New World Notes

Horizon Worlds Pivoted to Compete With VRChat Around 2019 (Unsuccessfully), Says Senior Meta Veteran

I keep learning more about how Meta, one of the most powerful and profitable companies in human history, has been unable to grow its metaverse platform Horizon Worlds. Part of that story is told in my book (plug!), while another part of the story I wrote about here, in which Meta leadership decided to develop Horizon Worlds with a VR version of Meta's React code of mobile apps, called "ReactVR" -- leading to a team of 2D app developers driven by engagement metrics and retention numbers, but little experience in virtual worlds or VR.

Another piece of the puzzle was just offered by Meta senior veteran Jim Purbrick, who knows quite a lot about virtual worlds and VR -- read his blog links below for much more -- but was sidelined from leading Horizon Worlds design. (Sometimes with disastrous consequences for the company.)

Commenting on my post, Jim recently tweeted:

There was, briefly, an acknowledgement that "The Metaverse" would require learning. Horizons started out as an experiment alongside Rooms and Venues then grew and sucked all of the oxygen out of the room when it was decided that Meta needed a platform to compete with VR Chat.

Yes: VRChat, the social VR virtual world first created by a tiny startup, grew organically with little marketing, but still far outpaced Horizon Worlds in terms of active users, even (and especially!) on Meta's own VR platform.  So Meta pivoted to catch up.

More from Jim:

Linden Lab's Bold Pivot to Grow Second Life by Collaborating with the SL Community -- New on My Patreon

New on my Patreon:

Linden Lab’s Creator Partnership Program Part of Company's Daring New Pivot to Grow Second Life With SL's User Community -- Here’s How

A core goal (as I see it) of the Creator Partnership Program is to grow the Second Life user base through a collaboration of Linden Lab development and grassroots community creativity. You can see that in another company/creator collaboration which also addresses the first-time user experience. Longtime SL game developer MadPea created a HUD that will be seen by some select new users, giving them a set of daily adventure Great Heist quests and rewards...

Join free to read (and comment on) the rest!

Cajsa's Choices: Sophie's Spectacular Screenshots of Second Life Trees

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Sophie D takes pics of herself and her travels around Second Life. She’s new-to-me, someone I discovered today while searching for pictures of trees. Portland’s Friends of Trees celebrated planting its millionth tree this Sunday which led me to wonder about tree planting in Second Life. Of course, it’s much easier to plant a tree in SL, no messy digging, watering, pruning, and hoping it survives. Plop, and there it is! All grown up. 

While searching for trees I found a lot of pics by Sophie, in fact if anyone deserves to be the SL Virtual Forest Ranger, it is Sophie. This is her most recent picture and it just happens to be a tree. In general, framing the main element toward the center is a mistake, particularly if it’s asymmetrical,  but she accounts for that with the leading lines that draw our eyes, making this a successful picture. 

For more of Sophie’s trees, click here:

Man Visits “Dead World” There, Finds There’s More There There in There

"I Spent 30 Days in a Dead Game" at first seemed like a mean snarkfest against There, the virtual world that went defunct in 2010 then relaunched as a subscription-based platform in 2012. Homepage here.

But longtime virtual world denizen Cube Republic convinced me to keep watching:

"I was prepared for another troll video and I thought in the end it was well put together," as Cube puts it. "And the interview with the players were lovely, and them describing losing their friends that had left or died raises a lot of questions about virtual worlds and what they mean as communities and spaces that people live in."

So I kept watching, and Cube is correct! Also notable how expressive There avatars are, despite (because of?) the rudimentary graphics. It does make you appreciate how amazing it is that you can still meet both newbies and oldbies in Second Life:

Cajsa's Choices: The Emotionally Resonant Avatar Portraits of Jawhara

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Jawhara caught my attention for a few reasons. She’s a Flickr micro-blogger who wears clothes more often than not. She has a consistent look with her delicate and refined features, her strong cheekbones and brows, and the tenderness in her eyes. I don’t know if it’s the eye-maker or her use of pose expressions, but even her simplest pictures have emotional heft. In “LaRosa,” the picture is turned on its side which normally would irritate me, but she is positioned so her head is not perceived as sideways, making it a far more dynamic picture. 

