Metaquette #Metaverse #VirtualHype #HypeCycle #DAU #MAU #Time #ROI #MilkshakeTest Q32

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

Have we been to this movie before?

AltspaceVR is shuttering, Microsoft is shutting it down after its decade long run and approximately 10,000 will lose their jobs.  Meta lost $700B in valuation after pumping a lot of money in this space, which in October, Wall Street called it a train wreck, yet Meta keeps pumping money into The Metaverse. And the US Military's metaverse firm Improbable is shutting down it's US defense arm.  The Metaverse was supposed to be as ubiquitous as SmartPhones.....what happened?

There was a lot of Hype, FOMO and in the end there are just so many hours in a day for the adult end user to give to elective places to go. We aren't yet at the point where our Metaverse time rivals binge watching numbers.  Unless there is an "Emily In Paris" watch-party in Spatial with Lily Collins in the audience, which would incentivize me to get some brand spanking new virtual clothes!

And Microsoft also owns Activision Blizzard which owns World of Warcraft, among other titles. I'd love to see Balenciaga there!

Over $150B was invested in The Metaverse in 2022. And according to the Mckinsey report just cited, The Metaverse could generate $4 - 5 Trillion by 2030. Optimism is  still high. Linux is launching an Open Metaverse Foundation. And companies are still looking for the Killer app, or apps.....Can we find the place where the end users right to happiness does not interfere with profit-making? 

Q: How Does The Metaverse survive this Hype Cycle?

Does anyone remember Blue Mars? It still has 3,000 users mainly from a university affiliation. There.com? It still runs a blog and more. Even in the 1990's there were a spate of massive Multiplayer Online Games that were virtually happening even before Second Life made its debut. And Second Life is still going strong, despite having closed its VR based Metaverse called Sansar back in 2020. PS, even though SL doesn't support Sansar anymore, there is a dedicated community of people who keep it alive, and according to this events page there are things happening all the time. 

The Metaverse is Entertainment, what people get from it is what makes it tick. Here amazing people  decided the enjoyment they got was important enough to keep the platform alive without any visible means of support!

That's impressive.

The Metaverse exists, maybe not in it's ultimate mixed-reality incarnation as we are still building it, but the concept has been with us for quite a while. There is a bit of "new toyness" of this hype cycle of Web.3 and NFT gazillionaires has everyone expecting the New Metaverse to take over, on the scale of Facebook. However nothing is Facebook, not even Facebook or Meta or Horizons which are all the same company. NFT's aren't even NFTs anymore......ask Porsche.

Not everyone is going to love the Metaverse, not everyone is going to love your Metaverse, but chances are there are a lot of people who have experience in The Metaverse that this current Hype Cycle left out because they were part of Web 2.0. The Metaverse needs time to develop, needs those with prior knowledge on what makes a great user experience to assist. Because we humans are still kind of v1.0, the same problems which closed down other worlds from inactivity are still with us today. What do we want The Metaverse to do for us? Can it get that job done and pass The MilkShake Test?

In these new worlds where the virtual and the physical are one, there are still all the old problems of; why business in the Metaverse is not yet tearing it up. So the question is: Are you giving the customer what they really want for their time? At this point it takes a bit of a leap, Magic or otherwise for someone/anyone to go into The Metaverse. 

When it's as easy as turning on the TV, it will be more widely adopted. This is an entertainment option among many that competes for our time.

Does last year's $150B spend on The metaverse, mean your company's version of success is a fast ROI for the millions invested? If the measure of success is unique daily active users (DAU) and your Metaverse can't get more than 8,000 people in world at any one time but the expectation was 100,000 this week and 200,000 next week, perhaps the problem isn't with your Metaverse but the expectations for it. The goals don't seem to be to break even, but to have some presence using it as a medium for adverts, clothes, NFTs. So what you are offering the players in it besides? How do you keep this alive?

Use it as a media not a medium.

Who is going to invest the kind of money, marketing included to have a great place to play, relax, meet friends and have fun, without a guarantee? We have gone beyond the cool NFT if a blue-chip brand like Porsche can't come in and make a fortune selling them, where it's fans and wannabees can help design Porsches future in virtual worlds. That isn't good for The Metaverse? Posche should sponsor a Luxury Car Talk Show and broadcast it live: From Partyspace, Porsche Talk Live!

