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Original poster

To be terrified for mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse?

93 replies

AngelicaElizaAndPeggy · 28/12/2021 20:29

Have just watched his video about it today. The Metaverse seems to be a virtual 'place' where you can present yourself as an avatar and interact with other people's avatars in real time, without the barrier of a screen.

I think it sounds fucking ludicrous personally. Can you imagine what meta-munsnet would be like? I spoke to my husband about it and he thinks it will just be used by smutty people to do online shagging. Like an awful Black Mirror episode. He thinks Mark Zuckerberg is terribly naive about it being a positive way to build communities.

What do we all think?

Yabu- get with it and stop being such a tech dinosaur

Yanbu - we are all doomed, Charlie Brooker style

OP posts:
XenoBitch · 28/12/2021 23:01

@AngelicaElizaAndPeggy

I've never ever heard of Second Life 😬; the name alone sounds shifty enough!

@AmorFati I get your point entirely but what will I do if everyone around me is using it and I'm left stood there with people walking into walls and doing weird internet shagging?

Online universes are not new. Do you see people walking into walls and doing weird internet shagging now? Or for the past 20 years?
Mamamia7962 · 28/12/2021 23:02

I don't understand it, I must be getting old!

Snally82 · 28/12/2021 23:12

We have a couple of clients in this space, it will be huge and dominate. No way around it. The money behind it all is phenomenal.

It’s far removed from some of the examples given.

Gertie75 · 28/12/2021 23:15

It already exists, I have an Oculus Quest vr headset, it's amazing, I play games with people from all over the world, usually paintball.
It's so much fun teaming up and running around the maps, you feel like you're actually there.
There are so many things you can do on it, it's very popular with a lot of women too, you can work out, meditate, do jigsaw puzzles or explore the world, one of the apps is based on Google Earth, it places you in the chosen area and to look around you physically move your head as you would in real life but because it's 3d you get the sensation of being there (without the sounds or smells of course).
I've 'walked' around Macchu Picchu, along Sunset Strip, been inside palaces and art galleries and my daughter used it when they had to research Nelson Mandela for school, she took a virtual trip to the prison where he was held and went inside his cell.
I also use it for researching holidays and I've crossed a few places off my list as they didn't look as good as I imagined!

There are also places where people go just to chat and meet people and I do think that it's possible that in the not too distant future companies will hold meetings on there, especially with the rise of working from home.
Apparently some companies are already buying up 'land' in the metaverse and I can imagine that shopping centres etc could be built for people to walk around and shop.

AfterSchoolWorry · 28/12/2021 23:18

@Silverswirl

Erm- did none of you ever play second life?
Yeh, none of this is new. Multi user dungeons?
santaclothes · 28/12/2021 23:18

I don't think you need to be terrified OP - it's optional

KurtWildesChristmasNamechange · 28/12/2021 23:21

Came here to say it sounds like Second Life, which was out years ago. Nothing new and nothing to be scared of 🤷🏻‍♀️

LemonSwan · 28/12/2021 23:23

I can see the appeal for gaming but my god its slightly terrifying. TVs, computers and phones already consume so much of my life. Do I need more of that? Probably not.

Bunnyfuller · 28/12/2021 23:23

It’s not new. 2nd life was exactly the same and loads of games let you ‘create’ yourself and then go into the virtual world and interact.

XenoBitch · 28/12/2021 23:24

@Gertie75

It already exists, I have an Oculus Quest vr headset, it's amazing, I play games with people from all over the world, usually paintball. It's so much fun teaming up and running around the maps, you feel like you're actually there. There are so many things you can do on it, it's very popular with a lot of women too, you can work out, meditate, do jigsaw puzzles or explore the world, one of the apps is based on Google Earth, it places you in the chosen area and to look around you physically move your head as you would in real life but because it's 3d you get the sensation of being there (without the sounds or smells of course). I've 'walked' around Macchu Picchu, along Sunset Strip, been inside palaces and art galleries and my daughter used it when they had to research Nelson Mandela for school, she took a virtual trip to the prison where he was held and went inside his cell. I also use it for researching holidays and I've crossed a few places off my list as they didn't look as good as I imagined!

There are also places where people go just to chat and meet people and I do think that it's possible that in the not too distant future companies will hold meetings on there, especially with the rise of working from home.
Apparently some companies are already buying up 'land' in the metaverse and I can imagine that shopping centres etc could be built for people to walk around and shop.

