4 ms·

What’s the business model behind this? I’m genuinely curious.

iamwil 3y ago
This was the first thing on my mind also. It had too much polish to seem like it was just some curiosity of the internet done for its own sake. Maybe it is?
- cinntaile 3y ago
  The company behind this is called Things.inc and they're a VC backed startup. https://twitter.com/ThingsByThings https://twitter.com/ThingsByThings
  - iamwil 3y ago
    Oh. I guess I can see the pitch. Something like people make their own animal crossing islands, and cozy games are a thing now, so people would want a space of their own.
derefr 3y ago
Not sure, but it's backed by a16z: https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/a16z-backed-rooms-xyz-lets-you-build-interactive-3d-rooms-and-simple-games-in-your-browser/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/a16z-backed-rooms-xyz-lets...
spaceman_2020 3y ago
Since its backed by A16z and has a bunch of .eth accounts tweeting about it, I would assume something related to NFTs. If NFTs and crypto can make experiments like this sustainable, then I'm all for it.
- pavlov 3y ago
  Does someone still tweet with a .eth username? That’s like writing about Beanie Babies on your MySpace. The fad is gone, no matter how hard you try.
  - spaceman_2020 3y ago
    It was always a little stupid because the .eth domain didn't really resolve to anything. All it did was give people a chance to see your crypto portfolio if you had any funds on that address.
    - stiltzkin 3y ago
      If you think ENS is only about showing portfolio you do not understand ENS.
      - spaceman_2020 3y ago
        What else is it used for? I have an ENS domain and that's pretty much the use case I've seen so far. If your ENS domain's use case is so obscure that most don't get it, then maybe you need to modify the use case.
  - stiltzkin 3y ago
    ENS and beanie babyes are nothing a like, maybe research more.
- junon 3y ago
  This is pretty much the only use case for crypto I see being viable and useful moving forward. I think it's cute and fun and if people want to sink money into hobby stuff like this then nobody should tell them otherwise.
  - spaceman_2020 3y ago
    There has been a drastic degradation of crypto culture in the last couple of years. From speculation being the trojan horse that was supposed to lead to a decentralized future, it has devolved into speculation being the only use case. The problem with monetizing anything with crypto in this environment means that people will only buy it for speculative purposes. Which means that instead of building anything sustainable, you just end up building trash and spending on marketing to keep the speculative hype train going. It’s like running a publicly traded company, but with extremely fickle shareholders.
    - CPLX 3y ago
      No it’s not like that. It’s like gambling. Gambling has been an extraordinarily popular human pastime since we came down from the trees. Literally nothing about the human response to crypto is interesting or novel.
      - MattRix 3y ago
        I mean speculation IS just another type of gambling, yes.
        CPLX 3y ago
        No it's not. Speculation can be a bet on the outcome of an economic or other real world system that is not a zero sum game. For example you might speculate on how likely it is that people will strike oil on a given patch of land by investing in that land and some drilling. If you're right and oil is discovered there is more wealth in the world as a result of this speculation. Gambling is not like that. Gambling doesn't have any connection to productive activity, it's just people transferring money around with wealth going from some people to some other people. That's what crypto is.
- jasonfolds5 3y ago
  Nothing related to NFTs or crypto in the product or in the plans
networked 3y ago
I can't find information about their actual business model on the site. What could it be? The first thing Rooms.xyz makes me think of is Habbo (Hotel). The developer could sell extra features (through a subscription), premium items, and space to build in. A voxel editor and custom code make premium items a harder sell: you can replicate them if they aren't very complex and you don't care about the social status of using premium items. The primary premium commodity could instead be space: larger rooms and more rooms per account. They could also charge users for highlighting their rooms in a recommendation system, if they cultivate a community that hangs out on the site. Edit: There is a line about it in https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/a16z-backed-rooms-xyz-lets-you-build-interactive-3d-rooms-and-simple-games-in-your-browser/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/a16z-backed-rooms-xyz-lets...: > Eventually, Rooms could monetize by selling objects for purchase, subscriptions or licensing its software for education, but that’s all very much to be determined at this point.
jasonfolds5 3y ago
Jason from Rooms.xyz here! We haven't figured out the business model yet, but we figure if this catches on there's probably a way to responsibly make money :-)
- somethoughts 3y ago
  Definitely an edtech CodeCombat-like platform route would be ideal coming from a parent (i.e. tutorials, elearning, online private tutoring at $200 per month). CodeCombat is great but definitely more oriented toward the traditional boy oriented programming. Your offering is much more approachable to both boys and girls and higher in graphics quality/aesthetic. If you need to directly monetize - perhaps an itch.io/Appstore type e-store would be interesting where creators could monetize their cozy style game creations through a straightforward publishing them. Hopefully if you do want/need to try some sort of Roblox/Fortnite style, monetized open-world version, you can separate it into its own domain (i.e. rooms-world.xyz) and keep rooms.xyz strictly for Scratch like learning experiences. The potential of rooms.xyz as it stands now is great as an edtech platform. Perhaps some private donor (Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, etc.) could help to buy out the original rooms.xyz from your seed investors and put it into some sort of private foundation (i.e. Scratch Foundation [1], Khan Academy Foundation). You could then be explore growth/monetization IPO-able opportunities through a separate entity while keeping what you guys have already built in tact for the long term. [1] https://codecombat.com/teachers/resources https://codecombat.com/teachers/resources [2] https://www.scratchfoundation.org https://www.scratchfoundation.org
- Jasper_ 3y ago
  lmao