(AR, XR and Holographic co-reality will also become more a part of the day. As we spend a lot of time at the computer, taking augmentation with us will take us further, and get us up and outside. This might be the next wave to build on. It would be great to have an AR version of my Call of Duty Buddy as I walked down the street, a fleet of agreeable penguins or both.)

If you wanted to build a rocket ship to navigate the intergalactic gravitational superhighways, you would not need to learn how to build a plane like the Wright Brothers, but you would need to bone up on available  rocket science technology to get you to that stop. It is the same with The Metaverse, the technology that builds Multi User Virtual Environments has been around for ages. What is new is our dashboard, or the VR headsets which we need to become fully immersed. And now there is blockchain, perhaps interoperability. While that technology and those price points still have to adjust to the market and human physiology, we can still enter The Metaverse. What makes us want to find all the joys of these new worlds?

The Metaverse could be a media platform, a place to watch media alone, or with company. It is Entertainment the same way we are entertained by watching streaming series except we are the content as well. 

Cathy Hackl's amazing new What'sApp group pasted us this: 7,000 Crypto investors were asked what is the strongest Metaverse trend and just about 70% said Entertainment. This is why people keep there.com alive, why Second Life has a million MAU's after 20 years and why RecRoom, Spatial, Decentraland are places to go. Because it is Entertaining and Fun. It is all about providing entertainment to the end user, and that comes in many ways, that's our Milkshake Test, does the Metaverse experience we provide do the job of being fun and worthy of return?

The Metaverse is Entertainment, we are the media in it. Our adventures have to be part of the reward.

If you have a question email info@pookymedia.com with Metaquette in the subject and it will be answered.

Metaquette #Metaverse #MediaPlatform #Metaversemedia #MediaMetaverse #UGC #machinima Q31

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

Cinema done on machine, familiarly called machinima is returning, in fact it's never left.

About a decade ago I produced a 3-day event in Second Life which saw many people from Jason Silva to Dean Takahashi to Will Wright inhabit avatars to speak on a virtual stage about Media, and the viability and future of filmed content created from virtual worlds. The Poster for that weekend is our blog picture this week. And you can find Ricky Grove, and lots of info on contemporary machinima here.

The Metaverse is a Media Platform.  A movie set, and a moving set for avatars of business and play who visit there. The First Person Story we create is part of the greater media that is The Metaverse, as it's people based. It is a UGC platform because each person's experience is singular and their own, they are creating it there. The FPSt is part of the content created in a virtual world defined as communication, moving, interaction and / or response. As we are observing ourselves on a screen or with a display, we are media, a step away from our physical bodies. 

Q: How can you use The Metaverse as a Media Platform?

If The Metaverse is media for one, it's a media platform for many.  

Taking part in any one of a myriad of virtual happenings is your introduction to starring in your own cartoon movie every night. Look at Decentraland's weekly newsletter with a constant stream of community organized events. Fortnite has a challenge tracker. Or find something here. Joining in on the fun is being part of the show. We are the media in the game.

And we can make or buy content that act like props in your digital life movie. Streamers on YouTube, VR and  video tours of favorite things to do populate YouTube.  And can you believe Spatial has become the best place to play mixed reality shooter games? It also has ingame filming options.

If a Metaverse does not have some of its users making videos about it, that's a bad sign. And if one of them doesn't have a million views, the fan base is not motivated enough. The Gamer Gods can only do so many tutorials. This classic from Sean Kruger is one for the ages though, Man vs Second Life.

Rec Room, with 7M MAU has a video of the creation ecosystem developed with Unity. That is such a wonderful step. Maybe the Metaverse with the largest UGC wins. That has been the unifying, universal model for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter et al. UGC is what we make, what we do and what we are. 

With so many streaming and video opportunities, nothing really holds us back but a cool tag and secure password.  You want to do your own videos, streams, etc? The character is your avatar, the sets and costumes are made or purchased to your liking.  In The Metaverse we are content, and create it, just like in the physical world. 

