What the hell is the Metaverse?

[@Pinstrip]

The metaverse fantasy: "Everything works with everything else" The reality: companies still can't agree on using the same charging plug on mobile phones.

[@Ellinov]

I mean, over the last like 15 years we've gone from hundreds of different chargers to 2, and iPhones are about to be forced to adopt USB-C so next generation or two will all be the same charger.

[@itemushmush]

agreed. every metaverse will be a walled garden with zero portability. saying this as a softwar engineer

[@itemushmush]

@@Ellinov ... not because of the companies. it was totally down to extra regulation

[@rainfoxhound8199]

It also raises some very troubling questions on Anti-trust laws, something like this would allow for unrestricted growth, insider trading and would be almost impossible to regulate.

[@Slash0mega]

@@Ellinov iphone is only doing it cause it was legally forced to,

[@gamogi7142]

My biggest takeaway from this is that the metaverse is literally nothing being promised as everything.

[@Huenyan]

Yes, for the small amout of all your money you can have nothing new.

[@Herbertti3]

You're 100% correct. People are investing in literally nothing to become rich. (As usual these days)

[@d4rk0s]

Yeap just like NFTs

[@ShermTank7272]

I promise, it's everything you could ever want it to be. But only if you don't question anything and give me all your money. And no takebacks!

[@kesamek8537]

Completely wrong. The metaverse is a replacement Internet where every single thing you do is corporate/state owned and monetized like a microtransaction mobile game. Every key press and click is tracked, there is no privacy, there is no private chat, there are no semi-safe havens for uncensored conversation, there is no escape from permanent surveillance, even more explicitly worse that current systems.

[@naikyou]

So what I'm getting from this is that I'll be saving a lot of money by just getting into all the fun games, movies, music and literature I missed in the past 50 years and not buying into any of this forced metaverse crap. Sounds about right.

[@PeterDanielBerg]

ironically this is exactly what the protagonist of ready player one does and he still gets into the metaverse crap because the metaverse led to total creative sterility lmao

[@gran4404]

Resistance via nonparticipation, I like it. The best way to prevent the dystopia they're attempting to force upon us is to just not participate, since our money and more importantly our attention is what they need to survive

[@alexfizik1093]

@@gran4404 Yeah. The only way for us to dodge this bullet is to prove to them that it, in fact, does not sell

[@karenspeidel1901]

@@alexfizik1093 I'm sure the hell not buying into it ! I hope Old PEANUT HEAD MARKY GOES BROKE ON THIS ONE !

[@francomoreira4222]

@@gran4404 I mean they will just kill the competence. I'm 100% sure that VR chat that was top tier VR experience didn't just suddenly decide to become 10 times worse and stop people from being creative despite this being the reason for their success. I'm 100% sure that they were bribed, which is usually what monopolic comapnies do, they just buy their competence.

[@LastSecBloomer]

Metaverse is a process of getting people used to this new world where EVERY aspect of their life will be monetized. By others.

[@The86Ripper]

Yeah its essentially milking the cow even further, cause the billions they make out of subscriptions and overpriced tech just werent enough.

[@davidjohansson1416]

We already have 2 metaverses. Garry's mod and Roblox. I.e. worldbuilding and game creation, and roleplay within a "game".

[@mousepotatodoesstuff]

@@davidjohansson1416 Gmod seems ok, but Roblox is an exploitative nightmare.

[@davidjohansson1416]

@@mousepotatodoesstuff sure, i'm just saying "it's" not a new idéa.

[@somersault1123]

You will own nothing and be happy.

[@phuse99]

The amount this shit has been pushed into the public's face, without ever wanting or asking for it, should be a massive red flag to everyone.

[@setoste]

Who are the sheeple buying these consumer products anyway? I have never had the urge to spend money in some random game because they added some character from another game. The whole idea is alien to me.

[@Callistemon]

They know some people want metaverse

[@StrongFreeLovin]

@@setoste True, some people are just coomsumers.

[@gmoney9469]

@@setoste Probably the same people with Funko pop collections

[@gavincrouch]

Metaverse is not a soup, it's a sewerage farm, giving you shit you don't want, but when you want to take one shit, you have to take all the shit.

[@Mystery_Biscuits]

“We are the metaverse. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your business will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”

[@Darth_Bateman]

Yeah you guys aren’t scary anymore. The protomolecule is kind of the big fear right now.

[@Thatonedude917]

We need an equivalent of species 8472

[@hawkeye5955]

"The line must be drawn *HERE!* This far, no further!" - Captain Jean-Luc Picard

[@VictusPrime]

The term 'Metaverse' is a term coined in an early 90s book called Snow Crash, and its concept in the book is more or less the same as how its being used today. And, ironically enough, Snow Crash is a futuristic, corporate dystopian nightmare, lmao.

[@darthkai3621]

In the words of Joseph Jostar OH MY GOD!!!!

[@sequoia-sugi]

Pretty crazy how corps keep unironically pushing stuff you see in cyberpunk with either zero awareness or care about cyberpunk being a dystopian genre. Another recent example is Bezos going to near-space and then claiming that we should have industry and workers in space, at the same time his company owns The Expanse. He claims to be a fan but I have a feeling he's a fan of the wrong characters. (not cyberpunk but I can't get this example out of my head)

[@khango6138]

Next thing we know they'll start pushing for Replicants as a good line of products that will "revolutionize work" and "advance society". The only twist is that their Replicants will be re-engineered orphants of immigrant or poor background, whose only hope (according to the company that "employs" them) is to serve rich people in a robotic manner, acting and dressing like a household appliance rather than a person or even servant.

[@Ghost-sf4zv]

Snowcrash is a great book btw.

[@THETRIVIALTHINGS]

Maybe suckerberg is trying to tell us something with his arrogant ass-face.

[@cruelabduhl]

Corporations: "what can we ruin today?" "How about we take those special events where we occasionally cross over with other corporations proprietary media, sparking great joy, and instead of doing it 'occasionally', we do it all the time rendering the event boring and commonplace" This is how I'll view the Metaverse

[@jabloko992]

And this is why it will die. This will be another fad that will last maybe a decade or two before people get sick of it. It will probably flush down a ton of RPs the toilet as they become cartoonized, family friendly virtual wax dolls to be sold instead of the heroes/monsters/nightmares of our beloved franchises. Then people will demand more unique and risky things and the crap will stop selling.

[@animefan6662]

I love how Facebook is so bad at concerts that a small indie game company like Artix Entertainment puts them to shame.

[@TheNN]

Also we've seen this before, but by another name: "appealing to a wider audience". That's really all this is. The problem is, is that when you appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one. When nothing feels special or unique, then why should anyone bother outside of their actual interests? This is either gonna crash and die immediately, or get huge super fast then fall off a cliff.

[@dorpth]

Between the Metaverse and NFTs, this really is the age of companies pushing shit that consumers don't want, but the returns are so risk/cost free that they're determined to force them on us.

[@danceswithmetroids162]

If you're not buying into it, they're not forcing it on you. Let's be real, they're focusing on the lowest common denominator, low-IQ zero agency consumer addict zombies the population is filled with. People who have no conception of quality, ethics, or exploitation. All the see is shiny familiar thing and knowing they can push a button to have shiny familiar thing distract them from their dystopian life for an hour or several hours.

[@benjaminmeusburger4254]

You can always ignore this shit and simply enjoy a nice little indi game ... In regards of Meta and the metaverse they ->they have no idea how people function. Meetings with VR? Hell, I have ~10 meetings a week and we don't even use the webcam - because why would you bother if you are talking about processes / presentation / Excel etc.

[@tedferkin]

@@danceswithmetroids162 Don't worry, they'll eventually get NFTs and distractions that boil down to a few seconds after pushing the buy button, if not at the point of pressing the buy button

[@qbek_san]

@@benjaminmeusburger4254 The problem is, this crap is everywhere. I can't even analyze a job market, because everywhere you can see ape brains in marketing departments pushing 20 IQ blog articles about enthusiastic future of Metaverse and NFTs. would need to shut off internet entirely, which I can't because I'm web developer.

[@Golemoid]

It's risk free because they're literally trying to sell us nothing.

[@flailingweasel8541]

Unsurprisingly Zuck looks more human in the MetaVerse than in real life.

[@jamesandrews3535]

Its those dead android eyes he has, and default create-a-character hair cut

[@themanthemyth4522]

His wax sculpture looks more human than real life

[@anonymous_protagonist]

Yeah, he's got those "dead eyes" in real life that you always read about villains having in novels.

[@vcdonovan5943]

That was Zuck the Cuck? Sh!t, I though it was Commander Data from Star Trek.

[@Sizifus]

Zuck actually looked more like a person when he didn't have that Vulcan haircut

[@joeldoxtator9804]

The Metaverse is nothing short of connecting your real I.D. with everything you do online. The Metaverse is just short hand for ending online anonymity.

[@Liquefaction]

Shit. That racist joke I made in final fantasy 14 shout chat is going to make its way to Facebook! I mean "meta"

[@Astolfo2001]

Let's all stop it before it gets out of hand! Vote with your wallets, people!

