4 ms·

Even if the metaverse looked good, which is doesn't, the entire development is a waste of time, resources, and human talent. The idea of extracting money from i

Even if the metaverse looked good, which is doesn't, the entire development is a waste of time, resources, and human talent. The idea of extracting money from individuals for goods which don't exist or provide utility, is appalling. If the metaverse ultimately becomes popular and revenue-generating, it will be a sad day for humanity.

dangerlibrary 4y ago
I have bad news for you re: humanity. The size of the video game micro transaction market is enormous, growing, and consists almost entirely of ways to extract money from individuals for goods which don't exist or provide utility. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/online-microtransaction-global-market-report-140600918.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/online-microtransaction-globa...
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
jackosdev 4y ago
It will happen one day, but until someone buys a headset they keep using for more than a few days before locking it in their cupboard, it's not going to happen
nyokodo 4y ago
> extracting money from individuals for goods which don't exist or provide utility It’s already a billion dollar industry.
- muzani 4y ago
  To put it into context, Roblox makes about $3m per day. Source: https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/06/07/apple-earns-close-to-1-million-per-day-from-roblox-game-alone https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/06/07/apple-earns-close...
jnwatson 4y ago
That ship has sailed a long time ago. Second Life was an early adopter, but games have been selling virtual goods for a long time. Not to mention NFTs.
- carapace 4y ago
  Years ago we had a friend who lived on our couch and played Second Life all day (we used to tease him that he didn't have a First Life.) One thing I saw that astonished me was that someone had written a tool that could create mirror images of a model (reverse one axis.) They were charging people per-use to create flipped duplicates of models they already had. (It doesn't need to be said but I can't help it: this is a function that would be a drop-down menu item in e.g. Blender!) I tried to explain him about artificial scarcity and Turing's Universal Machine, but he acted as though I was the one who didn't get it. (He's right, I don't.)
  - beering 4y ago
    Is this model flipper not simply SaaS? Aren’t a lot of the companies launched on this website just this concept but bigger?
    - carapace 4y ago
      Yup. (I'm still flummoxed by the success of Dropbox. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
- danschuller 4y ago
  Yes, since at least 1977! Oubliette, a PLATO graphical (well lines :)) multiplayer RPG had a secondary market where people would in-game items for real-world cash.
silisili 4y ago
Agreed. Even if every other person on Earth is in the Metaverse, I'll still not be and continue insulting every last one of them for their idiocy. Maybe we can make our own neo-luddite community, where people do real things with real objects.
jen729w 4y ago
> or provide utility You may not think it provides utility. If someone else is willing to pay for it – whatever 'it' is – then by definition they do. I think people are bananas for spending $200k on a car when you can get the bus. But hey, not my money. You do you.
djbusby 4y ago
Entertainment is a utility. You may not think so but millions of humans do.

dangerlibrary 4y ago

I have bad news for you re: humanity. The size of the video game micro transaction market is enormous, growing, and consists almost entirely of ways to extract money from individuals for goods which don't exist or provide utility. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/online-microtransaction-global-market-report-140600918.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/online-microtransaction-globa...

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

jackosdev 4y ago

It will happen one day, but until someone buys a headset they keep using for more than a few days before locking it in their cupboard, it's not going to happen

nyokodo 4y ago

> extracting money from individuals for goods which don't exist or provide utility It’s already a billion dollar industry.

muzani 4y ago
To put it into context, Roblox makes about $3m per day. Source: https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/06/07/apple-earns-close-to-1-million-per-day-from-roblox-game-alone https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/06/07/apple-earns-close...

jnwatson 4y ago

That ship has sailed a long time ago. Second Life was an early adopter, but games have been selling virtual goods for a long time. Not to mention NFTs.

carapace 4y ago
Years ago we had a friend who lived on our couch and played Second Life all day (we used to tease him that he didn't have a First Life.) One thing I saw that astonished me was that someone had written a tool that could create mirror images of a model (reverse one axis.) They were charging people per-use to create flipped duplicates of models they already had. (It doesn't need to be said but I can't help it: this is a function that would be a drop-down menu item in e.g. Blender!) I tried to explain him about artificial scarcity and Turing's Universal Machine, but he acted as though I was the one who didn't get it. (He's right, I don't.)
- beering 4y ago
  Is this model flipper not simply SaaS? Aren’t a lot of the companies launched on this website just this concept but bigger?
  - carapace 4y ago
    Yup. (I'm still flummoxed by the success of Dropbox. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
danschuller 4y ago
Yes, since at least 1977! Oubliette, a PLATO graphical (well lines :)) multiplayer RPG had a secondary market where people would in-game items for real-world cash.

silisili 4y ago

Agreed. Even if every other person on Earth is in the Metaverse, I'll still not be and continue insulting every last one of them for their idiocy. Maybe we can make our own neo-luddite community, where people do real things with real objects.

jen729w 4y ago

> or provide utility You may not think it provides utility. If someone else is willing to pay for it – whatever 'it' is – then by definition they do. I think people are bananas for spending $200k on a car when you can get the bus. But hey, not my money. You do you.

djbusby 4y ago

Entertainment is a utility. You may not think so but millions of humans do.