Current “METAVERSE" Worlds are TERRIBLE!

I’m going to go ahead and say it …

CURRENT “METAVERSE” WORLDS ARE TERRIBLE!

I’m talking about many of the #virtual stores, and the #3D virtual places that various companies are creating trying to mimic the real world just so they can say they joined the “Metaverse” without adding any additional value to the users. A few days ago I participated in the 2022 #Economist Metaverse summit. The panels and speakers were great, but the experience itself was terrible. This is even more frustrating as this conference was ABOUT the “Metaverse”. The total experience began with customizing my avatar (several low-quality options of selecting body colors and from limited garments) after which I wandered around outside the virtual park and visitor areas, got to the virtual auditorium, and took a place as close as possible to the stage. Once the panels began, the avatars took seats on the virtual stage, and then started talking, but ….. nothing happened! After several minutes of looking at static low quality small avatars far away on the virtual stage without any body or facial expressions, I moved off to do other stuff while listening to it in the background, and then it hit me! The Metaverse is a lot like RADIO! When there is no real added value of interacting with people or products there is no reason to use the Metaverse (for me at least). Most of these “Metaverse” worlds look like virtual worlds 20 years ago (as opposed to great 3D worlds and #avatars in games). This is the main challenge we need to solve: finding added value that cannot be achieved by the current video conferencing (and no, I do not want to see a speaker as a low-res polygon character) and creating a better experience than by visiting an actual physical store. There are no shortcuts - this is a huge challenge and a huge opportunity, and we need amazing creatives, great developers, and awesome designers to make this happen.