Interview starts at about :09 seconds in
UPDATE, 4:40pm: Bumped up for weekend listening/discussion!
Days after Philip Rosedale announced that his social VR company was laying off 25% of its staff and focusing on building Project Lilypad, a cross-platform virtual world for workgroups, I got on a Zoom call with him to talk about that news and related topics. Highlights include news that High Fidelity is coming to Oculus Quest, his thought on the fate of VRChat and other social VR worlds in the wake of this pivot -- and the final word on open work spaces, of which Rosedale was once a prominent advocate.
Timestamps and notes/quotes below:
00:30 Philip and the founding Second Life, my stint as an embedded journalist within it — and walking the virtual world.
01:54: Philip’s mission to build a massive virtual world through High Fidelity and VR headsets — and how the slow adoption of HMDs and their shortcomings for use in work contexts have made it difficult to launch a true Metaverse-type virtual world. Leading to High Fidelity’s pivot to create a cross-platform virtual world-based workspace for teams as a way of growing the market for an eventual Metaverse.
06:20: How High Fidelity’s pivot is like virtual worlds meet Zoom, or a virtual world meets Slack. The challenge of creating an online workspace in the face of open offices — and their opportunity for telecommuting workers, and as a solution to the rises costs of living in tech hubs like San Francisco and New York. We also delve into the productivity problems inherent in open office spaces, which Philip once advocated. (“Let me go on record and say ‘I was wrong’.”)
12:28: The fate of High Fidelity’s consumer side, in terms of the virtual world and its blockchain-based commerce system. “I’m deeply committed to building the Metaverse… so I’m not spinning down any of that”. That includes plans to release High Fidelity of Oculus Quest soon-ish — date TBD “in the next couple quarters”.
Next: High Fidelity and PSVR, going multi-platform, and how to request early access to Project Lilypad.
Demo of the spatial audio technology to be used in Project Lilypad (best with headphones)
15:33: We discuss VR’s total install base, the possibility of bringing PSVR into High Fidelity — and whether other social VR companies should also pivot like High Fidelity. “Be prepared to wait, say 3 years, for the marketplace to come around well enough to build a good business”.
17:44: Will VR ever go mass market, or will it remain a powerful platform for narrow use cases such as therapy and education? And why not just assume VR will remain a niche — and plan around that by creating multi-platform virtual worlds like VRChat? “I think that VRChat demonstrates the viability of a hybrid approach.”
20:24: Instead of trying to build a Neal Stephenson-type virtual world, why not build a big online game like Fortnite and then introduce Metaverse-esque features after launch. Philip and I discuss whether it’s possible to create an online game that can attract everyone. Fortnite tends to appeal mainly to very young people (though as I point out, contrary to what many assume, it does have near equal gender parity.)
22:32: When we can expect the launch of Project Lilypad. Fairly soon — go here to register your work team as alpha testers.
Follow-up questions? Post in Comments and I'll forward the best to Philip and team.
In regards to the game topic that came up, Wagner mentioned Fortnite "creative mode" and Philip kind of missed the point when asking what's the one game that everyone wants to play. The idea is that something like the creative mode allows for a concept of putting the game making potential into the community hands in a fun, creative way. And, in terms of education and businesses, some of them actually like the concept of gamification for training. I've heard of instructors and trainers using SL for teaching through simulations/games. Not sure how often it is done, though.
Posted by: vwfan | Thursday, May 16, 2019 at 11:27 PM
Very nice interview, Wagner. "Why not take an approach where you build a fun game first" was the million dollar question. As vwfan pointed out, Philip pretty much fumbled that. You, vrfan, and countless others with no investment in a particular pet project are able to see, right off the bat, that platform is everything.
I'm going to go ahead and declare Project Lilypad dead. Out of "business, education, and entertainment", entertainment seems the obvious place to introduce the new world. We're humans. We're curious, first, then we learn and apply our skills to something functional. It's much more appealing than dreams of some virtual dystopian chore factory disguised as a playground.
The concept of a "Metaverse" is an exciting prospect and we should be very selective in who lays the groundwork for its design. It's architects should be more philosophers than opportunists, it's engineers should be more artists and educators and less Silicon Valley soldiers. It's goal should be to provide us tools and not make us tools.
If this interview was anything like a job interview for God of the Metaverse, I'd send off that "best of luck on your future endeavors" email today.
Posted by: Clara Seller | Friday, May 17, 2019 at 08:50 AM