Decide what you want to get across, whether you are a brand, a concept or an individual. The Metaverse is a malleable environment and will bend to your will. The other avatars, not so much unless what you are providing is fun, fresh and interesting.

Here are some ways to use The Metaverse as a Media Platform:

• Stream live from your, or another avatars POV: Ask random avatars a question of the day.
• Host a talk show with invited guests from around the world. All you have to do is make sure they can log in, sit down and talk.
• Create a branded community and use the backdrop for a web series. Create a storyboard first of  screenshots
• Make a gameshow, open mic, debate etc with avatar audiences and film it.
• Check out what Metaverse Explorers is doing in Party.Space. Pitch Nights which bring the community together around shared interests.

In a terrific group run by the estimeable Remco Sikkema, someone posted about a movie they saw recently. And I thought we should all pile into a metaverse and have a watch party, making comments aloud like Mystery Science Theater 3000. While I am a sit forward and engage kind of person, this is yet another way to encourage media in The Metaverse.

The Metaverse is a media platform, it can stream live or pre-recorded video and events inside and / or outside that metaverse. We also can create that media and be the content within it. Let's make that meaningful and engaging.

If you have a question, send it to info@pookymedia.com with Metaquette in the subject line and it will be answered.

Metaquette #UGC #Metaverse #MetaverseofPeople Q30

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

Word-Up: a segment of The 1st Question where the panelists competed for best made up word.

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.

.

Metaquette #Metaverse #MetaverseNewYear #Predictions2023 #2023 Q29

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

Happy MetaVerse New Year to ALL! Many people have launched themselves into these great worlds where we all log in equally. It is known as The Metaverse. Which will stick and who will perish as platforms compete for end users and brands want to use them for sales and recognition? What will our understanding of "do anything / be anything" look like even one short year from now? How many hours will people give to their virtual lives? As I have mentioned before, what one does becomes imperative for time is the new currency. Where and how we spend it in The Metaverse determines commitment, and The Metaverse needs dedicated users to flourish. An end of the year musing........

Q: Can AI help humans become better people in The Metaverse?

The growth of AI along with these newish platforms gives way to potential collaboration. Not a big leap to imagine worlds populated by AI to give a feeling of there being "others" in the Metaverse, no one wants to hang out in a virtual wasteland no matter how pretty.  Instead of "salesbots" though, maybe we need redeeming robots whose companionship delivers more than a temporary cure for loneliness. Maybe AI could create fun challenges which deliver attitude hacks, encouraging us and rewarding us for good behavior.

We as a species might not be yet ready for an app which tells us when we are being obnoxious, rude or self-absorbed in the extreme, but how about a friendly Metaverse bot who would give guidance and solace when we box ourselves into emotional corners we can't get out of? Or help with anger management? Could an AI give us emotional support, in the way that a dog, cat or pig does in real life? And better yet, as AI can speak and communicate in ways that animals can't. (That interface is still being created for animal / human verbal exchange, for those brave enough to want to know what their dog really thinks of them.)

How could this work? Moving through the Metaverse, interacting with different situations, the AI could ask questions about how one is feeling, and why. Even asking at what point the human could be inclined to be more understanding, or even kind? Then rewards would be given, perhaps of extra time, with the  AI,  if the person wanted level up, and learn how to be more compassionate too. Could the AI train the human to not be offended so easily? To have empathy for those in less financially secure places? To give bonuses for the balm of humor, which connects people? Nobody is perfect, but we can program AI to be attentive to our mindsets, which also affect our sentiments, and how we see the world. For we see the world not as it is, but as we are. I asked ChatGPT How AI can help people become better humans, and this is the response I received....

"AI has the potential to help people improve their skills and capabilities in various ways, but it is important to recognize that AI is just a tool and cannot replace the value of human compassion, empathy and ethical decision-making."

If AI could assist us by helping us play the better human game, that might be a big step. Beyond absolute truth, or falsehood, there lies doing what is morally imperative. As we enter this potentially wonderful new year, what kind of people do we want to be, not what toys do we want to own. Can AI help us find what is of greater value in terms of quality, over quantity? We have enough of the Sam Bankman-Frieds of the world whose overwhelming value to society was determined by their net worth, and how much they could "make" us. Does collecting wisdom and actionable knowledge within a game as valuable to collecting gems or weapons? 

