Tips & Tricks for negotiating The metaverse with.....................Pooky Amsterdam
I love the Metaverse. Discovering virtual worlds meant discovering a way to create content I wouldn't have been able to make elsewhere or otherwise. While I am not personally a creator of those virtual assets which are made with prims or scripts, they're essential for my use as producer and writer of Metaverse videos and real-time game shows. I also collaborate with people I know from the Metaverse. We all work to our strengths. All of us were drawn to becoming an avatar, and we found fulfillment with our new abilities there. With resources we couldn't find elsewhere. We need to find where people get their enjoyment being in the Metaverse.
Q: What do people want out of The Metaverse?
I think to answer this question, we should think of what people want to put into the Metaverse, and spend time with. What brings us joy? What brings us bliss? Just like on Earth, where we work on projects and hobbies which bring us the happiness of creation. Can we realize feelings of productivity, humor and the best we are capable of in a virtual world?
If we have a hand in creating what that is, then yes.
The Metaverse now is a shiny place, it sure looks good, and interesting! There are places to go and hang-out which are slick looking, wonderfully bright and well-designed, but often empty after the main event. I understand that AI might be populating these places soon but I wouldn't mind, for example, a cafe I could enter in Spatial, which had a real world physical outpost. Wouldn't it be cool for a coffee chain to have a virtual place and in their physical stores had some kind of way for customers to log into the virtual one? Even through a default branded avatar. This would build an almost constant presence for the cafe too, and one that might be 24/7 in it's persistency. Up all night? Well it is caffeine fueled!!
What do we want out of the Metaverse?
What do we want can also mean what do we want to do there? Creator tools are really important. A hired Unity developer makes a ton of stuff yet there is a look which creates a sameness to the landscape. When more people can make their own digital things, then walking through the Metaverse has the feel of the hands of many. Hiring someone, or "someones," could be the only way to get started, but don't we want to build worlds where we, the end users can also become involved with creating assets for the platform? Isn't that what the company would want too? The Metaverse must have content.
Isn't it preferable to have a user base so involved that it's working on creating all kinds of items for their fellow denizens of whichever world they were in to use? Is your Metaverse just a place to pass through and look, or kind of shop? Or does it offer a way for people to work on things, work on something fun in your world because they want to? Are there appealing Calls-To-Action anywhere beyond an NFT or XR code? For many, the Metaverse is elective, time not binge-watching or doing the laundry.
Love fashion? There should be a fashionista hangout in The Metaverse where you can show off your latest great creation, or purchase. I hate being in the metaverse all dressed up with nowhere to teleport. Want a place to virtually swan around in, and maybe run into other people in the Fashion biz. Sports? Music? Wine? What kind? A Metaverse must let their users create groups, with the ability to invite people into them. Groups build community too.
Want to offer your interest set to others? Want to learn? There should be some kind of Message Board for people to post their skills if they are looking for a fun project to work on. Maybe a musician can work on a theme song for something or a music venue needs a musician? UGC is one of the strongest pulls to any of the incredibly successful social media platforms out there now. We love it.
While you can't cook food you can actually eat yet in VR, XR or the Metaverse, if you liked French seafood wouldn't it be great if there was a wonderful real little restaurant off the coast of Montpelier, and the owner had a cool virtual restaurant to hang out in? Fruit de mer foodies from all over the world could talk about recipes they wanted to try, or were trying. The Chef could have an AMA. People would bond over their shared passion, talking about their travels to great seafood experiences, sharing media and discussing how to aid the oceans health. What happens? A fan base for the restaurant, bonding experience, something fun to relate to and a place where other people talk about cuisine you love.
You dont even have to leave your pajamas, but it does seem a perfect opportunity for a travel agent to visit. Buying the trip to that restaurant in France and booking it in The Metaverse? Why not? If the coin is one both parties are willing to trade in? And the platform gets a small currency transaction fee.
The UGC becomes part of what people come to your Metaverse for. Giving tools to your user base to create programs looks like a huge benefit. I created two shows, 20 people could create how many more? Buzzers and game boards should be accessible as content, or some kind or adaptable User Interface. Allow the program creators to have a commercial interest in their own enterprise as that will also encourage content. A program can have sponsors and physical world connection to prizes. Being an avatar in a game in The Metaverse means you have a presence, you are not just a data point voting for a winner. It is a higher level of being there.
People in the Metaverse should be able to create their own programs that other people take part of either as panel or audience. The Metaverse is even more than a place to watch a show or video, it should be a place to create original content. Plus the results can be filmed with in-Metaverse tools and shared. The Metaverse could host avatar based content which also acts like soft advertising for The Metaverse. It becomes an ecosystem.
FaceBook, YouTube, Instagram and other social media channels all have users uploading content. They are huge because of UGC. What other people can produce is exciting, we have to give people a way to make their content, whether film, texture or thing. The Metaverse has the ability to become a place where people go to see what other people have created, and take part in it. The Metaverse has to encourage engagement where people want to spend time as their avatar, doing things only the avatar can do, with other people whom they meet only because they are an avatar.
Somethings happen more organically, like someone setting up a weekly recurring poetry slam where people can hang their own poems on the wall, drop in, always open and get to know one another. Other things need planning, pre-production, sound checks and some guarantee of an audience, like a game show with a script, host, panel and studio audience. Doing both of those changed my life, and my name.
There is a Euphoria that comes over us when we surf the Internet, our dopamine is released, we love being online. Being in The Metaverse should be part of that lift, that feeling of accomplishment, of engagement, of surprise and pleasure. We all know what businesses want, to make sales, improve workflow and seem cool. What people want is what the Metaverse will evolve into, and those that give folks the ability to make their dreams come true will prosper.
If you have a question, please email info@pookymedia.com with Metaquette in the subject matter and it will be answered.
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