For more from Jawhara, click here:

Top 5 Posts Including: A Massive Minecraft Project & Linden Lab's New Strategy for Growing SL Through a Creator Program

• WATCH: Learning Virtual World Community Building Lessons from Palia, the Popular Cozy MMO
• Watch 100,000 "Players" in the Same Minecraft Server & 5000+ Onscreen Using Quark Multiplayer Tech
• AltspaceVR, Microsoft's Sunsetted Virtual World, Attempting Reboot
• Linden Lab Launches Creator Partnership Program to Help Grow Second Life -- Including Creators Outside SL Ecosystem
• ROBLOX Overwhelmingly Remains a Mobile-Centric Metaverse Platform Despite Quest / PC / Console Option

SL Creators: Please Take This Short Survey on the State of the Second Life Economy in 2025! (Use Laptop/PC for Best Results)

4/25: Bumped up for weekend!

As promised, here's my anonymous brand/merchant survey for my upcoming report on the state of the SL economy. Asking such questions as:

• How has the SL mobile app impacted your sales or activity around your brand?
• How much money in USD do you typically gross from your SL content sales and services per year?
• Do you use Generative AI programs in the promotion and/or creation of your SL content?
• Do shopping events increase your overall revenue from SL?
• What's your confidence in the future of Second Life as led by Brad Oberwager & Philip Rosedale?

And much more! Use a laptop/PC for best results (you need a mouse to scroll on the embedded window), or click here to take it directly on Google Sheets. 

I will definitely feature highlights and the full report on New World Notes here, though if you want to be among the very first to read it, please join my Patreon for free.

 

Watch 100,000 "Players" in the Same Minecraft Server & 5000+ Onscreen Using Quark Multiplayer Tech

I just had a fascinating chat with Rashid Mansoor of MetaGravity, who told me about this seriously cool demo project using their Quark Multiplayer technology: A Minecraft world server that's playable (with low lag) by 100,000 concurrent avatars, versus the usual 20-100!

In the video above, you're mostly seeing bots to stress test their tech. (Up to 5,000 bots can be rendered on one screen, he says.) MetaGravity is planning to make this Minecraft server publicly available soon, when they're aiming to reach 1 million concurrent users.

AltspaceVR, Microsoft's Sunsetted Virtual World, Attempting Reboot

I'm late to this party, but thanks to Julian of the Virtual Worlds Museum for flagging this to me:

AltspaceVR, once a Microsoft-owned social VR platform with a pretty active community before the plug was pulled in 2023, is attempting a rebirth:

My name is Danny Mac, and I’m the owner, CEO and Refounder of AltspaceVR. After Microsoft sunset the platform and dissolved the business, I was able to reclaim the marks and form a new company dedicated to bringing this incredible community space back and ensuring it's here to stay.

To be clear, Altspace was never just a platform or a product to me. It was always about the community, the vibe, and the creativity. The connections that happened because a safe, non-toxic space existed for them to happen in.

That’s my north star moving forward, to rebuild AltspaceVR as a community-first, open source platform, with sustainable models to keep it alive for good.

Here's the revival website to get involved. I'm reaching out to Mr. Mac and hope to get more info when I can.

Cajsa's Choices: Sparkle Skye Photographed & Also Created These Amazing SL Landsscpes

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Sparkle Skye takes landscape photos in addition to vendor pics for her hats, headbands, and accessories. She doesn’t shoot a lot of landscapes because she’s shooting the landscapes she builds. This one caught my eye with its spare beauty. I love a landscape that isn’t overdressed. Landscape design should follow the advice of fashion stylists, accessorize, then “remove one thing.” Skye isn’t beset with the common problem of too much everywhere all at once. What really makes me fall in love with this picture, though, is the small detail of the rain falling on the left side of the scene. Look in the foreground where the rain is falling by the desiccated remains of a fallen tree and how it’s pooling a bit as it does when the soil is dry and hard. It runs off and pools rather than soak in because the soil is too hard. There is such verisimilitude in this tiny detail. 

For more of Skye’s landscapes, click here: