this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2024
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago

The only "metaverse" that gained any traction is VRChat and that's mostly just a way for furries to show off their character designs.

All the ones that started as a way to leech money from home working have gone nowhere.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 5 hours ago

We already have wide screens. Just ask the users to place their hand dividing their face so that each eye sees an independent image. Then just play stereo images and watch the new eye disease craze grow!..."95% of Americans have one lazy eye or two!" "Scientists don't known why, but you can fix it with this weird hydrogen peroxide hack!"

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

There was never non-manufactured hype for it. I saw people who were paid to be excited about it be excited about it, and literally nobody else cared. Nobody else even knew what the hype was event supposed to be for.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

If Facebook wasn't behind it trying to make it a thing then it might stand a chance to become a thing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago

cries in PortalTV

[–] [email protected] 9 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I bet Meta spent a lot of money to develop the Metaverse. Would they really just drop it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago

They already did years before Facebook rename themselves.

It was called project loom

[–] [email protected] 115 points 20 hours ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 hours ago

Yeah man.....for like 2 weeks, and then it released. Then again when they added legs. For like a day.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

Some people just love looking at themselves.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

You're joking, but there are lots of people in VRChat that love spending a lot of time looking at their own avatar in front of in-game mirrors.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

A good 200 of them are pissed right now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago

Man, I hate looking at myself in mirrors or even hearing myself in recordings. I just don't understand people who actually like it.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 9 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 53 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Within the billionaire bubble there was a lot of hype. Outside of that, not so much.

A new platform to colonize, gathering info on what people were looking at in the virtual world and selling that to advertising made their wallets go very erect.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

I think the biggest part was selling people fake clout for a nearly 100% profit margin. They were going to sell us virtual clothes and status ~~in mass~~ en masse for our very real money. Not that this doesn't already happen in gaming but it would have been expanded greatly

[–] [email protected] 62 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

I always thought this metaverse crap was just an obvious money-making scheme that preyed on isolated people during COVID-19. They only started developing their metaverse platforms during the pandemic. Of course they all failed to capitalize because the world largely returned to normal while they were still flaunting NFTs and unfinished metaverse platforms that still can't do better than a private Minecraft SMP with your friends.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I think that's just a coincidence because it was also just after buying Oculus and developing the Quest 2 which sold like hotcakes. I think things fizzled out because everyone I know, myself included, got tired of VR after a couple weeks because the software just isn't there and it can be quite isolating to use.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

SteamVR on PC is excellent FYI. Lots of great VR games on Steam

[–] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

Alyx has ruined almost every other VR game for me purely from how polished of an experience it is. Every other game that isn't an arcade, driving/racing sim or a fitness game just feels clunky to me.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 15 hours ago

Polished, right. Wouldn't even run past the menu on my (overpowered) PC, as the only VR game out of those I've tried. Forums full of people with similar issues...

[–] [email protected] 9 points 17 hours ago

Yes, but it is also very different. I have a VR headset and use it every now and then. But compared to "normal" gaming it is quite different.

When playing a non-VR game you can just minimize the game and check stuff between rounds/matches/when you pause/etc. With VR I feel like you have to be there all the time, and the headsets are still heavy so you can't play as long. Not to mention you are usually standing.

I like VR and think it will be good eventually, but it is not there yet. It is 100% playable as it is, but the overall tech is not quite there yet.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I suspect that it's one of those things that will happen at some point in the future, but we just don't have the technology and equipment ready for it just yet. I figure it's similar to AI research in like 2007 when they were able to put the computer on Jeopardy and have it compete against the contestants. It worked, but it wasn't ready for mainstream usage at the time.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (6 children)

The second life/metaverse/ virtual reality concept will never be widely accepted by the majority of the populatioj because it just isn't what the vast majority of people want. They want communication methods that compliment their real world lives.