[@Zom13y]

@@Astolfo2001 that won’t do anything they’ll get a government bail out, or tax break, or whatever loop hole their senators can find to make them successful. All of these companies have taken government money to finance themselves and use public utilities all without paying their fair share in taxes, but they do pay their campaign donations and they do pay their lobbyist. There’s nothing we can do short of completely removing corporate money from government, and regulate and tax the freaking leeches. What they are creating is a single point of failure and steering us towards a technological dead end where because one company or small group of companies strangled out competition, the technology and innovations the competition would have developed never happened. Look at the sign in with Facebook feature what happens if Facebook goes down in a targeted cyber attack, how many services would you lose access to because of their dependencies on the Facebook sign in process. Iunno maybe I am overreacting but this kind of built in unregulated fragility of their supposed systems has me very concerned. I much prefer a system where the individual people working together have the power not a small handful of companies with the only interest being to generate profit.

[@tuamaputanna2897]

@@Liquefaction i mean, that's literally what twitter users do: overanalyze jokes from ages ago taken out of context and shove them to your face in the most life-threatening way they have. it's not really farfetched that a company or a government could or would use this to their advantage.

[@vaimantobe3034]

@@Astolfo2001 I love "voting with my wallet". I don't spend money on it but thousands do so it still happens. It always makes me feel so empowered and important in the grand scheme of things...

[@SigmaSyndicate]

We're reaching a point now where companies no longer market their products to paying customers, but instead, to each other. Anytime you see a bunch of rich companies spending millions of advertising dollars to market vague corporate buzzwords, you just know something is wrong.

[@demonangel918]

Late stage capitalism baby!

[@devforfun5618]

because the product is the user, the companies that do things dont advertise product to you, the platform holders sell your attention to the companies selling products

[@arglebargle5531]

That's not a new thing, that's just regular b2b marketing.

[@Ryies12]

@@demonangel918 LETTTSS GOOO

[@Tnscla]

I can't imagine it will hold on for long. People will get tired fast

[@ok_listen]

Fantastic video. Hope this will shake some heads, especially over LinkedIn, where people blindly jumps on bandwagons because "its new"

[@anatoli1234567890]

LinkedIn is the place where lots of smart people expose them self for the morons they are.

[@jotatsu]

LinkedIn. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

[@IamaPERSON]

@@jotatsu except for maybe Twitter

[@jhonatancock2302]

@@IamaPERSON Twitter everyone is a dhead openly, linkedin every strokes each other duck but backstab cheat and lie for $10.

[@headhunter6734]

@@jotatsu Whiskey Bob from Klamath in Fallout 2, gotcha. (I know im wrong but I like Fallout much more than Star Wars)

[@Starfire861]

I’ve noticed that when the techbros pushing Metaverse imagine a VR escape where anything is possible, the player avatars and world assets look bland and downright fugly. But when artists imagine that same VR escape, the imagination runs wild. It actually looks like a digital world you’d want to be apart of. Compare the world of U from the movie “Belle” and Metaverse and tell me which one you want.

[@youtubesadhominem9118]

the answer is clear. the metaverse.

[@SpaceDetectiveTravis]

Oh god... I didn't want anything to do with the Metaverse considering Facebook's shoddy track record in general but finding out it's basically a project by corporations to, essentially, trap you in a giant ad staring every franchise you've ever known that never ends & you don't have the option to skip... Yeah, im definitely staying the hell way from anything with "metaverse" Last thing I want is ending up in a real life version of The Emoji Movie/Wreck-it-Ralph 2 where Naruto, Freddy Fazbear, & Kratos are chasing me down in VR to get me to buy something from Amazon... Or more incidents like FF15's Cup Noodle questline in literally every franchise I've known

[@arowace498]

I cringe so hard at that quest line every time. Try to avoid activating it

[@archvaldor]

"Yeah, im definitely staying the hell way from anything with "metaverse" " You won't be able to avoid it. When one company becomes dominant then it will simply become the web for all practical purposes as everything will flock to the largest network.

[@spiritofthewolf1880]

There is no escape.

[@jepeman]

@@archvaldor Just have to become a hermit living off-grid, which isn't really feasible or fun for most people.

[@Typhlosion952]

Like that state farm ad in whatever nba 2k it was

[@eternaldarkness3139]

I'm almost old enough to be a "Boomer", I am computer literate, but never worked in any technological industry, and could tell you what the "BULLSH!T METAVERSE" was the first time companies started spewing this crap everywhere. If you are under 70, and needed this video to explain it to you... Simple rules in life: If a corporation says "You Need a Thing"... you don't. They need your money If a Politician says "You Need a Thing"... you don't. They need your mindless approval. If your boss says "They cannot afford to give you something" They mean: They don't have to, so piss off.

[@christopheribarrastone7183]

I'm 34 sir and I already know all that plus we're a big pile of life stock for a few. Everything is decided for the vast majority for generations, even before you and after I'm gone. It's sad but i don't see a different approach in an economy of scales.

[@HanSolo__]

I was a kid when I first heard Steve Jobs saying: "People don't know what they want. We have to say YOU WANT THIS, and then they want this" Since this happened, I'm a newborn human. I refuse to put any trust, any money, private information, or time in this sort of corporate shit. Only because some idiot thinks I can't realize my ideas and plans by myself. If this is the best they have, their "Marketing Genius," then I've already won. As a kid. Yes, I know where, when, how, and who got their "inspirations" and "inventions" from. I also know who and how much put into these.

[@elainasynranelt]

We already have a metaverse. It's called VRchat and it's infinitely better than this bullshit

[@elainasynranelt]

@ᕼOᗰOᔕE᙭ᑌᗩᒪ ᖴEᗰIᑎIᑎE ᗰᗩᒪE ᗯᕼIᔕTᒪEᗷᒪOᗯEᖇ ᔕᒪᑌT confes also the fact that the avatars can do pretty much anything that you can model and code is amazing

[@HO1ySh33t]

Wow your politicians need your approval to do things? What is this, a democracy?

[@tweedyburd007]

I know someone who was in at Amazon a few years ago. Back when Amazon was "trying" to do drone delivery, it was known that it would be impossible from multiple points of view (logistical, political, you name it). I asked why they would release videos and advertisements about it, knowing full well that it wasn't going to go anywhere. It was to get the media to talk about the drones instead of some other mishap. The entire world started talking about drone delivery for years, and still do, and nobody has a clue what the 'mishap' was. The same is true for Facebook and Metaverse. Facebook knew the stocks were going to plummet, they knew they were limiting their growth well before anyone else did. So what did they do? Create this "metaverse" to get everyone hooked on the idea of it, specifically to have people talking about it instead of something else.

[@meatheadmarc1032]

what was the mishap?

[@shmuckmcbozo3067]

@@meatheadmarc1032 He is using the word (mishap) as a placeholder for anything that happened that could have been reported but was not due to the fact that he stated, they still talking about them damn drones lol

[@mismismism]

The media "They're playing music for people in a virtual world, isn't it amazing?" Me playing Final Fantasy 14 at an online cosplay convention watching an army of Bards and Dancers actually play a concert with choreographed emotes and an actual DJ playing inside someone's house. They really want to try and pretend it's some cool new thing that people will love when it's more transparent than a manager at a minimum wage job saying "We're a family here" lol.

[@luchinazo]

Lvl80 elite taurens did it 15 years earlier in wow

[@DifunctedReble]

@@luchinazo Yes, they walked so The Primals could run. Unfortunately ETC is dead.

[@StefHMika]

i dont believe what ive just watched. i cannot live like this anymore. i am in disbelief he would actually go and make such a controversial statement in this video. all this metaverse talk and research he's done was just to distract us from the fact that he believes one can "enjoy" league of legends.

[@hornyfuckinturtle]

It's a great game if you want to make people mad

[@kuro9410_ilust]

making this a copypasta

[@caelcdye9575]

I enjoy league of legends and have enjoyed it for 7 years plus now.

[@Aztaable]

you can't enjoy league only if you take it too serious.

[@doublejesusful]

Been playing arams since before Riot made it a game mode, we been having a blast G.

[@neilsanghvi5229]

Thanks to your analysis, I now understand why Lego changed from being about itself when I was growing up, to being about a more rubbish version of every popular franchise in existence.

[@zexiz1107]

lol good example

[@GrayFoxHound9]

Oh, come one Lego Star Wars is the superior Star Wars ever since TTGames started to make those lego games. Like 6/9 of movies represented better than in movies themselves. Lego taking other franchises as their core is still sad though

[@Otakumanu]

To be fair a lot of it boils down to the success of Lego Star Wars, but it absolutely saddens me Lego doesn't do as many of their own sets anymore.

[@abaddon1371]

@@Otakumanu Lego had to. They were about to go bankrupt because their products didn't sell enough. They weren't fancy enough after gaming became mainstream. Kids didn't want to play with Lego, they wanted to shoot their friends in CS. Nowadays, Lego is marketed to both adults and children, were it usually was only marketed to children. There was quite a big ruckus about it here in Denmark, as it was a product that put Denmark on the map and was in the medias from time to time. Their plan to resue the Lego corp. and brand, started in 2004 with what they called "The Shared Vision Strategy" Result is Star wars Lego, Disney Lego, a slew of Lego movies and what else they latched on to.

[@Otakumanu]

@@abaddon1371 Ironically, the 90's Lego sets, which I grew up with, are my all-time favorites.

[@shapescolours8105]

The metaverse perfectly captures what I don’t like about the corporate internet. It’s a soulless and sterile. I miss the flash games we’d all play in class rather than working. Or just finding hidden gems that stayed with you for years. I remember when I first stumbled across the SCP foundation and how much fun that was. It’s harder to find that stuff when it’s all just corporate and wants your money

[@edumazieri]

true. oddly this comment was posted on a service run by a corporation and its praising content content produced on a platform built by another corporation, but ya, sure.

