That's also because in VR you could build, inhabit, and explore worlds that felt real, giving you a sense of liberty in a world largely without. In the real world, VR has already been tainted by the capitalism - indeed, Decentraland specifically is largely a collection of vacant lots, half-finished projects, and corporate playgrounds. The most functional areas are those owned by megacorps.

Capitalism beat us to VR. The choice will be live in the real world, where there are at least some spaces for you outside of the system, or dive into a constructed one run by the people you were initially trying to escape.

These tech bros read those books and think, "cool, let's make this."

I felt major Snow Crash vibes the first time I tried VRChat. Some of the servers are totally The Black Sun, without the hacker-programmed bouncers. But it also felt like a lot of the people were there escaping a reality they couldn't deal with.

Plus finding out doesn't help.

"What's a metaverse"

"It's Second Life VR"

"Oh, no thanks"

It was a cash hole the lizard man could pour money into so that the story became how bad they fucked up the metaverse, and not the burgeoning story about how they created an algorithm that destroys democracy for a few extra dollars per active user.

My local mall has made a huge comeback over the last three or four years. Every weekend all the empty kiosks are taken over and a bunch of tables are set up by antique dealers and traders, and they basically use the entire mall as a giant flea market.

There is also a large fitness center at the mall, as well as a large gymnasium where they do gymnastics and whatever they call it, like gladiator/ obstacle course type training. Those have scheduled classes pretty much all day, and so all those people are constantly coming and going.

Most of the store fronts that were vacated by things like Radio Shack and Aeropostale and other big chains that seem to have evaporated are now filled with small businesses. There's an independent toy store, music store {instruments not records), liquor store, and a number of small offices such as a dentist and eye doctor, not really traditional mall merchants, but they are driving traffic better than Macy's had been for decades.

.

Ok Dan

I need this as an edgy T-shirt from wish.

"If you eat an infinite amount of virtual burgers, you'll still starve"

It's an abstract concept that nobody is willing to pin down to specific requirements, only general principles. If you actually want a peak at what people are hyping just try vrchat. Prepare for massive culture whiplash, weird avatars, trolls, and things that are off putting to some like sexualized avatars and furries. And of course it's not for everyone and every application, that's corporate hype stupidity. Why do I still think there's something really important there? Cause there's something really special about all the small details. People who never would've met talking across thousands of miles "face to face." It's like our monkey brains process actual personal connection and bypass most the adversarial bullshit we've been cultivating in text social media.

The quote I like the most on this subject is: “The metaverse isn’t a place; it’s a time in history when our digital identity and goods have as much or more importance than our real life versions.” I don’t think we’re there yet, but it also makes little (rational) sense that people spend money for virtual items in video games.

I think the closest playable analogues are actually Fortnite and Roblox. Interconnected worlds with external avatars that cross them. You play experiences vs. games. There’s brand integration so Goku can fight John Wick. It’s pretty close?

The fediverse might have accessibility issues but it’s not nearly as bad as whatever the fediverse is

Didn't you mean to say metaverse the second time you mentioned fediverse?

No, they are talking about Meta Avatars and Meta Horizon Worlds, the multiplayer platform for gaming and socializing that Meta itself created and in which the avatars originally didn't feature legs.

A game that is actually built and formed by its users outperforming one designed by an alien billionaire that doesn't understand people. Colour me surprised!

Even ChilloutVR is seeing more activity than facebookvr/decentrashit

Users were about 8k daily. There were just 30 people who bought stuff.

All 30 of them are content creators making videos about how there is no one in the meta verse

That's a llllottt of fancy ketchups

10th December 2022

A year and 4 days old.