Virtual Reality

[wakka]

Smartphones make some things just fundamentally better. Getting and using bus tickets. Listing items on eBay from a device which also has a camera. Tons of stuff.

Yeah, this is the thing. There is no problem that it solves. It's a cool entertainment experience, but it doesn't make any part of actual life more frictionless.

When you see some of the metaverse concept videos being touted, like the Tesco one of a 3D supermarket, I'm immediately reminded of the notional '3D operating systems' and '3D websites' of the 90s. They're pointless because they all they do is add unnecessary effort and time overheads to what is effectively a boring chore. We already have insanely frictionless ways of communicating and shopping online now. VR is just an unnecessary middleman that slows things down and makes it harder.

Once there is an AR product which makes accessing information and doing chores quicker than using a smartphone, that'll be the tipping point into mainstream usage. Until then it's just a gadget.

[Asura]

When you see some of the metaverse concept videos being touted, like the Tesco one of a 3D supermarket, I'm immediately reminded of the notional '3D operating systems' and '3D websites' of the 90s.

Yep, and that was during the height of the dot-com boom. Right now there's a metaverse boom; every single tech investor is suddenly interested if you slip the words "NFT" and "metaverse" into your pitch. If you don't have them, they don't want to know. Like this is a genuine problem.

[wakka]

Whack the VR headset on, cruise round your virtual Costcutter, grab some NFT milk. It's the future!

Obviously you will need to then go out and buy some actual milk. The milk NFT is more of a speculative investment.

[fishbowlhead]

Yep, and that was during the height of the dot-com boom. Right now there's a metaverse boom; every single tech investor is suddenly interested if you slip the words "NFT" and "metaverse" into your pitch. If you don't have them, they don't want to know. Like this is a genuine problem.

More fool them, both are destined to not be the next big thing. The next big thing is something that slips into your daily life and makes things easier for you while not getting in the way. Nft’s are utter nonsense and vr physically stops you doing anything else.

[huxley]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/sinycn/modern_trends/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

[fishbowlhead]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/com...eb2x&context=3

Its funny because its true.

[Dogg Thang]

I feel like much of this discussion sounds like back when websites became a thing. A bunch of companies threw silly money at them, not knowing what to do with them. Other companies thought they were useless - why would they possibly be needed when things work fine exactly as they are now. Speculation went through the roof, the bubble burst and a huge number of people lost a lot of money. Nevertheless, when the dust settled websites were the new normal.

[fishbowlhead]

Nfts’s will never be the new normal, vr will never be the new normal (ar might be though).

[Dogg Thang]

I totally believe that VR will be integrated into normal life. You only have to look at all the discussion around returning to work to see it. Some never want to go to an office again. Others want to be in an office. Immersive virtual workspaces bridge that gap and could connect people around the world in a far more personal way. And that’s just one application.

I feel like this is just same old, same old in the sense that new things are coming and lots of people say it won’t happen. Progress happens with or without those people. It doesn’t always get it right - and I’m willing to bet that not a single project aiming for the ‘metaverse’ right now will make it - but I don’t think it will be long before we’re looking at the metaverse equivalents of MySpace, Altavista and so on. The first gen that actually works and people use before they then get built upon and replaced with better. Or worse. But things will continue to move.

When progress is bubbling, and it is right now with so many companies trying to figure it out and get in early, I’m not sure the people who say it won’t happen ever turn out to be right in the end. Even if that takes a Zune or two along the way.

[Asura]

I feel like much of this discussion sounds like back when...

I'm not so sure.

Like take the "websites" thing. The idea of shops like Amazon. Mainstream people might've dismissed them at the time, but those of us in tech knew that the concept had merit right from the off. I mean, stuff like the Argos Catalogue existed, and travel agents had used the internet to book flights for decades; we could all see how you fuse these two things together with e-commerce and you have an online store, which felt like a fantastically useful thing. I got on-board straight away; I was buying and selling on eBay in 2000 (I still have the very first thing I bought, a poster of Ryu & Kyo from Capcom Vs SNK).

Even those of us who are into VR (excluding those of us who have a financial stake in some existing metaverse project) aren't really seeing what's being offered here. Like, I love VRChat, and I got addicted to SecondLife during the late 00s. I've spent thousands of hours in the present equivalents of these things. Related, I've also done extensive research into all the existing solutions to do work-related stuff in VR, like meetings for remote office-workers, creative collaboration. None of these were more effective than just making sure everyone has decent PC, reliable connection, a good headset and quality webcam.

If I pretend that you could get VR headsets which are as light, small and combortable as a regular pair of sunglasses, I imagine you could have drop-in, drop-out play of VR online games with your friends really easily. Like WiiSports-type stuff, as a really basic example. Maybe that'll take off.

I certainly feel VR is going to grow and grow, and become more and more popular. Maybe it will be ubiquitous. But I suppose the key thing here is if anyone tells me they "know" what form this will take, I've got to assume they've got money invested in whatever they're going to praise.

[Dogg Thang]

Who is telling you that? Even the companies that are throwing money at it don't know what form we'll end up with. It is a period of experimentation. But most of what you're saying is that what we have now is fine. Most of the time, that's right. And yet that never, ever stops change.

[Asura]

But most of what you're saying is that what we have now is fine. Most of the time, that's right. And yet that never, ever stops change.

You talk as though every suggested new technology is on path from inception to success, where it's just a question of time. It's certainly possibble for the "when" to be "never".

[Dogg Thang]

You talk as though every suggested new technology is on path from inception to success, where it's just a question of time. It's certainly possibble for the "when" to be "never".

Yep, this is true. But when this many players are looking to find applications, build new spaces, explore what a more digital future looks like, I think the chances of coming out the other side of that without some major jump or change is pretty non-existent. That's not to say it will be quick. Like I said, I don't believe any current project will be the one that sticks or makes it. But the momentum is there. And really, I'll just come back to that thing that those who insist things are fine the way they are and that progress, change or growth in an area won't happen usually turn out to be the ones who are wrong. It's the old "people who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it" adage.

You just have to look at the progress in the last 15 years and how much more integrated our lives are with digital spaces. This is essentially a metaverse in many forms. Does anyone really believe that just stops here? That we're done? Of course that's not the case.

[wakka]

I sort of agree with you both. The current implementation of VR is not going mainstream for much of anything any time very soon. We are barely past the stage where you required a dedicated room to set up your 'lighthouses' and so on.

But I totally think that it feels more than plausible that there is a future where we are using headmounted technology a lot more. Like I said in some other thread the other day, problems which are hard to see past now will be solved in unexpected ways, and technology will make leaps forward that we can't necessarily anticipate.


EDIT:

You just have to look at the progress in the last 15 years and how much more integrated our lives are with digital spaces. This is essentially a metaverse in many forms. Does anyone really believe that just stops here? That we're done? Of course that's not the case.

1000% agree with this.

I think we can expect the enmeshing of your physical and digital lives to continue at pace. And headmounted technology is a likely vector.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-told-meta-employees-214823119.html

A few months ago the Metaverse might have been heralded by Zuckerberg as the newly branded companies future but following a hit to hard yesterday that the money lost potentially brought him to tears he as turned to employees and pushed them to pivot their work towards 'video'