[@rajbhattacharya4427]

Yup. Imo, the internet has been dying since about 2012. I'm just glad my dad got me my first PC back in 2002 when I was 8 years old. God, the memories I accumulated have stayed with me so vividly. It honestly felt so "real" and unfiltered. I remember exploring the internet for hours at a time in my room at night when my family were all asleep. Just looking for hidden gem websites (most of which are now gone or censored), weird stuff, cool videos, and playing flash games, etc. About 10 years later though, I started to notice a precipitous decline in it. I had taken a little break around 2014 (no internet use). I didn't get another internet connection until about 2016. When I logged back on, I was mortified at how badly it changed. I feel bad for anybody that wasn't a nerd like me and was early to the internet. You've missed out on soooo much. Now it's just like 10 or so main corporations that control the entire thing. This comment is making me feel sad so I'll stop.

[@ctdaniels7049]

Which is why the strongest Thaumiel-class entity in the SCP universe is just the Creative Commons license that keeps corps from buying it out.

[@user-ck7sf2xc6c]

@@edumazieri "You criticize society yet you participate in it, curious! I am very intelligent."

[@illgeteverythingback]

@@user-ck7sf2xc6c ikr i was like bro wtf you speak with such tone yet you are participating

[@TheAngryDuckling123]

The metaverse is massive tech company's desire to sell you real estate, but online, where there is infinite amounts of it for them but not for you.

[@Supremax67]

That's not the Metaverse and the host of this video did a poor job of explaining what the Metaverse is.

[@naqueeldiva7693]

@@Supremax67 What's a resource that explains it well then?

[@sTL45oUw]

@@Supremax67 I'm pretty sure the guy who made the video is wrong. The metaverse is just VR second life despite people not wanting to say that.

[@Supremax67]

@@sTL45oUw -- That's not what the metaverse is either. The metaverse is about people like you and I able to take our data wherever we go. We own our identity and the items we purchase and we are not tied to a single company. That is the vision of the metaverse. Unfortunately, big corporations twists this into this marketing for profit freedom thing. We haven't seen the metaverse, not even close. But we will.

[@Supremax67]

@@naqueeldiva7693 -- See my previous comment.

[@thekidkrow]

It's insane the number of rich tech bros who read snow crash and thought it was a good idea for the world to work that way

[@Eudaletism]

This reminds me of what banks did with mortgages: shoving them all together into big packages to reduce risk, so that the good ones could prop up the crappy ones. The idea here is to do that with intellectual property.

[@DKMperor]

How long until we get financial derivatives based on digital assets (NFTs or IP) and have a virtual 2008 crash?

[@HellaGust]

@@IBotez I mean... it worked out pretty great for some of the people doing it, and those people are the ones who remained wealthy enough to just keep doing the same thing. Their goal was to make a shit-ton of money with no regards to the consequences for anyone or anything else. And a lot of people did. Even a lot of people and banks that lost money during the crash still lost way less than what they gained by engaging in these harmful practices. A lot of them even got bailouts on top of it all. It doesn't matter if anyone who *lost* money on it learned their lesson, because they're most likely no longer making the decisions. But yeah... just because it was bad for nearly everyone, that doesn't mean the system didn't do exactly what it was designed to do. And nothing of any consequence was done to try to stop that sort of thing from happening again, so... y'know... we're definitely going to see it again and again.

[@TheAlison1456]

@Jacob Gustaffson so society is the elite's playground, where they test if their idealistic abstract nothings cause massive suffering or not Very cool

[@randzopyr1038]

@@HellaGust We had some systems that were designed to reduce the likelihood of it happening again, but those systems are to bank abuse what wealth tax was to FDR's social programs. They keep getting chipped away year after year, a little from one side, then a little from the other, until they're a shell of their former self and no longer perform as intended.

[@xerosolar307]

Metaverse: Immersion-breaking marketing for everyone!

[@Elixir9]

watch all those ads in vr

[@grig4145]

Metaverse (if it will become a thing) has an end-goal. It wants to become the internet 2.0. The entire internet under the complete control of the top corporations. It`s the corporate version of the great reset.

[@krisnick92]

You mean internet 3.0 since we are technically in Web 2.0 now

[@appleseed8282]

@@krisnick92 Not technically, the definition of web 2.0 we're currently in it.

[@PlazDreamweaver]

Yup

[@meathead5489]

Correct, it would fix the problem for the big boys, where they can do anything IRL and humans would not interfere or care.

[@brynnplant]

Except the great reset does not exist.

[@DurkTurk]

Ready Player One the movie is an example/analogy of what we think of when we think of a 'metaverse'. A huge connected virtual world with tons of things to do from battling each other to racing down a track to shopping for new avatar clothes all in one giant augmented reality world. Problem is... no one's actually making that nor does any one company have the resources and/or is willing to risk developing something of that size, there's just too big of a risk of failure. All Facebook and these other companies want is your audience, and they're trying to do it with your imagination of this vast, fictional, augmented reality world.

[@NankitaBR]

I do believe that Facebook *might* be thinking about crating something like that in the future, but... that wouldn't be good for anyone else apart from Facebook itself. They are literally trying to force everyone into a world where they literally could control everything about your life. To use your analogy, it would be as if the Oasis was created and owned by IOI from the start. And we can all agree that would be terrible for everyone that is not IOI and their partners.

[@crelgen1588]

People also seem to ignore that Ready Player One is a dystopia, it's not supposed to be emulated in any way..

[@allthatishere]

That's what I've been thinking for a while now, one too many people watched "Ready Player One" and "The Matrix" and were like, "Hey, let's do that!" ... Except we're not even remotely close to having that level of technology showcased in either one of those series.

[@ian_b]

And the problem with it is that there's no reason to think that one VR sim with everything in is better than many VR sims with different things in and customised ways of operating depending on what people do in them. Do you want to go shopping for baby clothes in a universe where people in mechs are fighting and knocking buildings down? Do you want to work in your office in a post-apocalyptic dystopia? Isn't it better to just login to different "universes" to do those different things?

[@Valvad0ss]

The architecture you just explained is very very similar to Roblox.

[@MorklebBlack]

We're already in a creative vacuum, I see this as a symptom of not wanting to take risks on new properties more than anything else. Why make something new when you can make an old thing again, and then jam in it in with other old things and capitalize on nostalgia?

[@Ithirahad]

Thankfully this has an end... You or I may not live to see it, but there would eventually be a singularity, and a gigantic market hole.

[@TheAlison1456]

@Ithirahad at that point markets won't matter anymore, we'll likely be controlled directly (not indirectly like now) and made to live the "happy" life

[@maxvarjagen9810]

@VojtaHry It used to be people with talent got funding, and mid level companies were formed from those funds to hire other talented people. Now you have a million solo artists and developers, few of which have the ability to put out a decent product on their own, with no money or partners. Theres a lot of amazing stuff out there for sure, but nothing comes close to what was made in the late 90s and early 00's in terms of scale or breadth. Indie games are basically the successor to flash games. Theres nothing out there like what valve or blizzard used to put out. Not by a mile.

[@arlequin241]

When you first play in VR, there's so much excitement imagining where games will go from here, but honestly, it gets old fast. Unless companies are willing to drop serious money and up the graphics substantially, VR won't be the killer app everyone thinks will be. Valve basically set the standard for VR when they released Alyx, and no one has answered them since.

[@tobyanderson5360]

I'm pretty sure Unreal Engine 4 is now VR ready so we are actually quite close in terms of developing photorealistic VR games. Just need the funding and vision of a company to do so

[@swimmerkat3965]

Doesn’t VR give you motion sickness after only like 2 hours of playing? It’s hard to imagine people spending their lives on that unless they can surpass that limitation. I watched an interview with a former VR QA tester and she said that playing VR games for hours and hours every day caused permanent eye damage

[@arlequin241]

@@swimmerkat3965 In the beginning I had bad motion sickness, but you keep playing increasing length of time before breaks and eventually it goes away. You have to train to get used to it. FPS has a lot to do with it, 90 to 120 fps is recommended anything below 75fps and you're gonna get sick.

[@gran4404]

If the industry can be released from Facebook's chokehold, vr has a potentially hopeful future. Unfortunatly they show no signs of doing so, so it feels like the entire future of vr is teetering on the precipice of being exploited by corporate greed

[@vixxcelacea2778]

Major companies aren't making VR games yet. So far it's mainly small companies. The future of VR is much bigger than people think, particularly the more advanced it all gets. This metaverse corporate crap is just trying to jump the train early to mimic ready player one, but it's already too late to hit that dystopia, because people will adblock and pirate digital goods on a scale that's not existed yet when they realize selling digital anything doesn't actually make any sense, because selling an infinite good means it has no value, so value is created through the artificial scarcity, which companies are well versed in doing.

[@sator_project]

Tech companies "we're building a metaverse" The guy that's played every bad MMO "hold up buddy"

[@TheAbortionWhoLived]

"The worst Metaverse in history" series incoming

[@tehiratepirate]

Josh has so much experience with predatory capitalistic practices in bad MMOs that he can sniff out that crap from a mile away in other media too lol

[@mousepotatodoesstuff]

JSH: *uploads video* Tech companies: why am i hearing boss busic

[@StrongFreeLovin]

even "the best" MMOs and VR games are shit, often buggy and boring. and here we are with this "meta" calling themselves gods of the VR.

