The Metaverse

[AdmiralKird]

It's really difficult to predict the future.

People use electronic gadgets to experience the extraordinary, not the ordinary. People strap themselves into VR to experience the extra-extraordinary. There are people who become addicted to animal crossing and such (a game built on ordinary nothingness with animals) but those wear out for most people fast. VR especially burns out for a lot of people fast.

This whole thing sounds like just a way to razzle dazzle investors to boost facebook's stock price by having a lofty goal that some will think has merit in generating huge future profits - but likely this is going very sideways rather than into Ready Player One.

[mikechamp]

LOL Facebook is changing it's name to Meta.


That's so meta.

They seem to be following in the footsteps of Google, whose parent company is Alphabet. Facebook's forming a parent company called Meta, which will include Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, etc.

Facebook changes its name to Meta in major rebrand

Facebook has changed its corporate name to Meta as part of a major rebrand.

The company said it would better "encompass" what it does, as it broadens its reach beyond social media into areas like virtual reality (VR). The change does not apply to its individual platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, only the parent company that owns them.

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg announced the new name as he unveiled plans to build a "metaverse" - an online world where people can game, work and communicate in a virtual environment, often using VR headsets. He said the existing brand could not "possibly represent everything that we're doing today, let alone in the future", and needed to change.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59083601

[Leroy]

Hello.

[GeddyWrox]

Maddow did a thing the other night comparing this rebrand to a few others. Most notably Jet Blue after a couple of horrific crashes. I think the implication is that Facebook is about to be in SERIUOS trouble with the whole Facebook Papers whistleblower thing.

[mikechamp]

(in my best Norm MacDonald voice)

Speaking of rebranding, when is Spirit Airlines going to rebrand?

They really suck.

[mikechamp]

To update an old saying, "there's cash in them thar 'webs!"

How pop star Zara Larsson made a seven-figure sum on Roblox

Pop star Zara Larsson says she's made a seven-figure sum by selling merchandise on the video game platform Roblox. As parents around the world will know, Roblox is not so much a game as a gaming universe.

The Swedish star, known for hits like Lush Life and Symphony, offers fans in-game items like hats, backpacks and sunglasses to dress up their avatars. With prices starting at less than £1, Larsson says it's "freaking insane" to have earned more than $1m (£740,000) since joining the platform in May. "My jaw dropped when I heard," the star tells the BBC.

Larsson first teamed up with Roblox to promote her new album, Poster Girl, when concerts were cancelled during the pandemic. She hosted a virtual "dance party" within the game in May, allowing fans to hang out, watch her perform, and take part in an online scavenger hunt. They could also buy outfits, hairstyles, dance moves and a customisable Zara Larsson avatar. Prices started at 60 Robux (approximately £0.67) rising to 400 Robux (£4.95) for the star's likeness.

The merchandise was initially an afterthought, the singer says. "I didn't really think much about it. It wasn't really the motivation for the concert. I just wanted to connect with fans."

Needless to say, she's a convert now. In fact, Larsson says in-game concerts and virtual merchandise could be a lifeline for musicians at a time when CD sales have crumbled, touring is uncertain, and streaming royalties aren't compensating artists fairly. "We all know this," she says. "Streaming services don't pay the most." To make a seven-figure sum from YouTube or Spotify "would take a long, long time and hundreds and millions of streams," she observes.

Roblox's global head of music, Jonathan Vlassopulos noted, "We've got close to 50 million people on the platform every day - and once the penny drops that fans are hanging out for two or three hours a day in the metaverse, I think we'll see an explosion of artists joining," he says. "We're not limited by gravity and space, so we can build magical worlds and more high fidelity [experiences]".

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-59163449

[mikechamp]

And just like that, it's already been spoiled:

Metaverse app allows kids into virtual strip clubs

Some apps in the virtual-reality metaverse are "dangerous by design", the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) has warned in response to a BBC News investigation. A researcher posing as a 13-year-old girl witnessed grooming, sexual material, racist insults and a rape threat in the virtual-reality world. The children's charity said it was "shocked and angry" at the findings.

Head of online child safety policy Andy Burrows added the investigation had found "a toxic combination of risks".

The BBC News researcher - using an app with a minimum age rating of 13 - visited virtual-reality rooms where avatars were simulating sex. She was shown sex toys and condoms, and approached by numerous adult men.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60415317

[kriptopoulin]

Thanks for the amazing information.It would be really appreaciated.But in the metaverse, you can live forever!

[heyzeus]

Sorry, I'm not sure I even want to live another five years.

[kriptopoulin]

A metaverse is a collection of 3D virtual worlds designed to foster social interaction. It is frequently described as a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual and augmented reality headsets in futurism and science fiction.