Re/code gets into what Facebook may be doing. Palmer thinks one day Facebook may build a metaworld. For now they are focusing on hardware, the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, and the Oculus Touch. Palmer also leaks that they are developing Oculus Cinema, which I expect is beyond the work Altspace is doing. I think Oculus Cinema is more for Hollywood movie makers than it is for tech to be used in a VR space like Sansar. But, I haven’t been keeping up with Oculus. I am learning to tap my foot and fingers in new ways while I wait for a good retail headset to release.
When Re/code talks about High Fidelity they point out the complication that Philip mentioned, how do you develop for a world in which one avatar and touch and control another avatar? Think grabbing someone’s hand and pulling them.
Second Life it seems is the model everyone looks at when thinking about VR spaces. The limitation of having to learn 3D modeling to build for SL or any virtual world (VW) is something developers are trying to avoid. So, just as in RL not everyone is a fabricator-manufacturer. We have other services people provide that do not require 3D modeling skills. So, entertainment is looked at as a significant way to provide ‘employment’ for many in VW’s.
An interesting bit of trivia Re/code points out is Reddits r/Oculus is 97+% male and 85% white.
All of them see VR as a major change in how we do everything. The Internet changed and is changing how we do everything. VR is going to change how we use the Internet in ways we can’t yet imagine. We have ideas. But, what the actual reality will be is hidden in the fog of the future.
Regarding using SL as the model, note the recent article in Variety Digitial . Janko Roettgers says \Linden Lab now wants to lower real estate taxes and increase sales taxes, he explained, to make it easier for people to pitch a tent in its virtual world.\ For an content developer, the cost of real estate in SL seems to be a huge barrier to entry. My initial move to SL in 2008 ended in failure to attract even a handful of people and in no way justified the cost. I abandoned SL. Now I’m back with a new business model in mind but the costs are still incredibly high to just do basic things. Really, I don’t see how any layman/hobbyist could ever be attracted to come to SL as it is now and attempt to do something beyond tinkering. Lower land costs with a sales tax makes much more sense to me.
“One of the things land owners will be able to do is restrict access to those avatars that are past a certain age.” Care to explain that? Did you mean UNDER a certain age?
Past an age… 30 days old or older…
Gotchya. A matter of semantics…..