[@MrRobobear]

Mark made the Metaverse so he could finally have humanlike facial expressions.

[@TheSpeep]

Soon he can finally be a real boy!

[@Supremax67]

That's not the Metaverse. The host also speaks of the Metaverse, but has no clue what it is either. This video does a very poor description of what the Metaverse is.

[@Supremax67]

@@paul-gs4be -- Unfortunately, the internet favors popularity, not education. You should see how many subscribers people have on dumb content. Besides, they are already plenty of videos that explains it right, unfortunately, people came here instead for the misinformation. You can't teach someone who doesn't want to learn.

[@Loserstakethebait]

@@Supremax67 Nope. You just don't understand what the metaverse actually is yourself. It's a sham to sell you shit. End of story. Edit "You can't teach someone who doesn't want to learn" lmfao. I'm glad I found this gem of irony.

[@nelsonpiedade61]

and human lik2(kindòff)friends.virtual friendas for zack!!!

[@samfivedot]

I take solace in the belief that massive inter-connectivity between a million different characters and franchises will eventually make keeping track of them too difficult and alienating for most. I think generally most people just want to see a cool story without having to do a ton of homework. It's exactly the problem with western comics

[@bigmoneyswager]

That’s definitely getting to be the problem with marvel movies

[@felisazure1820]

@@bigmoneyswager For sure, I was just thinking this. It's impossible for me to watch even my favorite superhero movies without watching several other films before it (an over-exaggeration in some cases, but still). So, besides shows like Moonknight that stay mostly, comfortably disconnected, I've mostly given up on the movies. Way too much of a hassle tbh.

[@PutYourQuarterUpGaming]

This. My prediction at least, even if it does take off(I’d assume for younger demographic and their new thing), the burn out will be so real it’s not even funny. Imagine, having all that ish just CONSTANTLY advertising, and forcing you into next hype train, and next cross over, and next VR social event you can’t miss and the next… F that noise, rather just go for a walk outside than opt into ANY of that with how annoying isolated social media apps etc already are 😂

[@musingartisan]

I can see that Disney's theme parks are some kind of physical real-world version of a meta-verse. All of Disney's franchises are represented there, all in one place, together. So you can have a Stormtrooper walking around Toontown while telling you about the products and rides available in Fantasyland.

[@alyssarasmussen1723]

i wish we had toontown in disney world btw my profile pic is a toon from the mmo toontown :D

[@musingartisan]

@@alyssarasmussen1723 To be honest, I just googled a "map of Disney Theme Park" to get some names, I don't know which one it was, or if it is still up-to-date.

[@mike7984]

Except Disneyland cost over $100 a day to visit. You can go to the meta verse with a headset. People are going to end up working in real life to buy a house on “metaverse”. And then there will be jobs in the “metaverse” as well. So that will lead to people only getting off the headset to use the bathroom and eat.

[@half-mod3066]

@@mike7984 VR sets still cost hundreds. Especially for any top of the line sets. Nevermind that, The very idea of a person living most of their life in VR sounds like the critical core to a dystopian nightmare waiting to happen. VR and the internet in general as I see it should just remain as mediums of entertainment and utility. I would be viciously opposed to the idea of my life literally dependent on a controlled, corporate virtual world, Where those corporate entities could have more power to abuse me than even North Korea has over it's population.

[@BenWard29]

The Metaverse is… about 10 billion dollars. It’s right next to the NFT galaxy in the Grift-Reality. Remember what Yosuke Matsuda of Square Enix said “Games shouldn’t be fun.”

[@zanagi]

Pretty sure they meant "play to contribute" as in buying all the dlcs and micro transactions 💀 hopefully those dumb concepts wont be implemented soon lol

[@Jes9119]

@ザン don't forget you could buy Facebook coins at one point. Facebook already had micro-transactions. Don't think they won't bring them back.

[@ancogaming]

Did he? Well, if he said that, I believe he left out the rest of the sentence: "... if the goal is to make the most money off of them." If studios and publishers can stomach the idea that it's not the end of the world if their games make "OK money" as in "no one gets filthy rich but the bills are paid, people make a living and we appreciate our community of gamers who show us time and again why it's worth to put in all the hard work with their love and affection" then I'd argue that games should better be fun.

[@Beremor]

@@ancogaming To my knowledge, this is a reference to "A New Year's Letter from the President". In it, Mr. Matsuda never said "games shouldn't be fun". What he said is that there's, quote: some people who "play to have fun" and who currently form the majority of players The entire letter is written in what I can only read as condescendence towards those players since nothing he writes actually provides tangible benefit, profit or joy to that "some players" majority. Instead, he spouts a whole bunch of corporate buzzwords, and seems to argue that the future of video game development is getting private people to make their own video games and charging them for the privilege. It's an absolutely vile piece of writing, and if you intend to read it yourself, I suggest playing the Shinra Corporation theme from Final Fantasy 7.

[@VicStrange9]

@@Beremor I am immensely disgusted by that. We are allowing corporations to ruin absolutely everything-

[@moshpiler123]

This raises a really good point that I think applies to culture as a whole: the profit motive drives cultural homogenisation to the point where any semblance of identity becomes lost in a mire of franchise recognition. Short term it will work sure, but eventually stagnation will set in and their customers will grow bored with it, moving to something fresh and new

[@PJBonoVox]

I was amazed that it took 12 minutes into the video before the word 'homogenise' was mentioned, because that is what this all boils down to.

[@atraxian5881]

So... The "metaverse" is literally whatever the company wants it to be in order to sell the buzzword to the customer.

[@Jes9119]

And stupid people love corporate buzzwords. If they only knew. 🙃

[@thatHARVguy]

Seeing how they can't define the buzzword, it can be anything the companies want it to be. Vague capitalism for ya.

[@dakotashroom5401]

Their lack of defining ability of a word used commonly, by them, really tells you all you need to know about them.

[@hugehappygrin]

Kind of like the words community, diverse, inclusive, racist, and rape. No longer mean what they used to mean. Vague Examples: community now seems to mean a bunch of disassociated people that do not agree just lumped together by self-serving control freaks. Diverse at the exclusion of the pink, peach, tan, mauve peoples. Inclusive and diverse are actually the same definition applied to two disparate words. Racist used to mean treating others of disparate skin tones as lesser than one's own tribe. Now racist seems to mean way too many things and has lost it's sting(intentionally, imo.) Rape is a control word, used by ideologies for their own purposes. Apparently, a certain ideology never wanted an alphabet soup government agency(s) to release the fact that males are raped by females more often than reported. Shaming men for what is done to them is what has created the non-community known as MGTOW. MGTOWs do not hate females, they simply no longer enjoin in the "the game."

[@dakotashroom5401]

@@hugehappygrin Misusing definitions do not change the word's meaning or correct usage. Performing this action is called, "illiteracy" and it has been widespread for decades, if not longer. However, I agree with your comment. Illiterates seem to think definitions are based on popular opinion. This has, of course, never been true. But, it isn't enforced so they keep doing it. Some think this is the age of information. I fail to see why. They must never have read a book before.

[@Geospasmic]

You make a great point about the individual personality of stories being lost when everything gets smashed together. I think it's why crossovers are so unappealing to me. If I like something, I don't want a bunch of stuff from a different thing being thrown in. And i can't imagine trying to get into a game when there's literally dozens of combined franchises involved.

[@Saturos02]

Exactly, it completely ruins a story's integrity and immersibility. All greed and no passion...

[@krankarvolund7771]

I mean, a crossover once a year between TV shows from the same franchise (like Marvel series does) I see the appeal. A crossover episode between My Little Pony and Arcane, I don't really see the point XD

[@Idengard]

Yea it‘s cheesy at best

[@hyperdude144]

@@krankarvolund7771 Honestly would be worth it just to see AD Carry Twilight Sparkle.

[@chriss9528]

What if companies stopped taking such risks and just, I don't know, released a quality product?

[@user-xi3jg1eu8v]

The problem with that is that quality for them is how much moner it makes.

[@randomusername1735]

It's the other way around for them. They see trying to release a good product as a risk and crossovers as close to guaranteed succes

[@davilg007]

Because no one decides "hey let's let's release a shit product". Everyone aims at creating something profitable. You could create something of very high quality and investing a ton of money into it, but if it only appeals to a niche audience, you lose money. There's no way of knowing for sure whether it will be successful. Unless it's a franchise.

[@RazorTrap]

Because "people are retarded", they keep buying mediocre or shitty stuff, and a few years later blame the companies for it. Companies are essentially monetising consumers' retardation.

[@manat31790]

Making quality products is a very high risk. There is no guarantee that your stuff will sell even if it has the highest quality, especially if the public relations is bad or the consumers are not interested.

[@OfficialRamZ]

You know in a way the "Metaverse" kind of just sounds like a... "Monopoly".

[@rainegaming9099]

metapoly

[@justin2308]

Except Monopoly is actually fun.

[@Carnyzzle]

I do like how the metaverse is exactly everything that fiction warned us about

[@RandomPerson-nd2ey]

You might enjoy the book "After On". It's got a similar theme. If you (or others) have other book recommendations along that theme, please let me know. I'm a trucker with an Audible account who would greatly appreciate it.

[@rushslime1718]

@@RandomPerson-nd2ey I don't know if this is exactly the same, but the book "the circle"by dave eggers is about a world where social media overruns everything and privacy is no longer a thing

[@loneliberation3483]

@@rushslime1718 So just like current day?