Seems to me there is a huge niche to be filled in the compassion, empathy and moral decision-making areas of our lives. Maybe there is an app for that, there certainly is a need.

If you have a question please email info@pookymedia.com and put Metaquette in the Subject, it will be answered!

Metaquette #VIrtualTV #CommercialTelevision #Television #Entertainment #metaverse #MetaverseTV Q28

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

A Post from the Past. As we wrap up 2022, it is interesting to look back into our archives for potential grail. This was written over 10 years ago by an incredible scholar CarrieLynn D. Reinhard with whom I have co-authored papers on Television in the Metaverse. 

Entertainment is one of this spaces big offerings, and how we utilize The Metaverse will change the landscape.

Time Travelers - Baby Universe Episode 6

Q: How will Virtual World TV in the Metaverse change and challenge Commercial Television?

(Originally published April 19, 2013 by CarrieLynn D. Reinhard in Scholarly Musing.)

Tonight I attended a lecture by Sut Jhally, media and culture critic, on television that was sponsored by Concordia University and Dominican University. Dr. Jhally may be most known for his Media Education Foundation videos, such as Tough Guise and Dreamworlds, that work to critically analyze the media messages and industries that populate and permeate our pop culture and mass society. He spoke to the largely undergraduate student audience about the need to understand the profit-driven logic of a commercial media industry, like television in the United States, to understand the messages produced through such media and our relationship to the messages and the media.

Jhally made the argument that we are currently in a situation where the predominance of advertising, that which fuels commercial television, is akin to the virtual reality construct of The Matrix in the film trilogy of the same name. Like those humans being used as batteries by the robots, we television viewers are active laborers in our living rooms, producing for the commercial television industry through our attending to advertisements. It is through our laboring by watching ads that the television networks can sell airtime to advertisers and thus make a profit from producing television.

To Jhally, we are labor for the media industry, who capitalize on our labor by selling it to advertisers, and then we are paid for our labor by the television shows the media industry produces for us to enjoy. He argued that media systems are defined by what they take from us, which is our productivity.

But then does that mean we are defined by how we produce for the system? Do we not have the choice of whether to propagate or resist through our actions? Currently, for Jhally, our only role within the system is to be as products and not producers. While we may labor, our labor is what is produced; it is our product, and it is sold to the advertisers. Television sells to the advertisers our watching: we are not creating anything to sell except through our act of watching. We are, as Dallas Smythe put it, “audience-as-commodity”, or the newer version “audience-as-transmitter“. And as long as we continue to watch that which we enjoy without critiquing and challenging our relationship to television, then we will continue to be in The Matrix, receiving programming that cares little for our well-being and that may reflect a reality we do not want.

It’s why, after awhile, all of television starts to look the same…

Now, he and I both agree that new technologies make the media industry freak out and readjust their practices in order to maintain the logic of their system, i.e. their control over the means by which they generate profit. The television industry has had to adjust to remote controls, VCRs, DVRs, online streaming, and fan activities.

And now we get to why I am bringing up Jhally’s lecture on this blog. This blog is dedicated to the discussion of television production in the virtual world Second Life. Here we are dealing with a new technology — the social medium of virtual worlds — that in some ways the television industry has toyed with for marketing purposes only, bringing Heroes into Habbo or The Office into Second Life. The industry has had little consideration of this medium as a potential source for distribution and exhibition, let alone production, of television programming. Instead, individuals who could be considered amateurs or semi-professionals have taken up that aspect of the television industry, remediating aspects of the industry while forgoing the replication of other aspects.

So, then I ask you, could VWTV be the next challenge to the television industry? Another potential “freak out”?

Jhally argued that we need to take back television through what he called a revolution on the factory floor, or our living rooms in which we are laborers for the industry. Could VWTV be this revolution?

