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The opinions around facebook’s metaverse are hilarious when things like Second Life, WoW, EVE, VR Chat, and even Roblox have been so massively popular yet unrec

The opinions around facebook’s metaverse are hilarious when things like Second Life, WoW, EVE, VR Chat, and even Roblox have been so massively popular yet unrecognized for what they are.

jotm 4y ago
Everyone just pretends there wasn't a time when people were spending years of their life in an MMO. That was ruined by games trying to appeal to more mainstream people (with less hardcore Features like losing all your possessions upon death) and the micromonetization strategies that everyone hates. I wonder if VR will even have games like early Everquest, WoW, EVE, etc but in VR.
segmondy 4y ago
The difference between Facebooks Meta and other worlds is the difference between getting a billion+ people into the same virtual world. How big is Second Life? or Roblox?
- RhodesianHunter 4y ago
  I don't think you can call that a difference until metaverse starts actually hitting those numbers, or even surpassing the existing worlds.
  - lazide 4y ago
    Near as I can tell, second life seems to have around 40-50k typical users online. Which is sizable, but not amazing.
    - steveklabnik 4y ago
      50k active users online right now would put Second Life at the 13th most active game on Steam.
      - lazide 4y ago
        Which is when folks start getting into the ‘huh. People still play that?’ part of the list, near as I can tell. [https://store.steampowered.com/charts/mostplayed https://store.steampowered.com/charts/mostplayed]
        steveklabnik 4y ago
        Yeah the way folks talk about steamcharts is wild. Honestly I think it’s kinda bad for gaming, but I understand why people do it.
- steveklabnik 4y ago
  > How big is... Roblox? 58.8 million DAUs in Q3 https://ir.roblox.com/news/news-details/2022/Roblox-Reports-Third-Quarter-2022-Financial-Results/default.aspx https://ir.roblox.com/news/news-details/2022/Roblox-Reports-...
- Gigachad 4y ago
  Facebook is going to struggle to get a billion people on to their website/app soon. I really don’t see this many people wanting to use a shitty VR chat app.
steveklabnik 4y ago
I kinda think to some degree those words are the reason those opinions are the way they are. The metaverse is being sold as this new, groundbreaking, fantastic thing, when they've already existed for decades.
- vlunkr 4y ago
  They've already existed, and had fun, engaging content. Meta in that sense is putting the cart before the horse. You can't convince us all to get into this world and then figure out what we're supposed to be doing there later on.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  Also, VRChat is infinitely better than the Metaverse, does not require you to sell your soul to Facebook, does not require a branded headset (OR ANY AT ALL, YOU CAN PLAY IT 2D), runs well, HAS LEGS ON YOUR AVATAR FFS, and massive community support in and out of game. Also it didn't require billions in investment. Facebook could have literally burned $900 million on hookers and cocaine, and then thrown $100 million to buy VR chat, and be better off than they are now.
  - numpad0 4y ago
    I feel that Facebook's metaverse push is a desperate attempt to reverse the evolution of our identities from baseline, offline, unitary identity towards constructed and abstract, online, contextual, anime girls form. I don't know precisely why it's always specifically anime && girls, but everything else seems to fall face first so I guess it's survival of fittest.
    - cjsawyer 4y ago
      It’s a side effect of where the early avatar creating tools had their development effort focused. Now it’s just a weird cultural thing.
  - hansworst 4y ago
    I agree with everything except for the billions of dollars part. It seems quite obvious (but maybe I'm wrong?) that most of that investment went into the hardware that Meta has been developing over the years, and some of the "platform" capabilities that surround that hardware (think their app store for example). Sure, the virtual experiences are part of it. But I think it's not where the majority of the money went. They currently have the most popular VR hardware platform. And it's the only piece of hardware that Meta really has, everything else they make is software. If Meta wants to keep growing, being the leading producer of "the next big thing" in hardware would certainly help. Zuckerburg is betting on VR/AR being that next big thing. Only time will tell I guess. But I find it a little weird when I see people commenting on Meta's investment as if all they did was create a basic second life clone. They're building some of the most innovative consumer hardware at the moment. I'm not hugely into it because Meta doesn't really seem like the company I'd like to entrust with cameras pointing at my eyeballs, but you can't deny that the hardware they've built so far is quite impressive.
dd36 4y ago
Fortnite too.
JumpCrisscross 4y ago
> opinions around facebook’s metaverse are hilarious when things like Second Life, WoW, EVE, VR Chat, and even Roblox have been so massively popular Well, yes. Who does something matters. I could totally see Facebook's metaverse failing a la Stadia or Diem.
- cjsawyer 4y ago
  I didn’t make myself clear enough, I was talking about people brushing off the core concept as intrinsically unfeasible. Obviously their specific version is tonedef and lacking features but the baseline concept is proven valid by those other versions.
kmeisthax 4y ago
No, I specifically oppose Facebook's metaverse ambitions because they are shittier mass-marketized versions of those same things. All of those other things you mentioned fit into specific niches and have built communities around themselves over time.

