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Friday, July 22, 2022

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I can see a future version of Steam evolving into something like this. Instead of looking at a long list of games in the Steam store.

Martin K.

I read (a digital copy of) the book this weekend. I guess, what it made clear to me is that "the Metaverse" is just a buzzword describing a set of important and not so important concepts and technologies.

The important concepts include interoperable networks, virtual worlds, real-time rendered 3D graphics, synchronous online experiences, continuity of data, computer-mediated sense of presence, etc.

Other important concepts are immersive technologies (e.g. virtual and augmented reality) and user-generated content - even if they are not mentioned in Ball's definition of the Metaverse.

The one concept in Ball's definition of the Metaverse that I have strong doubts about is the possibility that thousands (an "effectively unlimited number") of users interact with each other synchronously. I think that a dynamically changing set of no more than a few hundred users will be enough for practically all applications. Yes, there will be "broadcasting" of individual avatars to millions of users, but that doesn't mean that a thousand users can interact with each other at the same time. (And broadcasting of avatars to many thousands of users is already well established technology in AltSpaceVR, Rec Room, and probably several other metaverse apps.) So, I doubt that we need technology for an "effectively unlimited number of users" to interact synchronously with each other. Therefore, I doubt that any definition of the Metaverse that requires this kind of technology is very useful.

On the other hand, if "the Metaverse" just describes a loose set of important concepts and technologies and you attribute all applications and effects of those concepts and technologies to "the Metaverse", then, of course, "the Metaverse" will change a lot (but not revolutionize everything). It's like "the Information Age": just a label that you stick on a set of concepts and technologies. In other words: it's a buzzword.

Well, to end on a positive note: another thing that the book has achieved for me is to clarify a potential relation between "the Metaverse" and "metaverse apps". Consider this: is it possible that Ball's definition of the Metaverse is fulfilled by a network of (more or less) interoperable metaverse apps? I think it is. Which would mean that a single Metaverse could exist in the form of multiple interoperable metaverse apps. At last, the dichotomy between the Metaverse and many metaverse apps has been resolved!

Loff Auer

Second Life is a fully fledged Metaverse, the only real one, because there is nothing missing, a Metaverse where all you wonder about and talk about has already happened and is fully answered, since 2003, it just doesn't use the silly VR goggles... SL is indeed a very mature and organically developed Metaverse, with a complex thriving economy and all sorts of activities, from entertainment to science, education and arts, even jobs, therefore being the only available long run "proof of concept" for how everything works on a present and future VR Metaverse - what people want and don't want, what they create and sell and buy, how they socialize, roleplay, work, have families and live, etc... But beaware, Blockchain and Crypto have nothing to do with the Metaverse, absolutely nothing... Saying the Metaverse needs crypto is like saying the Internet of today can't survive without Hotmail, contrary to what all Youtube Ponzy Crypto scamners want you to think, by sticking together the trendy words Blockchain and Metaverse... The Metaverse needs a very stable value coin, like SL has (Lindens), a coin that works like a FIAT... No one will rent a house, create products, pay and sell for services and buy stuff (like it happens on SL) when things have speculative weekly fluctuating values and the dress you sell gives you 50$ income on Monday and only 0,1$ on Sunday, or the land you rented to run your home or venue costs 20$ on January than 200$ on April... Crypto Metaverse is just - NOT GONA HAPPEN... Only speculators, AND NOT real creators and consumers, want to engage on a Crypto Metaverse, just dreaming with flipping revenues and that is not the population of a Metaverse, is a ponzy scam hive, pure and simple... Wakeup People...

That Geezer From The Pub

To the person who said "Wakeup People" You are certainly speaking like a hardcore Second Lifer, but I think you have lost the plot. Second Life is no longer anything special, its shelf life is diminishing more and more each year due to it not attracting many new users, it's dated, especially where graphics are concerned, shadows are unrealistic, there is nothing that truly represents reflections, on top of that Linden Labs extort its users especially where land prices are concerned. The Linden fluctuates in value like any other virtual currency despite what you are implying and on top of that, there are fluctuating exchange rates for non US users.

You say there is nothing missing, but I would argue users are missing, progress is missing. Save a few bells and whistles here and there, it hasn't changed or advanced much in the 13 years I've been a member. Us Second Life users have merely become institutionalised, most not leaving due to the value of the inventory they would leave behind and can't take to the likes of Open Sim.

I give it another 10 years tops before it is gone and that will fly by, things always do, because the focus has become entirely on profit, when once upon a time, it was about advancing the technology. The Lab is fooling itself, if it thinks it can continue this way and never go under.

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