With VWTV we are seeing the turn from consumers of television to producers of television, changing the productivity in relation to television. The VWTV producers are no longer merely the products of the television industry, attentive eyeballs to sell to advertisers. They are now producers within a television industry, with their labor resulting in a product that is television programming. Television programming is no longer just their wage for being “good viewers” who stomach commercials and product placement; it is their product, to do with as they please. VWTV allows those who might have only been “audience-as-commodity” or “audience-as-transmitter” to truly become “audience-as-agent” by becoming prosumers.

So when Jhally asked how do we make the system more democratic and bring in more voices — well, I thought to myself, perhaps with VWTV. If you want more cultural participation, then what better place to start looking than a participatory culture built within the social medium that is a whole new world, a virtual world.

Or, if I might add.......in the Metaverse.

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

Metaquette #Metaverse #VirtualDebate #AI #Humans #Competition #Debatable Q27

 

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

The image for this blog comes from a book I authored long ago yet was recently able to fully illustrate with the help of Mr. Gerald Terveen, someone I know from that megalith of our times known as Facebook. His use of the image -generating AI known as Mid-Journey, with prompts inspired by my old drawings with Platos words, produced these adorable pictures for my 18-word book called Plato For Preschoolers, a chunky book attempt made years ago for young people fed up with train-plane-red-yellow-blue. Seeing my own daughter needing something else to wrap her young and formidable brain around brought me to this, but it lay waiting for 27 years, until Mid-Journey delivered what you will see if you click that link. For me, AI provided something great. It made me think, these images are from an entity which will never have children of its own, however these images are it's mind children!

And when I showed it to someone I highly respect, though I have never met her in real life either, her comment was thus: What will happen to artists? Will they be replaced in their jobs by this type of "fast food" in art? I found these questions so interesting and worthy of debate as we can't put the genie back in the bottle. Will AI inspire or discourage? And what better place to have a discussion on this than in the new virtual frontier? Because it's all about what you DO in The Metaverse, and this is interesting content.

Q: Is The Metaverse a good place to have a debate?

Yes for many reasons: It is easy to access; You can speak openly, good ideas are triggered by what others say; You can use media and/or URL's to support your opinions; the debate can take place in real time and it can also be streamed, recorded and broadcast. Right now there is no ongoing debate within the Metaverse, as people are too busy debating The Metaverse itself.

How could this be done?

The Metaverse would need to have communication, in either voice or chat, most of them do.

A place for the speakers to be able to talk without interruption, and for a limited amount of time.

Moderation tools would need to be in place,  to move the debate along yes, but also if someone was disruptive; they could be banned instantly for griefing or rudeness.

There would need to be a prize for the winning team, perhaps, though any kind of voting system could record support for the Pros & Cons. Or there could be a judge.

And opening up Zoom, recording the screen where the Metaverse is playing out would be one great way to have film of this. Or livestream with YouTube. It is an exciting possibility, and one I'd be happy to explore with you, if you are interested, because this topic does interest me greatly, and we should ask, is this good or bad? We are human and can and need to talk about issues that concern us.

What if what you are doing can in no way outshine what a machine can do? I am not talking about the power of a Dyson vacuum cleaner, or the washing machine in your basement, but on artistic merit. Are people going to be still interested in creating excellent works of art in these days of Goblin Mode? 

(Actually one of Oxford's new words of the year, the other being Metaverse, naturally!)

For everyone who fears that machines will become so talented that they replace the human desire to create, there are those who think AI is a font of inspiration and can help us achieve much more. Where and how can we have a real conversation about the pros and cons that face us in the now, and in the future? In the Metaverse we can express our fears and hopes on this topic in real time, with those who are probably vested in this more than the general population.

It isn't just imagery, but also writing as AI becomes so profoundly capable, humans remain profoundly predictable and increasingly there are more AI news article generators available, because sometimes one wants to do a blog but doesn't have the mental or time bandwidth. AI can come up with seamless articles, movies and even animation made strictly with text to image. Even comedy, witness Botnik's funny bones(?) written about in an article from 2017. How about both? This movie was 100% made with AI. Click here to see how it was done.

