over IM style messengers and IRC/Slack/etc. I just don't think the idea of strolling around a virtual world enhances the idea of messaging, at all. It's needless skeuomorphism; the naive and terrible kind I thought maybe we'd finally ditched in the past. In what way does this enhance the concept of communication?
- spcebar 5y ago
  Messaging, no, voice chat, maybe. I haven't actually tried it so I'm just theorizing here, but to me personally, I could see being in a simulated physical space with someone as enhancing the experience of a long call. I also want to make the distinction between spending time with friends in a game vs spending time with friends in a voice call. I don't think a game and this kind of utility are a good comparison because, while they're both in virtual spaces, they have very different goals. If you look at this as a game with all the gameplay taken out, yes, it's undeniably lame. If you look at this as, say, a Skype call where I can take a stroll with someone, then I do think there's a value add here.
- brimble 5y ago
  I've had to use a tool very similar to this (but maybe broader in scope and more capable) in a business context. I can absolutely confirm that the entire thing is a solution in search of a problem. Meetings, presentations, collaboration, everything, was much worse in one of these than common, existing alternatives. It adds cruft for zero benefit.
- udbhavs 5y ago
  The real utility comes in when you can pin random media like images and videos to virtual objects. It's much more intuitive to work with stuff when you have everything laid out physically. It's literally a digital mind palace

davidkunz 5y ago

I honestly have no idea why so many software products try to mimic the real world instead of focusing on the advantages of the digital medium.

JohnBooty 5y ago

but my second take is, wouldn't it be nice to be able to walk around with someone on a video call? Why? I've played plenty of FPS games online in my life, and I "get" the power of doing things in a shared 3D world together. Also talked to a lot of people online, over IM style messengers and IRC/Slack/etc. I just don't think the idea of strolling around a virtual world enhances the idea of messaging, at all. It's needless skeuomorphism; the naive and terrible kind I thought maybe we'd finally ditched in the past. In what way does this enhance the concept of communication?

spcebar 5y ago
Messaging, no, voice chat, maybe. I haven't actually tried it so I'm just theorizing here, but to me personally, I could see being in a simulated physical space with someone as enhancing the experience of a long call. I also want to make the distinction between spending time with friends in a game vs spending time with friends in a voice call. I don't think a game and this kind of utility are a good comparison because, while they're both in virtual spaces, they have very different goals. If you look at this as a game with all the gameplay taken out, yes, it's undeniably lame. If you look at this as, say, a Skype call where I can take a stroll with someone, then I do think there's a value add here.
brimble 5y ago
I've had to use a tool very similar to this (but maybe broader in scope and more capable) in a business context. I can absolutely confirm that the entire thing is a solution in search of a problem. Meetings, presentations, collaboration, everything, was much worse in one of these than common, existing alternatives. It adds cruft for zero benefit.
udbhavs 5y ago
The real utility comes in when you can pin random media like images and videos to virtual objects. It's much more intuitive to work with stuff when you have everything laid out physically. It's literally a digital mind palace