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Why did the metaverse die? Because Silicon Valley doesn’t understand the concept of fun
(www.fastcompany.com)
this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
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Technology
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That was one problem yes. There isn't really any need for the metaverse to VR only, at least not initially. Even Facebook actually came up with a sort of workaround for this problem where you could use your phone and navigate an avatar around with on-screen controls. It would have probably worked better on a desktop computer which is something they never bothered to implement but it wouldn't be that hard to make.
If it was actually fun and useful and people used it on a regular basis other people would be incentivised to go out and spend big bucks on a VR headset. Trying to get people to buy the VR headset first was never going to work, only enthusiasts were going to get one that way around, and they weren't actually interested in metaverse all that much, they were going after traditional gaming experiences, watching 3D movies, and porn obviously.
They needed VR to convince people that this one fad of virtual real estate and tradeable virtual items totally wasn't exactly like Second Life.
Well that was always my problem with Facebook's implementation as well. If I'm paying money for virtual real estate I'd rather just pay money for the server and then control it myself. It never made sense to me to let one company host the code, because there's literally no benefit to me for them doing that. Usually the benefit of letting a company host the code is that it costs less money, but if I'm going to be paying virtual rent every month anyway I'd rather just have server access.