Tips & Tricks for negotiating The Metaverse with................Pooky Amsterdam
Futurum Retro
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." As Santayana said over a hundred years ago. While we humans do tend to replicate mistakes, we also have the luxury of do-overs and for some of us in the Metaverse world, we have added benefits of experience.
Q: Is it possible to learn from past Metaverse success to help us build these platforms of tomorrow?
Once upon A Time, when Second Life was in a hype cycle, up then down. The news didn't focus on what worked, it was: companies were misguided, didn't understand the platform, just misspent boatloads of money and brand goodwill. Sounds familiar a bit?
To help the ever expanding Multi-Metaverse of Web 2 - 3 where more of them will come, (including retooling ones that are out there Meta / Horizon World, I'm looking at you!) I thought it would be cool to find a few things that resonated in a deeper way. There is an arena of meaning and empathy which can be transmitted in a virtual environment, and it can bring joy. We can think about incorporating that into our virtual future, because some bliss is what we earn at the end of a long day. Can we learn from notable experiences to improve the landscape for what lies in virtual front of us, literally and figuratively?
In 2005, I couldn't raise $3M for my entertainment focused virtual world where shows, series and programs would be user generated. StudioDome never happened. So I found Second Life 3 years later and produced The 1st Question, a Sci/Tech Quiz Show on "Network TV." then The Dating Casino. We had a great team, and got into working on award winning game engine cinema for years. In late 2011, I wrote an open letter which highlighted some very special things I experienced in that seminal Metaverse.
It recently came across my radar....Some highlights and comments, which might have relevance today, all the below happened in Second Life:
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The platform continues to enthuse and nourish many. I can give you a few first hand examples of a kind of experience very hard to find elsewhere. At a mixed reality event in 2009, I saw Helen Thomas and Bob Schieffer in Second Life. They were receiving the Edward R. Murrow lifetime Achievement Award. Ms. Thomas took questions from the audience, including mine and responded with candor and insight into 9/11, the press and the Bush administration.
(How do we get good journalism to come to The Metaverse?)
During the interview with Holocaust survivor Fanny Starr for the documentary "Why Now?" a Catholic High School teacher physically across the country from Ms. Starr, brought her class of 14 and 16 year old girls to hear Ms Starr speak and to ask her questions about her experience in the Concentration Camps. They asked and learned what her life was like at their age.
(How to use the Metaverse to educate about Humanitarian Crises?)
I interviewed a cancer survivor who was one of the pioneers of Relay For Life in Second Life, who had fear of needles she couldn't talk about and many other fears she didn't want to to burden her family with. She was deeply helped by the community of cancer survivors, their families and those in every stages of the disease from all over the world. The ACS RFL in SL has raised about 4 million dollars and that is real money which goes directly to them. Wonderful teams create architectural and thematic builds, part of a week long celebration, broadcast and parade.
(How do we engage the Metaverse to put us in touch with Global Health Issues?)
There was a show called Virtually Speaking Science, hosted by the Meta Institute of Computational Astrophysics (MICA) whose scientists work at premier institutions like CalTech. VS Science had hosts like authors Alan Boyle and Thomas Levenson. I was part of the listening, commenting and questioning studio audience there for interviews with Daniel Elsberg, Gloria Feldt and Dahlia Lithwick.
(How do we use the Metaverse as a Media Platform for incredibly interesting broadcasts?)
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This might not be for all, but these are high-level activities by anyone's standards and indicative of what can be. Nourishing beyond belief, not only for the content but for the shared interests of the heart and mind. People have the ability to meet from anywhere, anytime to expand their view and understanding.
It isn't shopping, but you can do that too. A producer of Virtually Speaking, Widget Whiteberry commented on that open letter of her experiences in SL:
"...as in any major city one could, with a little persistence, find anything. My favorites are live music, good conversation, intelligent builds and opportunities for reflection and networking."
(Your Metaverse needs a real directory of events and featured listings)
"....companies, who seemed to have misapprehended virtuality, confusing it for a 3-D web presence. I must have visited a dozen builds created for companies selling products and services. In all cases I could click through to a website and buy a product there. In rare cases, I could click on an information link or pick up a digital sample of whatever the product.
(Take note, you do not have to own an NFT, or figure how to get it into your wallet to make that digital connection with a product. There should be zero barriers to download for that. A company should want to send a little bit of virtual bling to their potential and existing user base.)
"I don't recall ever finding an online indicator, let alone a staff person to talk with."
(Will people be more likely to buy with an AI bot, or Person?)
Is your Metaverse providing what your end users want? The Metaverse can deliver on many things, including deeply interesting questions and provide a forum for collaborative answers.
With, or without AI....
If you have a question, please email info@pookymedia.com with Metaquette in the subject and it will be answered.
