Samsung Held An Event In the Metaverse. And It Didn't Quite Go To Plan (cnbc.com) 62
Samsung held a launch event for its new Galaxy smartphones in a metaverse this week but many people struggled to gain access as they encountered technical difficulties. CNBC reports: The South Korean tech giant hosted the event Wednesday on Decentraland, a cryptocurrency-focused virtual world that users can create, explore and trade in. Decentraland, one of many metaverse efforts, is accessed via a desktop browser. Users create an avatar which they can then navigate around the blockchain-powered virtual world using a mouse and keyboard -- something that isn't exactly intuitive for non-gamers. The event specifically took place in Samsung 837X, a virtual building that Samsung has built on Decentraland that's designed to be a replica of its flagship New York experience center. Samsung 837X is there all the time but there just happened to be an event inside the building's "Connectivity Theatre" on Wednesday. But CNBC, and many others, struggled to find the 837X building and when we did many of us were unable to gain access to it.
When an avatar is first created on Decentraland, it lands in a sort of atrium where clouds appear to be gliding across the floor. There's a round pool in the middle that has a worrying vortex in the center. Our avatar was soon surrounded by around 20 others. A chat box in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen was full of messages like "help" and "I hate this game." One user named claireinnit#87fa, boldly claimed "we're in the ----in future." On the opposite side of the intimidating pool, three large boards read "classics, events and crowd." An ad for Samsung 837X hang on the "crowd" board. Once clicked (easier said than done), you're then given the option to "jump in." After jumping in, you're transported to Samsung's little world on Decentraland and you can see the 837X building. There's a pizza store next door, but not much else.
CNBC immediately noticed a large line of people at the main entrance to the 837X building. People were struggling to get in. Some users were getting their avatars to jump on other people's heads as they clambered to the front of the queue but it didn't help. The doors wouldn't open and the chatbox was again full of pleas for help. A rumor circulated that a YouTuber had managed to find a way in, while a CNET journalist wrote on Twitter that they had managed to gain access by switching to the "ATHENA" server. It wasn't immediately obvious how to do this. "Many people were unable to actually enter Samsung 837X before the event started," wrote CNET's Russell Holly. [...] After around 30 minutes of trying to access Samsung's building in the metaverse, CNBC gave up and went back to the real world.
When an avatar is first created on Decentraland, it lands in a sort of atrium where clouds appear to be gliding across the floor. There's a round pool in the middle that has a worrying vortex in the center. Our avatar was soon surrounded by around 20 others. A chat box in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen was full of messages like "help" and "I hate this game." One user named claireinnit#87fa, boldly claimed "we're in the ----in future." On the opposite side of the intimidating pool, three large boards read "classics, events and crowd." An ad for Samsung 837X hang on the "crowd" board. Once clicked (easier said than done), you're then given the option to "jump in." After jumping in, you're transported to Samsung's little world on Decentraland and you can see the 837X building. There's a pizza store next door, but not much else.
CNBC immediately noticed a large line of people at the main entrance to the 837X building. People were struggling to get in. Some users were getting their avatars to jump on other people's heads as they clambered to the front of the queue but it didn't help. The doors wouldn't open and the chatbox was again full of pleas for help. A rumor circulated that a YouTuber had managed to find a way in, while a CNET journalist wrote on Twitter that they had managed to gain access by switching to the "ATHENA" server. It wasn't immediately obvious how to do this. "Many people were unable to actually enter Samsung 837X before the event started," wrote CNET's Russell Holly. [...] After around 30 minutes of trying to access Samsung's building in the metaverse, CNBC gave up and went back to the real world.
How did "Metaverse" come into common use so fast (Score:5, Interesting)
One thing I find a bit puzzling is how quickly the term "Virtual Reality" has turned into "Metaverse".
I know Facebook is giant and they switched to using Meta, I think even coined the term Metaverse (probably someone else before them used it but I sure do not remember who), but why did everyone else?
This event was hosted at Decentraland, it just seems odd to refer to it using a term laden with Facebook branding, as generic as that term may seem.
Re:How did "Metaverse" come into common use so fas (Score:5, Informative)
Neal Stephenson used it back somewhere in the 90's. So it's not 'new', or 'original'. A bit like faecesbook themselves.
Re:How did "Metaverse" come into common use so fas (Score:4, Informative)
Correct. He coined the term in his 1992 novel, Snow Crash.
All Facebook does is reinvent other people's products. i.e.