[@gotdangedcommiesitellyahwa6298]

"Fiction", like Orwell's '1984', or the movie 'Idiocracy'? Because they're both coming true.

[@ThatCamel104]

@@gotdangedcommiesitellyahwa6298 i mean, i guess it's like 1984, but instead of the state, it's corporations. and instead of idiocracy, it's just people being farmed as... holy fuck, it literally IS the matrix. It's LITERALLY the Matrix, but instead of evil AI overlords it's based, cool, awesome, rich CEOs, who have our best interests at heart.

[@ThePotatoWitch]

Of all things, this reminded me of the time, many years ago, that my dad tried to sell me on the idea that anything Star Wars could be considered a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference because one of the BtVS characters said the word "midichlorians." He seemed utterly perplexed that a character from a TV show could reference other fictional things without them being part of some unrelated-yet-shared universe and so one thing absolutely had to relate to the other. Tl;dr - My dad is a dingus but might have made a fortune if he'd taken his dingus idea to the right people in Vegas. Tl;dr 2.0 - Vampires are now part of the gambling metaverse because of this comment.

[@Archangelm127]

Wow, you've taken me from quietly laughing at the word "metaverse" towards viscerally loathing it. Thanks for the insight, Josh! ❤

[@user-rv8yv4yh9n]

The logical conclusion of this is terrifying, and you put it really well, it means the endpoint of everything combining with everything reduces entertainment to a corporate slurry of mystery meat franchises

[@benjaminmeusburger4254]

I am not afraid -> companies can't even define one standard to send each other simple 10-fields purchase order and spend millions every year to implement their custom defined interfaced Everything else will get too complicated and will drive those companies into ruins

[@lemonlupinreuben5362]

@Spyker Aileron isn't that already happening? The same franchises and stories rereleased adinfinitum

[@pyrrhusinvictus6186]

Think of every in-game store or loot box. The Metaverse will be the perfect opportunity for companies to apply that to your real life. People will spend real money on fake digital objects, and even though 90% of consumers hate the idea of the Metaverse, corporations will still make billions from the 10%. "You will own nothing and be happy."

[@ClockworkOuroborous]

Watch Josh's video about gaming whales and the 80/20 rule. Then apply it to this.

[@Fusei536]

History: "Snow Crash," a novel released in 1992 is the first reference that (I know) to the metaverse. This book is a parody novel, and pretty good, but also worshipped religiously by Silicon Valley (ex: Google Earth was possibly inspired by the novel). In the book, the metaverse was just the internet but VR. Online real estate was a thing, with online bars, and online housing, and online shopping that's EXTREMELY similar to what's being pushed. Someone else said Second Life and that's pretty app since Second Life is based off of the concept of the Metaverse from the novel. Basically, it's the big players (CEO's and the like) who worship this novel trying to make it a reality to satisfy their fetish AND a corporate buzzword. EDIT: Just adding that I believe the author, Neal Stephenson, is also an advisor for some of Amazon's subsidiary companies. Fact Check me on anything, cuz most of this is from memory.

[@wrenbeck3370]

Something something Torment Nexus.

[@05kar41]

But one thing that’s important: all of the coding/assets/animations are open source and made by normal people

[@NovemberXXVII]

Stephenson worked for Blue Origin, Bezos' space launch startup, in the early days when it was being pitched as more experimental. This was closely followed by him running a Kickstarter for a motion-controlled VR game, which of course ran out of money and never got completed. I love Neal Stephenson as a writer but he acts like he either hasn't read his own books, or honestly thinks he can barter his nerd cred to get on the profitable side of the dystopian power dynamics he predicted.

[@Otakumanu]

That's how you know it's good satire; that the people it satirizes treat it as gospel.

[@dakotashroom5401]

This is far more interesting than what's really going on.

[@Marco_Onyxheart]

As an embedded engineer who also uses Home Assistant, I can tell you that "Internet of Things" is still a name that's being used. Stuff working together is also getting better. But not everything works together, and never will. It's more like there's multiple internets of things.

[@ian_b]

Yes, IoT wasn't the best choice for Josh to use.

[@Gluodin]

Hoping Matter really takes off

[@sovarin2358]

internet of things is such a bad name for a concept like that. It's extremely vague and not catchy at all, which is probably a big reason it didn't take off

[@ian_b]

@@sovarin2358 I think IoT also gets oversold or miss-sold or something. Since the 1980s I've been reading that just around the corner I can have a fridge that will order goods for restocking itself and... I just don't want that.

[@Dave102693]

@@ian_b Smart fridges already do this.

[@andreagnesda2356]

So I have a degree in information engineering This whole video, the ideas, the clarity in the explaination of it Just lovely. Keep up the good work

[@nakano15]

So, what people think is the Metaverse, is something like as seen on Ready Player One movie. But what actually is, is companies grouping together to try bringing their franchises to other and sell you stuff. That actually makes a lot more of sense, and explains why many companies are joining that. And yeah, that's nothing new.

[@kharijordan6426]

I thought the game in ready player one became rich because they was constantly selling ppl stuff.

[@nakano15]

The game had a player driven economy, if I remember well, and was made for fun. Everything made in the game was created by the players. The company that appears in the movie, which was also competing to get the rights of the game, was wanting to make the game have heavy monetization.

[@kharijordan6426]

@@nakano15 oh....so...ppl made free suff or?

[@brendancoulter5761]

"But what actually is, is companies grouping together to try bringing their franchises to other and sell you stuff." Or to sell you, your data to other companies. How do you think Facebook and Google make their money when they are free?

[@nakano15]

I don't really know about that, the only thing I know is that there's currency in the game. Maybe rmt is a thing too.

[@cattrucker8257]

Metaverse sounds like the Flood, or Tyranids. Devour everything, amalgamate everything into a horrifying chimera where everything is merged with everything else and nothing is itself.

[@maltardraco9555]

My thought was: We are the metaverse. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

[@WarGamerGirl]

Ha, that's a good analogy =)

[@starleighpersonal]

@@maltardraco9555 at least the borg tell you exactly what will happen and don’t lie

[@maltardraco9555]

@@starleighpersonal Indeed they do.

[@fynoxadavius127]

Reminds me of a description of Hipsters I once heard. Essentially they represented the death of creativity and advancing a culture because they add nothing to it. They simply rely on already existing concepts/things and make use of them ironically rather than making original ideas of their own. Not an exact parallel but since the Metaverse now reminds me of Hipsters, it must be stopped at all cost.

[@chrisdee7931]

Right. Young men should not look good or interesting or even try. Push them down. Back to only regular normal clothes for all young men. (ps I'm 40+)

[@The_Missus]

You're 100% correct, and the correlation is spot on; the death of creativity and stagnation of life. Even the hipster lifestyle of irony; don't enjoy, just do.

[@The_Missus]

@@chrisdee7931 I'd settle for women in the home, men at the helm, and God in our hearts. Let men be as creative as they want, but don't tell young men that wearing a jaunty hat is a personality.

[@rhael42]

@@The_Missus found the christofascist

[@ingold1470]

Well, where do those hipsters work? They make all the ideas for these companies, no wonder their cultural traits are mirrored in every new idea that gets pushed.

[@Akab]

I feel like facebook straight out destroyed the meaning of the term "metaverse" by announcing their renaming to meta, thus waking up the biz robots. Many people had a meaning for this environment before the "Meta-Verse" hype that totaly differs from the business oputurnists side.

[@neopabo]

@Spyker Aileron No, their stock dropped because their profits dropped. And their profits dropped because of Apple's anti-ad changes

[@MinzyKhaos]

I agree... I also would like to add... I feel like Facebook ruined the meaning of the word "friend"... and have taught the world acquaintances are "friends"... what ever happened to leaving the dictionary alone? Am I right?

[@DrEnzyme]

I like to call them "bizzy bees."

[@TheAlison1456]

@MinzyFoxx you hit the nail on the head about what bothers me about social media. "People" send "friend requests", but it's not about friendship, it's about indicating to others or to themselves that you are or were acquainted. It's insane. Then you try actually talking and it goes nowhere, because of course it doesn't.

[@abram730]

The metaverse starts with log in with facebook, steam, xbox, ext.. It's about profit. Facebook knew from the beginning as you got items for your house from the games you bought. That was part of their pitch for the metaverse. You will be able to buy things in a game and take them with you into other games. That gives them more value. Get it?

[@MachiaVallian]

The metaverse is an existence which dilutes every personality of everything that people come to love and like, and turning it into something bland due to loss and fading of their identity and value after some time. Some will still continue to enjoy it, while others start to see the ruse and bail out.

[@vcdonovan5943]

Those who "enjoy" it are essentially drug addicts. They're addicted to the dopamine rush they get from seeing the fandoms they're obsessed with dangled in front of them. Like anyone who is addicted to drugs, people use fandoms to cope with the emotional and spiritual void that is left by a meager and useless existence. These companies are nothing but glorified drug pushers. They have desperate consumers hooked and they want to keep them addicted and dependent on them for the rest of their lives.

[@alphawolfun7840]

Honestly, there's no bigger turn off for me than crossovers. I always hated the Idea of smashing the rules of different univeres together.

[@elegantoddity8609]

All things being equal, it tends to ruin power scaling.

[@elainasynranelt]

Some video games do crossover events pretty well.