This was the first thing on my mind also. It had too much polish to seem like it was just some curiosity of the internet done for its own sake. Maybe it is?

cinntaile 3y ago
The company behind this is called Things.inc and they're a VC backed startup. https://twitter.com/ThingsByThings https://twitter.com/ThingsByThings
- iamwil 3y ago
  Oh. I guess I can see the pitch. Something like people make their own animal crossing islands, and cozy games are a thing now, so people would want a space of their own.

derefr 3y ago

Not sure, but it's backed by a16z: https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/a16z-backed-rooms-xyz-lets-you-build-interactive-3d-rooms-and-simple-games-in-your-browser/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/a16z-backed-rooms-xyz-lets...

spaceman_2020 3y ago

Since its backed by A16z and has a bunch of .eth accounts tweeting about it, I would assume something related to NFTs. If NFTs and crypto can make experiments like this sustainable, then I'm all for it.

pavlov 3y ago
Does someone still tweet with a .eth username? That’s like writing about Beanie Babies on your MySpace. The fad is gone, no matter how hard you try.
- spaceman_2020 3y ago
  It was always a little stupid because the .eth domain didn't really resolve to anything. All it did was give people a chance to see your crypto portfolio if you had any funds on that address.
  - stiltzkin 3y ago
    If you think ENS is only about showing portfolio you do not understand ENS.
    - spaceman_2020 3y ago
      What else is it used for? I have an ENS domain and that's pretty much the use case I've seen so far. If your ENS domain's use case is so obscure that most don't get it, then maybe you need to modify the use case.
- stiltzkin 3y ago
  ENS and beanie babyes are nothing a like, maybe research more.
junon 3y ago
This is pretty much the only use case for crypto I see being viable and useful moving forward. I think it's cute and fun and if people want to sink money into hobby stuff like this then nobody should tell them otherwise.
- spaceman_2020 3y ago
  There has been a drastic degradation of crypto culture in the last couple of years. From speculation being the trojan horse that was supposed to lead to a decentralized future, it has devolved into speculation being the only use case. The problem with monetizing anything with crypto in this environment means that people will only buy it for speculative purposes. Which means that instead of building anything sustainable, you just end up building trash and spending on marketing to keep the speculative hype train going. It’s like running a publicly traded company, but with extremely fickle shareholders.
  - CPLX 3y ago
    No it’s not like that. It’s like gambling. Gambling has been an extraordinarily popular human pastime since we came down from the trees. Literally nothing about the human response to crypto is interesting or novel.
    - MattRix 3y ago
      I mean speculation IS just another type of gambling, yes.
      - CPLX 3y ago
        No it's not. Speculation can be a bet on the outcome of an economic or other real world system that is not a zero sum game. For example you might speculate on how likely it is that people will strike oil on a given patch of land by investing in that land and some drilling. If you're right and oil is discovered there is more wealth in the world as a result of this speculation. Gambling is not like that. Gambling doesn't have any connection to productive activity, it's just people transferring money around with wealth going from some people to some other people. That's what crypto is.
jasonfolds5 3y ago
Nothing related to NFTs or crypto in the product or in the plans

networked 3y ago

I can't find information about their actual business model on the site. What could it be? The first thing Rooms.xyz makes me think of is Habbo (Hotel). The developer could sell extra features (through a subscription), premium items, and space to build in. A voxel editor and custom code make premium items a harder sell: you can replicate them if they aren't very complex and you don't care about the social status of using premium items. The primary premium commodity could instead be space: larger rooms and more rooms per account. They could also charge users for highlighting their rooms in a recommendation system, if they cultivate a community that hangs out on the site. Edit: There is a line about it in https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/a16z-backed-rooms-xyz-lets-you-build-interactive-3d-rooms-and-simple-games-in-your-browser/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/a16z-backed-rooms-xyz-lets...: > Eventually, Rooms could monetize by selling objects for purchase, subscriptions or licensing its software for education, but that’s all very much to be determined at this point.

jasonfolds5 3y ago

Jason from Rooms.xyz here! We haven't figured out the business model yet, but we figure if this catches on there's probably a way to responsibly make money :-)

somethoughts 3y ago
Definitely an edtech CodeCombat-like platform route would be ideal coming from a parent (i.e. tutorials, elearning, online private tutoring at $200 per month). CodeCombat is great but definitely more oriented toward the traditional boy oriented programming. Your offering is much more approachable to both boys and girls and higher in graphics quality/aesthetic. If you need to directly monetize - perhaps an itch.io/Appstore type e-store would be interesting where creators could monetize their cozy style game creations through a straightforward publishing them. Hopefully if you do want/need to try some sort of Roblox/Fortnite style, monetized open-world version, you can separate it into its own domain (i.e. rooms-world.xyz) and keep rooms.xyz strictly for Scratch like learning experiences. The potential of rooms.xyz as it stands now is great as an edtech platform. Perhaps some private donor (Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, etc.) could help to buy out the original rooms.xyz from your seed investors and put it into some sort of private foundation (i.e. Scratch Foundation [1], Khan Academy Foundation). You could then be explore growth/monetization IPO-able opportunities through a separate entity while keeping what you guys have already built in tact for the long term. [1] https://codecombat.com/teachers/resources https://codecombat.com/teachers/resources [2] https://www.scratchfoundation.org https://www.scratchfoundation.org
Jasper_ 3y ago
lmao