17 May 2023

Metaquette #Virtualcapital #Capital #FWIW Q38

 Tips & Tricks for negotiating The Metaverse with........Pooky Amsterdam



We measure ourselves by a metric of worth in many ways, usually by how much we have and what we can spend. Money is a zero sum game. If I have $100 and I give you $20, I have $80 left. It's no mystery; it's math. There are many things on this Earth which are not a zero sum game though, and can be considered a form of capital. Love, for example, If I give you love, or friendship that doesn't mean I have less of either to give someone else. Time is another form of capital, and one of the resources we have which is not renewable. We often measure time against that other constant of money. But in the gaming world time is itself the new currency, and how much time you spend with and in a game or world or Metaverse will determine how meaningful that experience is to you. Most Metaverse experiences are elective, we are not required to go or to enter a Metaverse, in the same way we are not required to watch Jeopardy, or NCIS. The Metaverse is an elective activity, a choice for entertainment. So what kind of capital can we get out of that?


Q: What kinds of Capital can you get out of The Metaverse?


Capital is the concept of anything of value or benefit to its owners. Money is one. There are many others: Emotional Capital, or the feelings you get out of something; Physical Capital, either physical beauty, athletic prowess or the ability to lift your couch; Intellectual Capital, inspiring thought or the mental gymnastics or dance we perform to figure things out; Virtual capital, AI Capital, from ChatGPT to Lovelace Studios machine solutions will provide by our efforts, and prompts.

While the usual ways to obtain ka-ching from various Web 2.0 / 3.0 are through content creation, coin exchange or real estate, it is the Emotional Capital's general rule, "what you receive is what you invest" that matters. Connections with a complete stranger and a bond over shared interests or a similar sense of humor is one of the great fraternal delights found in a virtual environment. Joining a group of people around a hologram campfire can spark lifelong friendships. it starts when the friend request comes in and you come back the next day to say hi.

Your Physical capital in the Metaverse is one where your actual physical strength means nothing, because you can terraform with your mouse, lift a building with a click and everyone looks great in The Metaverse. It's a great equalizer when everyone is beautiful, it can mean who you are inside is more important than how you look.

Intellectual capital is abundant, an example is the victorious feeling one has upon figuring something out. Learning how to negotiate the terrain of the Metaverse, contributes to our skill sets of what we can do, and because of the proximity of many diverse people doing many different things, entering the Metaverse can lead to gaining knowledge about things we didn't know before. At the very least, getting around, figuring out the UI can be puzzle solving.  And as pre-visualization is a huge strength of the Metaverse, knowing beforehand tricky intricacies of a project by building them first virtually is another form of Intellectual Capital provided by these super platforms.

AI Capital is trumpeted as machine knowledge that will contribute to the growth of this platform. "The future of meetings is 3D and powered by AI." Runs the headline, certainly AI is capable of transactioning a great deal of writing, which could translate to conversation, as we see with ChatGPT. If the Metaverse can build itself, populate itself and make itself attractive to human interest there is a great deal of AI capital to be mined there too. The question of give and take is an interesting one as the more we give AI in terms of knowledge of how we operate the more it can also give us in terms of helping us solution the real and imagined problems we face. 

Enter The Metaverse for an abundance of capital, not all of which you can put into your bank account, but valuable nonetheless.


If you have a question, please email info@pookystudio.com with Metaquette in the subject line and it will be answered!