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I have always believed that the Metaverse is whatever modern computing (especially the Internet) has evolved into. It has nothing to do with VR googles. You don
by markus_zhang 2y ago
I have always believed that the Metaverse is whatever modern computing (especially the Internet) has evolved into. It has nothing to do with VR googles. You don't need AAA graphics to make an immersing world -- in fact, some text adventure games are quite immersive, and by the same principle you don't need VR to enter the Metaverse.
Metaverse is escapism and alternative socializing in capital letters. For me, Metaverse in the 80s is me typing BASIC programs, playing Alley Cat, and watching a friend play Prince of Persia (in reality, not VR). Metaverse in the 90s is me borrowing pirated games from a friend and logging into BBS talking trash till early morning. It has always been here. It never left. It IS immersive. It doesn't need some VR devices to be "more" immersive. In fact, the more "modern" we become, the LESS immersive it seems to be, with all those online ads and other shits.
Welcome to the Metaverse.
- Cheer2171 2y agothen we already had a word for it: media
- markus_zhang 2y agoI'd say computing media (digitized media?)
- cubefox 2y agoStephenson and Sweeney mean something else: User-generated 3D worlds where people interact with their avatars, e.g. to play games. Roblox and Fortnite are semi-early examples. VR is not required.
- readyplayernull 2y agoSecond Life was the metaverse 20 years ago, it fizzled for a reason.
- w-ll 2y agoppl never mention VRChat... that is the metaverse that people ask for imho... its wild, artistic, horny, and corny. its much like early internet.
- cubefox 2y ago"Horny" but with hardly any women present, right? That may be why nobody wants to mention it.
- sirspacey 2y agoI thought so too until I used Supernatural on Quest 3. Immersion, like resolution, keeps leveling up in ways I don’t find easy to go back on.
- gxd 2y agoFor a minute there I thought I had written your message and forgot about it. It resonates strongly with how I feel. Infocom, the leading maker of the text adventures you talk about, used to advertise that the brain is the most powerful graphics technology (https://thedoteaters.com/?attachment_id=6312 https://thedoteaters.com/?attachment_id=6312). When playing their games as a kid, I remember the sense of wonder with what then felt like an entire universe contained inside the computer. I tried to "trick the computer" into letting me go places that weren't technically part of the game! When thinking about the games back then - and I say that not with a sense of nostalgia, but simply remembering how I felt about these games before I understood how they worked - I wanted to go to every house in the scenery, every city building I was driving by. I wanted to see if I could go there, knock on the door and there would be people and adventures waiting for me everywhere. That dream was the metaverse indeed. Great graphics of course helps a lot, but they are not the main characteristic of this immersion. It's depth, content, the sense that every couch in the room could have a long lost and forgotten receipt under it. Adding people often breaks the immersion, especially in Free to Play games. When you are in a medieval world and suddenly a player called "Memes4Ca$h" dressed in a pink armor shows up, it breaks the immersion. The ideal environment would either need true human role players or AGI-managed characters.
- tenthirtyam 2y agoI remember an anecdote I heard when I was in high school. A teacher recounted how they had been listening to a radio talk show, and on the talk show, the presenter was interviewing an elderly lady about why she eschewed TV and preferred to listen to fiction shows on the radio. Her answer, apparently, was "because the pictures are better."