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Half legit half rhetorical question. If I wanted to see what the metaverse is like, how would I even do that? It has always felt like something in closed beta, or like an obscure Sony service that you need a PS5 and multiple premium memberships to access. I don't know if it's a program you install, a website you go to, or what. The fediverse might have accessibility issues but it's not nearly as bad as whatever the metaverse is. I actually didn't expect to still be saying "whatever the metaverse is" at this point but it never got any clearer.
It's an abstract concept that nobody is willing to pin down to specific requirements, only general principles. If you actually want a peak at what people are hyping just try vrchat. Prepare for massive culture whiplash, weird avatars, trolls, and things that are off putting to some like sexualized avatars and furries. And of course it's not for everyone and every application, that's corporate hype stupidity. Why do I still think there's something really important there? Cause there's something really special about all the small details. People who never would've met talking across thousands of miles "face to face." It's like our monkey brains process actual personal connection and bypass most the adversarial bullshit we've been cultivating in text social media.
I've seen vrchat and it looks awesome. I didn't care about it until I found out anybody can make avatars and levels. It's no IMVU. It's also pretty straightforward to type vrchat in a search engine and find somewhere to download the client. I found the article for this post and they're talking about a thing called decentraland. The metaverse is apparently any online game that uses a crypto wallet as the account, but decentraland seems like the only game available. What's the thing where nobody has legs then? That's what I thought the metaverse was.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/metaverse-decentraland-report-active-users
OP is confusing Facebook's Metaverse with Decentraland, the later is a sort of ultra crude foundational game engine with some web 3.0 integration, you can buy land (obviously) and try to build experiences within your parcel.
The quote I like the most on this subject is: “The metaverse isn’t a place; it’s a time in history when our digital identity and goods have as much or more importance than our real life versions.” I don’t think we’re there yet, but it also makes little (rational) sense that people spend money for virtual items in video games.
I think the closest playable analogues are actually Fortnite and Roblox. Interconnected worlds with external avatars that cross them. You play experiences vs. games. There’s brand integration so Goku can fight John Wick. It’s pretty close?
The fediverse might have accessibility issues but it’s not nearly as bad as whatever the fediverse is
Didn't you mean to say metaverse the second time you mentioned fediverse?
Yeah. Thanks for noticing.
If I wanted to see what the metaverse is like, how would I even do that?
But a Quest and install Gorilla Tag.
A what with a what?
Wait. Before you explain... Tell me what it costs.
A Quest 1 at this point is about 100 dollars used. A Quest 2 is about 250, and a Quest 3 is about 500. Pick your level of bang for buck, then most of the things that could be described as metaverses are free to play/use.
A real metaverse would essentially just be "the internet" but for VR. We don't have that. But the most popular metaverse-like stuff we have is akin to second-life type stuff. User created spaces all connected together by a hub and spoke system. VRchat is the most populous, rec room is also pretty big, Altspace might still be good, I haven't checked in a while. Probably lots of other options. Meta of course wants their "Horizons" to be the metaverse, but in actuality it's the crappiest free option.
Speaking of Second life, they did make a VR port of it, but last I tried it sucked and was hard to get working. Don't know if they have done any more work on it or if they gave up.
I think it's mostly just still too early. We are only just now getting headsets that are worth it for normal people and not just us Autistic people. So VR is only just starting it's trek towards mainstream. I know 20 million headsets have been sold, but retention is not high yet. It should be starting with the Quest 3 and other headsets of this generation, since normal people actually like it now.
I didn't expect this thorough of an answer, thanks.
It's maybe time I give it another look.
https://horizon.meta.com/ I don't care what anyone else says, Horizon is the Metaverse.