What do you think of the metaverse? [March 2022]

I remember Second Life being rolled out at work in 2007 to be our exciting new platform for our 2-week induction. That never got wide acceptance.

Then Minecraft has become the world's flagship interactive 3d world for creativity. There's obviously a huge social aspect, but that largely plays out on YouTube, twitch etc

Zuck's "Metaverse" concept is now pretty ancient, and I don't see anything new, innovative or exciting, just another Second Life with more ads in your face.

With the technology we have now, I don't know why there isn't an app that does voice recognition searches for products and lets you swipe through augmented reality 3d photos of each product accompanied by reviews.

Or supermarket shelves where you say "fruit" and then tap the items you want.

I suspect 20 years from now the concept of in-person shopping with a staff member at the checkout will be quaint (e.g. gift shop) and specialised (E.g. Apple store).

But as for Zuck's Meta, unfortunately I think their offering will beat everybody else's, no matter how shitty it is, as you'll be able to import 100% of your FB/Insta/WhatsApp data, and that matters to consumers more than anything else.

A decentralized, open source "Metaverse" might be interesting. Keeping in mind that the web is essentially a decentralized 2d universe.

Facebook however, is simply attempting to create artificial scarcity (virtual real estate) in a platform that they control and are involved in every transaction that happens in it.

It's a dystopian nightmare-- and this coming from a guy who owns two Oculus headsets and likes them.

I think it's interesting. I've tried on my roomate's VR headset a few times and thought it was pretty incredible, but like him haven't really put it on more than once or twice.

I'm starting to think maybe the reason is because it's too realistic. People want to play video games and browse the internet because it's in a sweet spot of comforting and mind-numbing, to the extent they can just sit and do that all day. VR doesn't quite hit that spot I don't think.

If a kid had a full paintball course in his backyard with players on standby, and could play anytime he wanted, do you think he would do that or play COD on ps5 more? Honestly I think COD.

I fail to see how this is anything more than a relaunch of SecondLife. Much time and energy was thrown at it, and it didn't stick. There appear to be no sufficiently new ideas in that space.

I think: It’s not for the average Hacker News commenter. It’s probably not for people who are currently in their 30s and older. It will become something for the people who are currently in their teens or younger, who aren’t really interested in the web and social media of their parents generation.

Basically: You’re not going to get good metaverse hot takes on HN. You’re mostly going to get blanket dismissals from people who aren’t the target audience anyway.

Nothing. The concept changes literally nothing about the direction of computing, graphics etc., things are going and have been going in that direction for well over a decade... 10-20 years from now is a long projection, and a silly word from the head of zuckerburg is less than dust in the wind.

That being said, much injury may be done to innocent persons in the name of this concept, and I would warn against getting tied up in it, regardless of its name.

Couldn't care less.

I have an Oculus Quest, there's currently only one app on it I use (Wander) and sometimes I try to dip my toes into VR development. I like VR, although I think its potential is vastly oversold. It's only going to succeed to the degree that Facebook can force it to.

Its hostile to those who have to wear glasses and certainly really problematic for the blind or older people.

VR is gonna be big. If we say enough it will become a reality.

Liable to follow the trajectory of 3d TV.