* Friendster (2002)
* MySpace (2003)
* Hi5 (2004)
* Facebook (2004)
Re:How did "Metaverse" come into common use so fas (Score:5, Funny)
Second Life?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Somehow it still has some 800000 active players. So yeah, it had a first life, just like anyone's life hiding in the parents basement that you never see or hear about.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Hehe, that too. Why do you think Meta's Horizon Worlds has avatars that don't show anything from the waist down but is more interested in safe spaces [oculus.com]?
Is it called "meta" because avatars having no legs in world symbolizes that the project has no legs to stand on? /s
--
NFT = Nitwits Financial Trading
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Correct. He coined the term in his 1992 novel, Snow Crash.
Huh, can't believe I forgot that was a term in Snow Crash... been a while since I read it I guess.
So I guess Facebook's use of this old term just triggered everyone else to start using it suddenly, though it still seems a bit odd when everyone had mostly been ignoring the term for decades, and current use is still kind of giving Facebook some PR for its current use.
Re: (Score:2)
Remember the whole "Pivot to video" fiasco a few years back? An entire industry of
Re: (Score:1)
Zuckerberg has probably read the book, but thinks L. Bob Rife was the hero.
I don't know who will even read this response but I have to say this was the best comment in the thread. :-)
Re: (Score:3)
"Multi User Dungeon" games go back to the late 70's; and were a thing back when it was still "ARPANET" and for feds and nerds at select universities. MMORPGs basically came directly out of that background; with some dispute over exactly where the boundary betwe
"Metaverse" ="DUMBverse" (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Or more like meta consumer [youtube.com]
--
NFT = No Fucking Thanks.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
Re: (Score:1)
You could do a 5-second search and find out. It's not like it's a huge mystery. Try harder.
Re: (Score:3)
It's also wrong to call it "the metaverse," when in fact it is one of many.
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps it should be "Metaverse(TM)" when used so specifically as an old term is being co-opted here...
Re: (Score:3)
I think the difference between metaverse and normal VR is that metaverse is supposed to be a shared space. Like the difference between website and Facebook. Facebook is a website, but it's the social network aspect that differentiates it from a single subject website.
Obviously it's mostly marketing bollocks.
Re: (Score:3)
No, nothing is new. The metaverse is a term dating back to the 80s or so, and people have been working on it since the 90s. Think of it as basically a really big MMORPG and you'll basically see that's what it is.
VR has nothing to do with it, other than being able to do it in first person view in 3D, but you can access it perfectly well on a 2D screen.
It's really just a big combination of MMORPG, Zoom/web conferencing software and a virtual playground like second life. The only "hard part" is basically getti
Re: How did "Metaverse" come into common use so fa (Score:2)
Journalists that want to seem cool and informed. I mean, word choice is a thing. The fact is that Facebook glommed into a term that is expressive and descriptive.
That they could somehow trademark a term that's been current since the book Snow Crash was relaxed in the 1980s I think.
Re: (Score:2)
I know Facebook is giant and they switched to using Meta, I think even coined the term Metaverse (probably someone else before them used it but I sure do not remember who), but why did everyone else?
Everyone else is riding Zuckerfuck's dick, hopefully (in their minds) to profit. Like it or not he's got a lot of mindshare.
Crowds! Virtual worlds recreating the (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Crowds! Virtual worlds recreating the disliked parts of reality first!
And queues. More than one comedian has opined that when you get sent to Hell, you will eventually be tortured for all eternity. But first you will have to wait in a queue. You'll only be in the queue for half of eternity, but it will feel longer. Much like visiting Disneyworld.
tldr; (Score:2)
You see, they (Score:1)
had a hard time waking the audience.
So CNBC didn't try and learn ahead of time? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Blockchain is how they turn real power into virtual power.
Re:So CNBC didn't try and learn ahead of time? (Score:4, Insightful)
There's considerable value in an honest first view.
There's no reason why it should be difficult, many games have figured out tutorials that lead you by the hand through difficult introductions.
Re: (Score:2)
I will respectfully disagree. Everything takes learning.
First time using a keyboard. First time driving. If you're going to have to use Zoom, Teams, WebEx, or any other communications software to do an interview, you set it up and learn how to use it in advance.
There's no reason why it should be difficult.
Should doesn't factor in. It's an operational reality.
Re: So CNBC didn't try and learn ahead of time? (Score:2)
So the reality is that the experience was reported on faithfully.
Re: (Score:2)
There's no reason why it should be difficult, many games have figured out tutorials that lead you by the hand through difficult introductions.