Yes, it will probably be more popular at some point than it has been so far if they can pull off affordable ultra realism, but the escapism of virtual worlds appeals to a relatively small portion of the population. Not to mention that a lot of people have a limited amount of free time, and even if it was extremely popular at first, the novelty would wear off fairly quickly for most people.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

I think you're right about affordability.

There's a subset of the population who will pursue VR for gaming et cetera, but it's a limited subset. While the same hardware or tech might be able to be used for casual AR / VR helpful type things like meetings or informational things those applications just aren't beneficial enough to make it worth the cost of the hardware.

If there was more content, more useful applications, and the cost was negligible, then sure it will take off.

In my 20s I would've been interested in VR for gaming and would've been excited about the potential applications of AR. Now in my 40s it's clear that tech doesn't bring me joy, and I'd like to diminish it's role in my life. As in, I want tech to improve my well being and quality of life rather than consume my time and limit my experience of life.

20 years from now, I can imagine myself as a reluctant late-adopter of AR. I just absolutely will not tolerate ads in this regard. I'd rather forage for twigs and berries in the wilderness than allow adverts to be injected into my experience of realiity.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

A big problem with virtual worlds is that it doesn’t really take that long to get to the “end.” The end of the landscape, the end of the mechanics, the end of the economy, whatever. Then you’re stuck waiting for DLC, and that runs out in short order, too.

In reality, even if you stay in one place your whole life, you know there’s more to see; or are the wealthiest person in the world, there’s still more.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

I had assumed the metaverse was more about augmented reality than an alternate reality. I don't really know anything about it though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

The massive popularity of Ready Player One, which was a mostly bland and bad story besides having a Metaverse in it, might imply otherwise.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

The popularity in the fictional setting, based on speculation?

The popularity of the book/move, which is a short period of escapism not at all comparable to virtual reality?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

The popularity of the book/movie incorporating a classic concept of cyberpunk, yes.

We've been dreaming of a Metaverse just about since we've had internet. Only, nobody's made one that's worth a damn in the real world yet.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

Dude it's a book.

"Gladiators would be popular because there's this movie called Gladiator that everyone loves and that has heaps of Gladiators."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

The second life/metaverse/ virtual reality concept will never be widely accepted by the majority of the populatioj because it just isn’t what the vast majority of people want. They want communication methods that compliment their real world lives.

It's the same reason that urbanization collapses every time it gets out of hand, as it did in Babylon and Rome before us. The majority of the population doesn't even WANT to live in an artificial environment, no matter how hard those who wield power attempt to push it on everyone.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 20 hours ago

will never be widely accepted by the majority of the populatioj because it just isn’t what the vast majority of people want. They want communication methods that compliment their real world lives

I don't think that's strictly true, but I do think it would require their real world lives to get shockingly worse to increase the appeal of living in a "better" world.

This is usually how you see these kind of things presented in fiction: everyone uses a "metaverse", but it requires a full on completely society destroying dystopia to also exist to make it sufficiently appealing.

I'd put money on the next round of VR worlds getting a lot more buy-in since you've got a generation of kids growing up that are already living mostly online, and a species that seems hell-bent on diving in to a nice authoritarian dystopia, so uh, the next 20 years will probably be real interesting,

[–] [email protected] 6 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

I think what we will get out of all this virtual reality research is good augmented reality devices because being able to look at something and pull up information on that thing or instructions on how to use it, etc. would be damn useful. I think I've heard of companies using AR and VR for training purposes, like how to work machines in a factory, etc. before you actually start using them.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 19 hours ago

I see people buying $300 AR glasses as a portable monitor to watch porn comfortably while in bed.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Remote medical procedures, remote military weapons, remote repair of datellites, etc. will all benefit as well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

Do any of these applications really require AR / VR though?

[–] [email protected] 34 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

There were hype around this thing??

[–] [email protected] 40 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Zuckerberg was so hyped, he renamed his entire fucking company Meta.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 15 hours ago

But Zuckerberg was pretty much alone, I don't recall anyone agreeing with his claims.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 20 hours ago

Ironically, Zuck is all about FAIR now. Shouldn't it be MAIR now? :)