[@blairkowalski1180]

I read a crossover manga years ago between Nanoha and Madoka, and I remember liking it. But generally, I agree. At least one of the characters/universes/franchises will generally just be reduced to a gimmick in the other, and it’s always disappointing.

[@Geheimnis-c2e]

I disagree. Crossovers are cool when done right. Case in point: Gen Rex and Ben 10 or, Project X Zone, if you've played it in a 3ds.

[@deefour28]

@@elegantoddity8609 why do people care about power scaling so much I'm genuinely curious

[@keiyangoshin3650]

In summary; Metaverse = Polished, shiny, money making machine. It's like putting a new wrapper on an old used gift. It's interesting how so many companies are uniting for the greater profit. More then ever competition is being left behind for convinience sake. I'm not sure that's a good thing for the consumer. Probably not. Thank you Josh, fantastic video! Stay safe. ♥

[@booblizard104]

Competition isn't left behind for sake of convenience but for sake of ever greater profit and yes it is bad for us.

[@ardensetiawan353]

When I think of it, humanity evolved to prefer cooperation instead of competition. This will bleed into economy as well, as businesses can get higher profit if they band together instead of competing with each other. Which is a bad thing for customers. That's what free market is supposedly made, to have more competition, but that never work out after all. On the other hand, if we as a species prefer competition instead of cooperation, we'll end up in a constant state of war, and might not even be able to advance past tribalism. I'm not sure which is better tbh.

[@hyperdude144]

If metaverse takes off I will be saddened by franchises losing their artistic personality. People will only make new stuff, so that it can be integrated in to the metaverse- without much thought put in to its own universe and setting. Something akin to people founding startups, just so they can sell them later on to Google.

[@AnymMusic]

I feel like the concept of a metaverse has existed for a long time from things like Second Life, it just never had a name for it. it was always just a thing for the nerds or the gamers, and people who never looked into it just saw it as a "but why tho?" whereas indeed naming it "The metaverse" makes it sound like the next generation of the internet even if the Metaverse as a concept was already a thing and people can become more openminded to it

[@anatoli1234567890]

it did. any MMO is a metaverse . any BIG chat room that got a 3D interface like imvu or vr chat are a metaverse . its just sad how people now days are not willing to google thing from 5-10 years before. its mostly the wish of people to finally live in the future world. not willing to exept that 100% of the ting we got now are not new what so ever. may be a bit more advanced but not new. VR was a thing in the fucking 80's then the 90's but failed as there was no good games and it cast you to much. but hey rebranding it and now its a thing , or is it? as you hear how VS is getting good and more users join but strangely i do not know any one that got VR set or in to it. show me ONE good looking vr game. show me one good looking metaverse. and we dont starting to even think of how well it plays. like where a VR/metaverse WOW/FF14/ elder scrolls . where is something like SAO? not onlly it not a thing no one even try to make one. all in all its the next scam step of crypto and nft. to be cool in A metaverse you will need to buy an nft skin. how you buy it? for crypto. now creating a scam loop. People buy in to it then not wanting to leave as they invested cash in to it.

[@kharijordan6426]

No matter how much I refresh this comment won't go down...but I am finding new comments near the bottom of the comment section.

[@kharijordan6426]

Up wait....there you go...but...it was just the one under you that went on top....hmmm.

[@kharijordan6426]

Aaaaaand now you're back at the top. I swear it's mixing everyone's comments every time I refresh.

[@i_a_r_n_a]

Second Life literally used the term Metaverse to describe their goals. (Linden Labs started as a VR headset startup, and built Second Life to have a place to actually visit, then had to ditch the VR headset thing 'cause they couldn't get their tech to work.) And OpenSim realized the distributed virtual world thing back in like, I dunno, 2010? 2012?

[@smintili]

Best part is, if everything is placed in the various metaverses and people get used to it over a generation or so, then when someone comes around with a self-contained story again people will be like “whoa, that’s some really interesting stuff!”

[@Spellchec]

I'm probably a little older than the average viewer of this channel, but I remember the American sitcoms of the 70s and 80s would often do this. Happy Days, Mork and Mindy and Laverne and Shirley (and probably others) all had crossovers into each others shows, despite being set in different times and places; so The Fonz met Mork even though Happy Days was set in 1950s Wisconsin, and Mork and Mindy was set in 1980s Colorado. Even as a kid it seemed a bit jarring, and didn't make much narrative sense, though being light-hearted comedies it was a concern that was easily dismissed.

[@kharijordan6426]

Remember when Phineas and Ferb met the avengers? Kek.

[@gmradio2436]

I thought Mork and Mindy got it's start on Happy Days.

[@RandomPerson-nd2ey]

Huh... Yeah, those crossovers really make zero sense.

[@thatHARVguy]

@@gmradio2436 Same with Laverne & Shirley. They were Happy Days spin-offs.

[@LoveLearnShareGrow]

Those weren't really crossovers, they were backdoor pilots. But you're not wrong, there were crossovers of various shows in the 70s and 80s. Magnum P.I. comes to mind, with shows like Murder She Wrote exchanging character appearances.

[@ElswordDisrupter]

The metaverse trend needs to die. As quickly as possible. Without compromise.

[@memitim171]

Agreed, there is no value here for the general consumer. This whole idea was conceived by someone who doesn't understand how games work, so there is less than no value for gamers... We know they don't care what we think, so the question is how do we tank this in the eyes of the general public? They don't even know what it is and neither do these companies really, which gives us a sizable advantage...

[@Otome_chan311]

The metaverse won't die because it's quite literally the next step for technological progress.

[@BloodwyrmWildheart]

@@Otome_chan311 It isn't though.

[@TheC0oky]

When you came up with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft I had another thought: Heroes of the Storm (2015). The MOBA entry by Blizzard is actually somewhat a Metaverse. Considering what else you said it's actually a pretty good example, since it literally puts characters from all the franchises together in order to create this game, and has therefore no story on its own. The fun thing is: They know this. It is literally brought to the player in the tutorial, when Raynor from Starcraft asks Uther from Warcraft what all this is about, and he's just like, yeah this whole thing doesn't make any sense but so what.

[@SnivyTries]

I love how the recent wave of "Brand New Things" are all exploitative systems that only benefit the ones at the top. Metaverse is just a buzzword for what Fortnite does at its core, and claims to be all the things we already had NFTs are just a money laundering scheme claiming to do things that TF2 and other games have been doing for years

[@roguedm6523]

Why do I feel this is just another instance of chasing the mysterious and ever so elusive 'wider audience' Like how every band loses their edge after their hit album because they're chasing something bigger. The metaverse sounds like it has so little edge, it's a sphere. Who exactly does it appeal to? No one.

[@Dargorthverse]

Man, this whole "using characters from different games for more popularity" is so familiar. I used to make art with chars from all over, and that art was pretty shitty, but people enjoyed watching heroes they know do whatever. It was quite a meta! WH40k, star wars, hitman, mgs, mortal combat, dc universe... I since moved on to create my own characters on another engine in pursuit of a dream - my own universe. Sadly people don't seem to care so far. Though maybe I just don't know a good place to share my works.

[@ragnarok223344]

Content of the video aside, the editing of this video is a big improvement to the NFT video. Far less cluttered with subtitles and much easier to follow

[@CyboTyaS]

There are still some sections in the video with sentences that don't really add anything or feel redundant. But I agree, it is a big improvement. The NFT video felt a bit of a chore to watch through.

[@Akab]

5:40 fun thing is though, that those companies making actual 3d vr environments to hang out are the ones that dont really care that much and already existed before the "Metaverse hype". I'd say we don't have a metaverse butbthe closest to a metaverse from my own standpoint would be minecraft java in vr. You can host your own servers and have full controll over them like you host a website, but the environment is persistent and users can ise their skins(avatars) between multiple servers and even external services due to having an api.

[@coreym162]

Thank you. You get it! Minecraft is the solution for a good Hypernet/Metaverse.

[@Supremax67]

This video has nothing to do about the Metaverse. He is talking about expanded universes and crossovers. A true Metaverse is you able to take your data with you. For example, if you bought your game on Steam and they went bankrupt, in the Metaverse, you would be able to take that game to a competitor and still play it. If the company still owns your data, it is not the Metaverse. People needs to stop misusing the word for the purpose of marketing.

[@katarh]

Goes back even before the World Wide Web. "Metaverse" itself comes from Snow Crash, a book from 1992, and it was a giant VR andscape with no rules and lots of advertisements. Every company has been trying to make it into reality since we started developing the technology. Dreamscape was available on Compuserve in all its 256 color glory in 1995, using a fat client, and it claimed to be the Metaverse. Cybertown from Blaxxun was in 1996 - I attended the "world's first virtual concert" there from the band Orgy. (I did, in fact, buy their CD. And I liked it.) Alpha Worlds was an early online VR sandbox, long predating Minecraft. (I had a neat house there.) Second Life was the virtual world edition of Web 2.0 in 2003 and while it took off with a robust user based, it struggled to get mainstream traction from corporate sponsors beyond the first few years. Every single thing like that has ultimately failed commercialization from the big brands, because nobody who is hanging out in an online space wants to be reminded of the real world branding if they can at all avoid it. There IS a risk, however, if the attempted cross promotions fail. Final Fantasy XIV's recent Grubhub promotion was an absolute cluster, with miscommunication between the two companies and lots of customers stuck with food they didn't really want and no in-game item, with poor customer service trying to resolve the problem. As a result, many of the XIV players now have vowed to never order from Grubhub again.

