beautiful post, I really relate! I’m 39, I recognise the blockchain space as something of interest to me because I’ve been active and vocal in the space of self-organisation, alternative value distribution models etc for over a decade now — and it has its roots in that sort of stuff, albeit with a much more anarcho-capitalist slant than I’d like.
I feel the same re the metaverse though…totally dismissed its value and relevance, then I speak to my friend’s 13 year old daughter and she tells me she hangs out with her friends (teenagers like her from all over the world) in virtual reality already, where they watch movies together, dance & party or just lounge about in virtual space.
I still don’t love the vision at all (it’s dystopian to me even), but I realise that it’s partially a generational thing.
Oh, I relate to this.
To me, the metaverse seems dystopian. I feel people are being offered a degraded version of life because that’s cheaper, and accepting it because it’s more convenient. Like there’s a mass forgetting of offline life and how infinite and potent it is compared to being permanently online. But permanently online is safe, and convenient. It tempts everyone including me. I just don’t think it’s a good life.
(I only partly kid. Much as I’m a big ol internet nerd myself, it seems clear that a significant part of the appeal and refuge these products offer is in relation to our increasing impoverishment when it comes to public and social structures - there are fewer and fewer spaces for people, especially kids and young people, to be that aren’t greatly regulated or expensive, or just fucking boring )
actually one could consider Elektronauts a type of metaverse, wouldn’t be too much different if we were avatars chatting with word bubbles or if they were posts on a forum right? Actually most of those metaverses are free to participate in, just like elektronauts.
VR chat, roblox, minecraft, tf2 etc all have had “chat room” like servers… this is no different except the assets (if you so choose to buy them) are tradeable for assets that can be turned into $ and interoperable across platforms, so assets arent dead if platform dies/evolves/comes out with version 2
You’re right, in that there’s not a huge difference between a web forum and the ‘metaverse’. But that demonstrates how profoundly un-revolutionary the metaverse is. I prefer a text-based forum anyway. It forces people to think more about what they’re saying.
And the idea of ‘assets’ that are interoperable across platforms - seems like a neat gimmick for gamers, but irrelevant to everyone else. I don’t have a neon suit of armour that I’ve spent 3000 hours acquiring or whatever. Besides which, there are significant engineering problems relating to security and interoperability; is it worth it to satiate the ego of a few people who think others will be impressed by their Louis Vuitton NFT handbag or whatever?
What we have is venture capital spending billions trying to force us to participate in an Internet designed by and for socially maladjusted teenage boys. who can imagine nothing cooler than Lamborghinis, silicon titties, and game loot. I don’t want those remaining corners of the Internet that are actually valuable to be polluted by their garbage.
musicians will heavily embrace NFTs;
sample packs, midi data, provenance on chain without needing a third party to verify is absolutely a game changer and innovative.
Oh you want to use my sample pack- sure i will make 100 copies of it and if you publish some music using it that’s totally fine as I can check on chain to verify that you simply aren’t pirating it or getting it from your buddy
My big problem with NFT art is it feels like a way to bring everything I hated about the fine art world into other arts. Its just a way to make art more exclusive and targeted towards the rich imo. Which is the main reason I moved away from fine art painting (what I went to school for).
there’s a side to it that has nothing to do with speculating- you can publish your art on a site that utilizes IPFS, deeming your file permanent forever, and even accessible from space. I’ve made more selling some pieces than i have in the last 5 years of making art. but of course ymmv!
thats what was auctioned, i mean i understand this might not be everyone’s cup of tea but it is stored as a file that normally would never be accepted at that size on most sites
Yeah I mean I am all for artists getting paid especially for art that maybe had trouble finding a space before like people making short animated gifs and stuff… but yeah I suppose I still worry about some artist getting stuck with a big bill of unsold NFTs or something.
I am deeply skeptical of crypto and NFTs…it all smells like Ponzi to me…but not all NFTs are bad art. Without a doubt the vast majority is absolute rubbish, but there are a few artists publishing some extraordinary digital art this way.
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