The new app which has everyone enthralled is Lensa - we are visual creatures us humans, and somehow take great pleasure in seeing our own faces, and nothing like augmenting those for more beauty. We do it through cosmetic surgery, filters, make-up and a variety of ways. Now we have a new way, an it takes just moments, but the rise of it is sparking issues of creator rights. StableDiffusion seems to have found a happier medium though.(Ah if only we were more concerned with the inside....but to date - there is no magical app for that!)

And check out what AI-Da said in November before The House of Lords...."AI poses a threat and an opportunity for creativity."

We know that AI can beat humans in chess, but we still play chess, we know that DeepMind can beat human Stratego players , we still play Stratego. But those are games, what about ART? And deep in my mind I believe that Van Gogh would still have painted even if he could have prompted a machine to illustrate "Sunflowers" or "A Starry Night" because the human need to create, that is what we see in our minds eye and share it with other humans is too strong, and too much a part of us.

(I just wish someone would ask all this AI how to save the world, but we don't want a machine to tell us that, do we? We would rather figure it out on our own........right? And even as I get ready to post this article, I have to ask myself if an AI could have written this?)

If you have a question, please email info@pookymedia.com with the subject of Metaquette and it will be answered.

 

#Metaquette #VirtualSummit #WorldWeb3 #MetaConference #Metaverse Q26

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

WorldWeb3Summit 2022

While The Metaverse has exploded, with seemingly daily zoomings about this verse or that verse, podcasts appearing in proliferation and truly important conferences to attend, the best place to have a summit about The Metaverse, might actually be within one. Proof of concept is made in the doing & seeing more often than not. On a riff of the old parable....You can tell someone about The Metaverse, but if you can show them how to use it they will be able to enter themselves....and grow.

Q: How effective is The Metaverse for large scale meeting with many speakers?

It can be extremely effective as the Cause for being in The Metaverse is met with the Effect of gaining information, connection and ground in your chosen area. And sometimes even more importantly, finding inspiration and that missing link you needed. We gain this by exposure to others in the interesting tangential organizations of this space, sometimes quite by chance. There is a great chemistry in The Metaverse, it's place for networking yet on an Epic scale, because materials are available which can enlighten and ignite some genius moments. The ultimate Virtual Water cooler, where proximity to all is all plus there are all kinds of different people, talking about all kinds of fascinating processes. Business be happening here. 

Last week, as this blog would have mentioned, there was a conference I spoke at. WorldWeb3Summit 2022 gave evidence that the virtual look and feel gives weight to hosting in The Metaverse.  Businesses had their speakers as well as a metaphysical presence whose outposts still remain in Spatial.  Speakers represented experienced next wave Metazens on the newer skill sets needed. Diego DuPont, the organizer provided great feedback as well. Content highlights also provided by the organizer included some interesting numbers. 

There were about 4,000 people between Spatial andAnchar's construction of Earth, for 26 speakers, 28 session, 47 Exhibitors and over 9,000 booth visits which averaged almost 200 per exhibitor. The Summit was well hooked up with Eventbrite, Voila Events and first class European design teams.  There were almost a thousand live avatar driven attendees. And although the numbers might not seem like a lot, and marketing / influencers are an important next step, but this has to begin on an approachable scale, so we can learn and build. For that, the Summit was a great success.

There is also a charitable alliance here, which gives another dimension ot how important these conferences can be. Not only in reducing carbon footprint and time / expense associated with travel, but in raising awareness and money for worthy causes, such as this education initiative in Gambia with the goal of helping millions of children get the computer skills they need.

Right now it takes nerves of steel to put together a 6 day long Metaverse Summit with 26 Speakers and 28 Sessions. This was a live event,  one cannot pull this off in The Metaverse without sufficient passion, knowledge and patience too. It was made of so many moving parts, it takes a lot and team Diego really pulled it off. With some log in difficulties the first day, it is really necessary to have lots of technical support, and they did. The audience wants ease of movement, the Speakers want connections to audience, Steamyard got very favorable reviews, 50% wanted the Summit twice a year, 43% wanted it annually. A successful conference means everyone wants to return and over 90% did. 

Meetings, Conferences, Summits, Retreats and more represent an organic growth movement for those of us who love The Metaverse both wanting, and needing to meet there. You need real experience to pull it off.