[@TheMCCraftingTable]

Well said

[@RaysofLight98]

FFXIV has houses that are designed to look like clubs. And sometimes, depending on how stable the club is, they will have a discord server with a live DJ.

[@ahmataevo]

The theory of metaverse crossover expanding the target customer base will fail because eventually with everything becoming so intereconnected with each other, it will all become the same boring low or no-effort trash. Eventually only the worst aspects from each line of business or franchise will be produced and used because they are the cheapest, lowest effort things to use. There will always be something from some line of business people find offensive, unacceptable or for whatever reason avoid, forcing that into every other thing in their universe, and seeing this pattern with everything else they don't like spreading into and taking over everything they do like, will also drive people away.

[@TheoEvian]

But listen! What if it is the only game in town? What if we created a media monopoly that can churn out safe low effort trash and using our powers of capitalism, being an amalgam of all the biggest media corporations, to stamp out any emerging competetion before it can do anything, or better, aquire them EA style? We can go on for some time like this, maybe even like 50 years and after that the world's gonna end anyway!

[@dakotashroom5401]

They want to their products to become conglomerates. This is so they don't have to pay someone to make a product.

[@skrotosd]

@@TheoEvian anyone can do videogames, you need a computer and a free online class. You can’t monopolize art.

[@TheoEvian]

@@skrotosd This is why small scope indie videogames sell so much better than the AAA market, right? And there is no problem with discoverability and marketing of them... And even indie projects are made with teams of dozens of people that typically have previous experience. Of course, you can't ban somebody from making a piece of art (unless you do, for example by claiming their work as infringing on your intelectual property, of course), but you can control the distribution of said art and in the end decide what is allowed to be sold and what not. If you create one universal platform through which publication is pretty much compulsory, you can control the flow of information, art, media almost exclusively.

[@krankarvolund7771]

@@felixader Steam had almost a monopoly on the PC games for years, what did they do? Restrict their platform to Valve's games, or expand it to every developer? ^^ Why would you restrict your platform, when you can take 20% of each sale of every game published on it? XD

[@charleyedwards2121]

i love how monopolly was invented to show the evils of monopolies but only taught kids thats how you win...

[@mcfarvo]

Kudos to Josh for providing information on hot trendy scams like NFTs, the "metaverse," 2nd-monitor content in windowed mode, etc.

[@markriosn7589]

"Metaverse" is just the name tech companies are giving to the way they keep their audience within their own ecosystem. Microsoft and Apple have been "building the Metaverse" since the 90s. It's just another step towards balkanizing the internet into tiny corporate fiefdoms where access isn't universal.

[@evacody1249]

Microsoft is not building a metaverse. They are building to a Star Trekverse. Microsoft is down with VR and AR. So is Google, Samsung, Nvidia, Sony, AMD, Intel, Tesla, and a number of other's that see them as pointless tech that does nothing. No they are working on AI.

[@WTiiWarcraft]

Love the breakdowns, so much info yet understood~

[@TheRadPlayer]

I would imagine that as media homogenizes in this shape, the wide audience would begin to burn out from having 1 dish with 50 ingredients showed into their gob for hours at a time.

[@Axterix13]

I don't know about that. People like known things, safe things, and things that others they know partake in, because we're social animals and a bit tribal by nature. And at the same time, the companies will toss a new ingredient in from time to time. It doesn't even really matter if you'll partake of that, just that it generates some hype, can be used to advertise. It is why fast food companies have limited time sandwiches, a new one every month. They know most people won't order one, but they also know people will think about it, go to the restaurant, and then order their usual instead. And I'm sure we've all had similar experiences with something like Netflix. Maybe we'll turn it on thinking we'll watch season 2 of The Witcher or the current trend of whatever Korean thing Netflix is hyping, but instead, we wind up watching some show that was popular a decade or more ago. That said, the one thing it will require is for someone to make those new things to add to the bundle. Those things need to have an identity of their own. So it'll be a series of buyouts. Sort of what we've seen in software development. Some little company strikes it big with a product. Big company buys them out. Within a decade, big company shuts that studio down. Repeat. So someone will make content. It'll get popular. Big company will buy it to bolster their meta-verse. And that'll probably start the decline of that IP. But it won't matter. The creator got a big payday. The company got a marketing campaign. And the consumers got something to spark their interest, even though they'll mostly ignore it for more of the same. And some few will decry the loss/decline of that original IP. And then it'll happen again and again.

[@ballsdeepe1120]

idk, i'm burnt out from it already.

[@Flutters_Shygal]

I do want to add that virtual environments like IMVU, VRChat and Second Life actually have been called metaverses too, before it became the latest buzzword. It's just a different definition.

[@TheClintonio]

I wrote the same thing. His dismissal of the term feels like language prescriptivism instead of accepting there are two uses of the word in play, one used for marketing and giving people what they want and the other being about online virtual spaces (also he called them "online chatrooms" but those platforms are clearly aiming to be more, VRC has plenty of games/experiences and other functionality, and I bet that scope continues to grow).

[@Dave102693]

What about The Sims? Isn't that the same thing?

[@Flutters_Shygal]

@@Dave102693 That is something different, as the main interaction isn't with other people.

[@deafcommplays7676]

Meta verse = the epitome of corporate greed. 1. Risk nothing. 2. Gather large IP's and use buzz words. 3. Profit. I've never been much of an anti corporation guy but I can definitely see where people can hate them.

[@Iquey]

Corporations are experts at ruining everything fun, in order to suck more money out of people having fun.

[@Xanthelei]

Guilty admission: I would almost certainly consider buying Clippy as a WoW in game pet, IF I could have him in TBC Classic. I grew up with Clippy, and I know a ton of people hate him, but he's got a soft spot in my nostalgia.

[@hermitclavicle4675]

Also what if you like one franchise but hate another? Like constant crossover episodes that ruin a franchise you actually like because marketing has no idea what characters and storylines go well together.

[@crypticcryptid4702]

Also also, I find it so off putting to find a character in one thing in another, especially if it had no prior connection. Like seeing those characters in magic the gathering, or more generally a comedic character from a comedic series in a grimdark one. It kills immersion.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

They will leave you in the dust because you are not a large enough demographic to care about. Imagine that the only clothes avalible where pink jumpsuits, then you WILL wear a pink jumpsuit or be arrested for indecency. The concept of choice are getting removed.

[@krankarvolund7771]

@@michaelpettersson4919 Yeah, but that can't happen ^^' Compagies don't want to do bad stuff just to do bad stuff, they want to do stuff for money, and don't care if it's good or bad. Taking control of the police to enforce one choice of cloth is costly and stupid. Buying the compagny that makes popular clothes and selling both is way more efficient and productive ^^

[@krankarvolund7771]

Exactly. That's why Magic is a bad example, the first Secret Lair with Walking Dead was a hit in term of sales, but have seen a great backlash from the main playerbase, so Wizards of the Coast made it a separate brand ^^

[@michaelpettersson4919]

@@krankarvolund7771 The police would arrest you for being nude in public, not for not wearing a pink jumpsuit, the only available piece of clothing. I am rather tall and have large feet. I must look for clothes and shoes that FIT. I do not have the luxury to look for what is fashionable, it is "take it or leave it" for me. A regular person that need to buy shoes may have literary hundreds of models to choose from. For me it is just a handful. And Henry Ford talikng about his Model-T allegedly said "You can get any colour you want as long as it is black".

[@UnholyRenton]

I would point out that IoT objects are actually quite used in certain domains that rely of monitoring. I work in agri-tech and IoT objects are a very common tool for everything that concerns monitoring soil moisture and temperature, soil health, weather conditions, etc. Granted I do find that a lot of scientific litterature make it sound very buzz-worthy, but by no means is it not a thing.

[@fenrirsilver6441]

Good video, previously I had already thought of the Metaverse as a corporatized VRChat… now I can say it’s that but also just a Marketing scheme in addition to that. While also potentially being a monopoly, depending on how much they own within that metaverse.

[@ZionSairin]

This video actually cleared up a lot that I didn’t understand. It also told me that Josh plays Fortnite. And wins, even.

[@Ricekrispy10]

Check the description, that's his editor playing.

[@ZionSairin]

Well, compliments to the editor then! My mistake. I posted this after just watching the premiere

[@Ricekrispy10]

@@ZionSairin I can't believe you'd make such a human mistake. I'm so gobsmacked that I can't even rn.

[@shirenthewanderer4770]

The Metaverse is the place people go to awaken their Persona and becoming Phantom Thieves.

[@drcgad3052]

Finally someone brings up P5

[@larilee1]

The term "metaverse" has been in existence a long while, and in fact what they're tryin to do NOW is already being done on the Opensim platform. Crista Lopes developed the code back in 2008 that allowed people in one grid (game instance similar to Second Life) to be able to "teleport" to another grid. The caveat being they have to be using this bit of code and be in Opensim. Unfortunately Linden Labs very shortsightedly decided against being part of this deal. A friend of mine was on the team that was researching the possibility. There have been MANY live concerts, RL shopping crossovers throughout the years.