The opinions around facebook’s metaverse are hilarious when things like Second Life, WoW, EVE, VR Chat, and even Roblox have been so massively popular yet unrecognized for what they are.

jotm 4y ago

Everyone just pretends there wasn't a time when people were spending years of their life in an MMO. That was ruined by games trying to appeal to more mainstream people (with less hardcore Features like losing all your possessions upon death) and the micromonetization strategies that everyone hates. I wonder if VR will even have games like early Everquest, WoW, EVE, etc but in VR.

segmondy 4y ago

The difference between Facebooks Meta and other worlds is the difference between getting a billion+ people into the same virtual world. How big is Second Life? or Roblox?

RhodesianHunter 4y ago
I don't think you can call that a difference until metaverse starts actually hitting those numbers, or even surpassing the existing worlds.
- lazide 4y ago
  Near as I can tell, second life seems to have around 40-50k typical users online. Which is sizable, but not amazing.
  - steveklabnik 4y ago
    50k active users online right now would put Second Life at the 13th most active game on Steam.
    - lazide 4y ago
      Which is when folks start getting into the ‘huh. People still play that?’ part of the list, near as I can tell. [https://store.steampowered.com/charts/mostplayed https://store.steampowered.com/charts/mostplayed]
      - steveklabnik 4y ago
        Yeah the way folks talk about steamcharts is wild. Honestly I think it’s kinda bad for gaming, but I understand why people do it.
steveklabnik 4y ago
> How big is... Roblox? 58.8 million DAUs in Q3 https://ir.roblox.com/news/news-details/2022/Roblox-Reports-Third-Quarter-2022-Financial-Results/default.aspx https://ir.roblox.com/news/news-details/2022/Roblox-Reports-...
Gigachad 4y ago
Facebook is going to struggle to get a billion people on to their website/app soon. I really don’t see this many people wanting to use a shitty VR chat app.

steveklabnik 4y ago

I kinda think to some degree those words are the reason those opinions are the way they are. The metaverse is being sold as this new, groundbreaking, fantastic thing, when they've already existed for decades.

vlunkr 4y ago
They've already existed, and had fun, engaging content. Meta in that sense is putting the cart before the horse. You can't convince us all to get into this world and then figure out what we're supposed to be doing there later on.
mrguyorama 4y ago
Also, VRChat is infinitely better than the Metaverse, does not require you to sell your soul to Facebook, does not require a branded headset (OR ANY AT ALL, YOU CAN PLAY IT 2D), runs well, HAS LEGS ON YOUR AVATAR FFS, and massive community support in and out of game. Also it didn't require billions in investment. Facebook could have literally burned $900 million on hookers and cocaine, and then thrown $100 million to buy VR chat, and be better off than they are now.
- numpad0 4y ago
  I feel that Facebook's metaverse push is a desperate attempt to reverse the evolution of our identities from baseline, offline, unitary identity towards constructed and abstract, online, contextual, anime girls form. I don't know precisely why it's always specifically anime && girls, but everything else seems to fall face first so I guess it's survival of fittest.
  - cjsawyer 4y ago
    It’s a side effect of where the early avatar creating tools had their development effort focused. Now it’s just a weird cultural thing.
- hansworst 4y ago
  I agree with everything except for the billions of dollars part. It seems quite obvious (but maybe I'm wrong?) that most of that investment went into the hardware that Meta has been developing over the years, and some of the "platform" capabilities that surround that hardware (think their app store for example). Sure, the virtual experiences are part of it. But I think it's not where the majority of the money went. They currently have the most popular VR hardware platform. And it's the only piece of hardware that Meta really has, everything else they make is software. If Meta wants to keep growing, being the leading producer of "the next big thing" in hardware would certainly help. Zuckerburg is betting on VR/AR being that next big thing. Only time will tell I guess. But I find it a little weird when I see people commenting on Meta's investment as if all they did was create a basic second life clone. They're building some of the most innovative consumer hardware at the moment. I'm not hugely into it because Meta doesn't really seem like the company I'd like to entrust with cameras pointing at my eyeballs, but you can't deny that the hardware they've built so far is quite impressive.

dd36 4y ago

Fortnite too.

JumpCrisscross 4y ago

> opinions around facebook’s metaverse are hilarious when things like Second Life, WoW, EVE, VR Chat, and even Roblox have been so massively popular Well, yes. Who does something matters. I could totally see Facebook's metaverse failing a la Stadia or Diem.

cjsawyer 4y ago
I didn’t make myself clear enough, I was talking about people brushing off the core concept as intrinsically unfeasible. Obviously their specific version is tonedef and lacking features but the baseline concept is proven valid by those other versions.

kmeisthax 4y ago

No, I specifically oppose Facebook's metaverse ambitions because they are shittier mass-marketized versions of those same things. All of those other things you mentioned fit into specific niches and have built communities around themselves over time.