This. I have an Oculus Quest too, and it is not something to be scared of or think is sinister. My friend showed me where she was on holiday in Wander (basically VR Google Earth). The only thing that bothers me is some people using it as a baby sitting device. I have heard young kids in VR say absolutely vile things to each other and adults.
snapsieplopp · 28/12/2021 23:30

Well he needs to hold onto the young people as facebook isn't so popular with them plus find new ways to advertise.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 28/12/2021 23:31

There will probably be a problem with addiction. I mean if your fake life is better than your real one, where’s the incentive to exist in the real world? As I recall there were quite a few people whose marriages broke down thanks to Second Life.

I’m embarrassed to say that I got carried away with multi user dungeons when I was at uni in the mid 90s Grin. Used to waste hours sitting on them in the uni computer suite instead of writing essays or working on my dissertation. It was more exciting than going to do research in the library. So I can understand the appeal. I’m even addicted to fecking Mumsnet, for god’s sake….

Mufasa1118 · 28/12/2021 23:32

Maybe we are already in a metaverse and we are all avatars

Mufasa1118 · 28/12/2021 23:35

VR is so realistic
I have a VR headset
I could climb mount everest on it. It is so realistic it is amazing

XenoBitch · 28/12/2021 23:38

@Mufasa1118

Maybe we are already in a metaverse and we are all avatars
Isn't that the basic plot of The Matrix?
JacquelineCarlyle · 28/12/2021 23:40

YANBU - the whole thing frightens the life out of me and makes me think of Ready Player One (or worse, Terminator!)

I can't see how any of this is for the greater good at all.

Mufasa1118 · 28/12/2021 23:41

Xenobitch. I was just thinking if we are able to develop such amazing technology now, maybe in the future humans have developed very realistic virtual reality, and we are the avatars of those humans in a world history programme where we want to experience 2022

It's possible!

AnotherMansCause · 28/12/2021 23:41

It sounds like the C4/Netflix series Kiss Me First. Pretty dystopian. Exactly the sort of project I'd expect from Zuckerberg.

LifeGaveMeLemons · 28/12/2021 23:41

LOL - my exH said pretty much the same thing when he saw an item about Second life on the news over 10yrs ago. He was doubly shocked when I told him that, yes, I did know about it, and had an account for ages. We were using it at work.

Yes, second life is still there - I pop on every now and then and have a mooch around. 10yrs ago just about every university, museum, art gallery etc had a second life presence. There were virtual places of worship, schools, we had meetings in second life. This was before Zoom remember, online conferencing for loads of people at once was not that common, and Second Life was free to use.

It's nothing new. IT has positives and negatives, can be fun, useful, damaging, etc.

I do think there is something to be seriously considered re. the way in which people engage with their avatars. We see it with the gaming generation of kids, the ability to "be" someone else can, I think, mess with their heads if they haven't already got a strong sense of self.

LonginesPrime · 28/12/2021 23:44

There will probably be a problem with addiction. I mean if your fake life is better than your real one, where’s the incentive to exist in the real world?

That's the premise of that TV show Reverie - she's a hostage negotiator and is brought in by a VR company to go in and convince all the people who won't come out of VR that life is better for them in this world, but funnily enough, their answer is "umm, no".

Mufasa1118 · 28/12/2021 23:44

Second life was very much a computer game though. You didn't feel as if you were actually there.

With the new technology, (virtual reality) you really feel like you are there.

BlueLines81 · 28/12/2021 23:46

Well I had a charming dance with a robot earlier on DD’s headset. It’s not all bad.

Mufasa1118 · 28/12/2021 23:46

Did anyone see the YouTube video of:

A woman's daughter died. I think she was in Japan. Using the daughter's photo, they created a virtual reality experience of the daughter
Then the mother got to meet her daughter again and say goodbye.
It's the saddest thing I've ever seen.
Clip is on YouTube.
The mother said she appreciated it though

Lolamento · 28/12/2021 23:46

@santaclothes

I don't think you need to be terrified OP - it's optional
This!
XenoBitch · 28/12/2021 23:47

@Mufasa1118

Second life was very much a computer game though. You didn't feel as if you were actually there.

With the new technology, (virtual reality) you really feel like you are there.

I had an Oculus DK2, and for a while, you could use it for Second Life. My ex spent hours and hours on it. I don't think Second Life supports any VR anymore, which is a shame! AltSpace and VRchat are ok, and there is Facebook Horizons (which is not available in the UK at the moment).