[@ancogaming]

That's not what any "Metaverse" is about, really. And it's been clearly stated in the video even that it isn't. Also, what Opensim is capable of has been done in the gaming industry for more than a decade, only better and, apparently, more successfully since not many people seem to have ever heard of Opensim but the gaming industry nowadays mops the floor with Hollywood in terms of revenue. Basically, the underlying tech to make what you've described happen (but without the "beaming" part 'cause it sucks) are virtual machines and they've started taking over as soon as the necessary hardware became capable enough and readily available at a price point that made an investment feasible. Instead of legacy servers on-premise, each running their dedicated OS and getting them to exchange data over a network protocol, it now became possible to start up and shut down many many virtual server OS on one physical machine dynamically on demand leading to server farms that can host thousands if not hundreds of thousands of virtual servers that each can be kept persistently even if they're not running via integrated databases for mass storage. At the same time, it has become quite possible and then practicable to stream client data from one virtual server to another almost seamlessly without the latency you'd expect from classic network or internet protocols. The only thing to optimize now is the handover process of client data by addressing cache storage on each side, preferably whenever a handover is to be expected, i.e. before it actually happens. Ideally, you don't even notice the transition as a user or, say, player character. In Opensim, the virtual server may be called grid. In most MMO games, it's called server shard. Amazon calls it server instance. Many of them linked together via client data streaming as described above while they may or may not share a common database are known as a server mesh in gaming and the people wearing suits call that a server cloud or "cloud computing". IN PRINCIPLE, sure there's more to it, it's much more complicated than that but there's no need to go into too much detail when it's about basics. Anyone could build the infrastructure themselves nowadays or simply get it provided on-demand (as a service) from Amazon via AWS, for example, or from Microsoft via Azure, just to name two of many options.

[@ReleeSquirrel]

@@ancogaming I noticed your reply to Lari Lee here and I think it comes off strangely aggressive. Regarding the term "Metaverse" it has changed meanings a few times over the years. For a long time it did refer specifically to interconnected virtual worlds. Your comment about what Opensim is capable of being done in the gaming industry for more than a decade also comes off rather strange, since Opensim is itself over a decade old. Second Life, which Opensim is an emulator of, came out in 2003. Since you're aware of the potential and current uses of Cloud Computing services, you might also find some interest in Raph Koster's recent talk about this subject. venturebeat.com/2022/01/27/raph-kosters-real-talk-about-a-real-metaverse/

[@bakakitsune947]

The loss of coherency and consistency in a medium is what makes me really dislike crossovers in general, so this sounds like the same thing but worse. I really hope most game companies won't do this, but I fear the big ones will hunt for money like starving cats .... At least there's indie titles.

[@neogramps]

Having this vid interrupted for an ad by "mech wars, a metaverse game with an upcoming limited time land sell, get in now.." amazing

[@KazuhiraG]

i dunno of it was intentional or by sheer coincidence, but Josh saying "(One Piece) of media" just when luffy was on screen was very tasteful and a dad joke to surpass your average dad.

[@EdBurke37]

My only real issue with this video is the idea that "The Metaverse" will only succeed if it is good for consumers. That's just not true. Micro transactions and loot boxes are demonstrably bad for consumer but they stuck around because they made the corporations money. What we want, what is good for us, doesn't matter. Only the profit matters.

[@Nytrusdeathcyde]

sadly y must this world be ruined by greed

[@devforfun5618]

you can sell anything for the next generation that don't know how things used to be, the top companies in the world can wait 10 years to make that profit

[@WizardosBoz]

@@devforfun5618 I get your point, but it wasn't the next generation that enabled these practices

[@Valvad0ss]

@@WizardosBoz true

[@Tnscla]

People buy microtransactions and loot boxes. That's why it stayed. It is convenient to pay money to get an advantage. Josh's point is still true.

[@MaskedBishop]

Interesting. Whenever companies referred to a metaverse in the past few months I thought they were talking about the Facebook thing.

[@Tarryk]

If you want to go strictly origin-story definition, Metaverse is simply a direct synonym of Internet. It was the term initially coined to define the digital quasi-VR network that is what we know now as the internet, from the early 90's book "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson. For the next 25ish years it was used by people and companies solely as an abstract reference to that novel. It's been only recently that efforts began to try to insert some new fancy meaning to it. (and it's a bit disheartening to see that JSH didn't address this at all)

[@mastermenthe]

25 years too late for his audience. Gotta streamline the video.

[@Tarryk]

@@mastermenthe Then I think he shouldn't be talking about the history of a thing if he has to omit the actual history of a thing because "young people". That's like somebody posting a "What is Money?" Video and only talking about crypto.

[@kyneticist]

I'm reminded of the story of the movie executive who insisted that The Matrix use people as a power source rather than needing their creative minds to shape (at first at least, because a story needs to happen) a virtual paradise. It's a similar insight, I think, into the minds of people who run the world.

[@davidgilmovitch1785]

Just wanted to say that you are the person on KZbin that I relate to the most. Must be an age thing I guess. Everything hits perfectly. You’re a legend. You deserve every success you find.

[@KingOskar4]

THANK YOU for explaining this to me and many others! As much as I would love to "embrace" the concept of a metaverse, I have a lot of things that I do not want to merge together. Would I like to, say, Merge Scuba Diving and Video Games together in a metaverse? Sure. Except that Subnautica, Minecraft Java Edition and Terraria all do a better job at it than Second Life (has no air meter)

[@mt_baldwin]

Nintendo, being the legends that they are. Nevermind what the idiot games media says they said. What Nintendo actually said was "We are interested in the Metaverse but as of now don't see how it can be made into something fun for our players." Think about that after hearing in this vid what the metaverse is why companies are racing to build one.

[@Tnscla]

And Nintendo already have their metaverse.

[@Jes9119]

@T NS all they need to do is sell everyone a fancy vr headset and then make the Mii Plaza first person. Boom, metaverse. Too e-z.

[@Tnscla]

@@Jes9119 They already do cross overs and stuff. Smash Bros is a big example of that. Nintendo is enjoyning the benefits of a "metaverse" for years now and they dont even need to pitch the word. I actually think they do it even better than all these companies now, because they can keep the identity of the produts while selling cross over stuff.

[@krankarvolund7771]

Nintendo is not stupid, they understood that for a popular metaverse, you don't need only some recognizable brands, you need a good concept ^^ That's why Fortnite works as a metaverse, the game is fun, for certain persons, and the brands are just skins added to the game ^^

[@Shyranelch]

Simply put: A nice thank you for your efforts to sort this all out, giving pros and cons and putting another great video up into the Josh Strife Hayes/Plays/Says Metaverse. Genuinely great approach to neutral journalistic investigation.

[@Terratops474]

The Metaverse is what happens when corporate executives read cyberpunk and think it looks like a great place to live.

[@EmilKlingberg]

The metaverse as being developed now is the VR version of the internet, so instead of going and buying stuff through a flat website, you can look at the stuff you want to buy in 3d. It is a store front in VR.

[@coreym162]

Thank you. It's so easy to make this work. People don't even know what they want is why everyone trips on how easy it is.

[@Thalatash]

You would make an incredible marketing or business professor. The way you explain complex concepts is not only informative but interesting. 18:47 Robot Chicken is a show based (mostly) on references but it's done in a unique and creative way. I know this isn't what you're talking about but I think if the creatives are talented enough and the money people are open enough "meta" shows don't have to suck. If, or when, it does come to a time when shows like that become the norm good ones will be few and far between but there will hopefully be some diamonds in the rough.

[@twilightsuzuka6252]

Honestly Robot Chicken disproves this whole video.

[@Supersonic]

I was honestly so confused about what the 'Metaverse' was because i just knew it had to be something new right? everything i have heard about it had already been done so there must have been something else i was missing right? turns out NOPE, its all stuff i had been doing and experiencing as a kid of the internet in the early 2000s

[@CrosswaIk]

Metaverse is another word for ecosystem. Also while it's arguable that MTG is being 'fortnited' MTG's original purpose was a gameplay engine, the fact that story was added later on was just an extra bit of flavor to help it sell. So you could argue that Fortnite is selling out it's core to get bigger profits, MTG was never designed around a story, it was purposefully made as an engine to add anything on top of. This metaverse explanation is fantastic, not quite as good as your NFT video but only because that video was absolute perfection.

[@AlexNights]

I know you are right. But if some one comes to me to play MTG with a f... Walking Dead deck or a Fortnight deck, I'm out. There are franchises that can interact with MTG, with out destroying de carácter of bought, I could see a Diablo or Elder Scrolls, cross over, because the settings could play well with itch other. But walking dead and fortnight, that's plain stupid, because my hatred from those franchises only gets me desinterested from MTG.

[@BM03]

13:19 This made me hella sad. I bought Fortnite when it was early access and no Battle Royale. The story wasn't amazing but the characters really were. The character and actress for Ray were absolutely fantastic.

[@PutYourQuarterUpGaming]

It is an absolute shame. Same here, got into it with group of friend when still essentially just pay to play normal boxed game. Ya, story was nonexistent for most part but we really got into it. I grew attached over time to the unique characters theyd drummed up, we all did. Think had Cat? I can’t rem but she had a blue navy theme outfit, one of the rarer drops. Point being, it had a unique identity as a game. That was just gutted after the battle Royale blew up alongside UT, Paragon and I’m sure more projects from epic as a GAME DEVELOPER that never saw the light of day. Just…pathetic really lol so paranoid about failure can’t even stand by own merits as game dev so need cash in on other popular franchises and all these bizarre gimmicks like live music etc. gone so far from even a battle Royale game at this point not exactly sure what it is, but clearly gamers looking for good third person shooter, with building, is not their target demo anymore.

[@fatalkookie]

This video really shines some light onto a devious corporate tactic that might change things we love into soulless products.