Jul 6, 2023·edited Jul 6, 2023Liked by Giulio Prisco
I will really look forward to the book. It annoys me more than a little that metaverse today is spoken of as being all cool and new when what I have seen of new metaverse is not on a part with Second Life and Opensimulator in many ways. Even the graphics aren't as good which is really shocking so many years later! New metaverse seems to have never known of lessons learned in SL and others. A world or world of smart interconnet IIoT virtual objects and personal avatars that is open for whatever you want to make of it. Some are very interesting but almost none have that all important feeling of being "there". Almost none are as fully in-world malleable. Somehow because there is a box on one's head or because maybe it is somehow running on blockchain (though we all know you can't do much of what is required for VW there) or somehow is Web3 whatever that may turn out to be it is all shiny and better and the latest thing. I must be getting old and grouchy that what has gone before seems reinvented rather not as well.
Hi Samantha, good to see you here! Long time. I'll agree that blockchain technology, cool as it is, is not required in the metaverse, and an excessive emphasis on blockchain technology can only take attention and resources away from the core issues. Old and grouchy... you and me both. I remember very fondly our time in Second Life, which was very much ahead of its time, and I look forward to a new Second Life. Have you taken a look at https://croquet.io/ ? It seems to match almost all requirements that I can think of. Not yet malleability in-world, but I don't rule out the possibility to advance in that direction as well.
I looked at Croquet briefly. I am prime for it as it is build on Smalltalk which I used quite a bit in the 80s and early 90s. The lat time I looked at it I went "portals are very very cool. But why can't I fly or even have a fly cam?". Back in the day, after spending some hours in SL, flycam was one of the things I considered inferior in physical space. Though you could probably do it sort of with a few small self-stabilizing drones sending video back to your phone today. I should take a look at croquet again.
Take another look: the old Croquet (the one upon which the Qwaq/Teleplace platform that I used some years ago was based) was built on Smalltalk, but the new version https://croquet.io/ is built mainly on JavaScript and .js ibraries like Three.js. About flying, I'm inclined to think that it breaks the feeling of immersion in RL-like environments (we don't fly in RL). But your solution seems a good compromise!
This is the Croquet microverse that I'll (slowly) build:
I will really look forward to the book. It annoys me more than a little that metaverse today is spoken of as being all cool and new when what I have seen of new metaverse is not on a part with Second Life and Opensimulator in many ways. Even the graphics aren't as good which is really shocking so many years later! New metaverse seems to have never known of lessons learned in SL and others. A world or world of smart interconnet IIoT virtual objects and personal avatars that is open for whatever you want to make of it. Some are very interesting but almost none have that all important feeling of being "there". Almost none are as fully in-world malleable. Somehow because there is a box on one's head or because maybe it is somehow running on blockchain (though we all know you can't do much of what is required for VW there) or somehow is Web3 whatever that may turn out to be it is all shiny and better and the latest thing. I must be getting old and grouchy that what has gone before seems reinvented rather not as well.
Hi Samantha, good to see you here! Long time. I'll agree that blockchain technology, cool as it is, is not required in the metaverse, and an excessive emphasis on blockchain technology can only take attention and resources away from the core issues. Old and grouchy... you and me both. I remember very fondly our time in Second Life, which was very much ahead of its time, and I look forward to a new Second Life. Have you taken a look at https://croquet.io/ ? It seems to match almost all requirements that I can think of. Not yet malleability in-world, but I don't rule out the possibility to advance in that direction as well.
I looked at Croquet briefly. I am prime for it as it is build on Smalltalk which I used quite a bit in the 80s and early 90s. The lat time I looked at it I went "portals are very very cool. But why can't I fly or even have a fly cam?". Back in the day, after spending some hours in SL, flycam was one of the things I considered inferior in physical space. Though you could probably do it sort of with a few small self-stabilizing drones sending video back to your phone today. I should take a look at croquet again.
Take another look: the old Croquet (the one upon which the Qwaq/Teleplace platform that I used some years ago was based) was built on Smalltalk, but the new version https://croquet.io/ is built mainly on JavaScript and .js ibraries like Three.js. About flying, I'm inclined to think that it breaks the feeling of immersion in RL-like environments (we don't fly in RL). But your solution seems a good compromise!
This is the Croquet microverse that I'll (slowly) build:
https://giulioprisco.github.io/notebook/#spaceport9684