Centraland or whatever the fuck didn't even need that much, although a basic controls tutorial is an obvious first step. If this had been a real world event, Samsung would have had a representative standing in the lobby, directing people. There would be Samsung representatives, with obvious Samsung badging on their uniforms, directing people every step of the way, from the lobby to the venue, into the building and to the theater.
Samsung screwed up by the numbers and I am amused by the gaping chasm in thei
So people are clueless in VR too (Score:3)
That's reassuring. For a minute I wondered if I would feel inadequate in this brave new world.
Time to jump right in and hate where I am just as much as in real-life then!
QQQ (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, a Jan 6 simulation.
Even worse than when Sun tried this in 2006 (Score:2)
https://www.networkworld.com/article/2299667/sun-execs-shine-in-second-life-virtual-world.html
I kept trying to find screenshots of the event, but apparently none of the 60 people who showed up bothered to record anything there.
So basically it's like any so-so multiplayer game? (Score:3)
Seriously, this whole 'meta' crap kills me -- for most of here who are gamers and sci-fi fans, NOTHING about this is new in concept or even implementation. I find the coverage of this interesting like it's something amazing. Most VR headsets (I have a Vive Pro) have done this stuff for years, and even before VR, as people mentioned authors like William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Melissa Scott et. al wrote about this literally decades ago -- Neuromancer came out in 1984 ffs...
Re: (Score:2)
Gibson's story Burning Chrome which coined the term "cyberspace" came out in 82. Literally 40 years ago.
I tried out Second Life in 2008 or so. It sucked.
Re: (Score:2)
Or True Names by Vernor Vinge in 1981
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The real art to tech innovation isn't predicting *what*, but timing precisely *when*. People think Steve Jobs was a brilliantly creative, but ne never created anything that hadn't been tried before. His true genius was analytical rather than creative. It was recognizing the precise moment when an idea that was *possible* became *practical to sell to people*.
The fundamental problem with Meta is that it isn't being driven by opportunism, but rather organizational need. After years of consistent near expon
Re: (Score:2)
Good points. I also think Zuckerberg has long since left the young, innovative, startup mindset he had years ago when he was getting things off the ground. Now, I think the perception (which I feel is accurate) is of someone whose major/sole focus is on the balance sheet, advertising & transactional thinking -- I doubt he has the excitement for innovation for its own sake anymore, and recent news and 'exposes' from former employees, shows he is anything but idealistic or cares about people basically (su
Re: (Score:2)
I would dispute the assertion that Zuckerberg was all that "innovative". He was ruthlessly opportunistic while doing stuff that was generally "in the air" from a fortunate position inside an Ivy League school. That gave the company a leg up attracting investors over others doing exactly the same thing.
So now (Score:2)
Every 3D game will be a "Metaverse", right?
Reality, boring, but tough to beat (Score:5, Insightful)
Honestly, it's sad we have a group of very wealthy people that are obsessed with 80s sci-fi and have almost no real-life social skills trying to drive this technology to try and change the rules that they don't understand.
Social media destroyed journalism and the very notions of factual information. Addressing that and strengthening fact checking and news services seems like a good idea. Nope, we've got nausea inducing helmets with crap graphics to push.
All this potential, all these resources, just wasted on crypto and meta whatever. Just build better tools already.
P.S. Virtual Reality constantly ignores the very subtle way we use very small motions of our eyes and heads to gain depth information and how tuned to the actual world all that is. The Uncanny Valley is a massive, massive gap to cross.
Re: (Score:2)
Journalism was on the way out long before social media. They repeated the lies of the US government about Iraq. They repeated the lies of the US government about Vietnam. Barbara Walters was one of the biggest interviewers in the world and was well respected. Remember when she attacked Corey Feldman for outing how rampant sexual assault was in Hollywood? Now in hindsight we find out Barbara Walters was in Jeffrey Epstein's circle of friends and was certainly aware if not worse.
They knew. They all knew
Re: (Score:2)
What's wrong with that, you filthy replicant! And git your DeLorean off my lawn!
What is the point exactly? (Score:3)
If I watch it live with a camera or cameras giving me the best seat and best sound and without the large group shared experience (I can share it with those in a smaller group family etc.
Metaverse/VR etc don't give the shared experience and so far I have only seen graphics that look like a game from the early 2000's. with the exception of 2d pictures and video which would be better directly on my screen without a cumbersome headset.
The event was great success! (Score:5, Insightful)
Sounds like it was very educational for everybody involved.
Re: (Score:2)
Jamming together buzzwords (Score:5, Funny)
What does that even mean? A decentralised continuous-validation identification thing is glued together with some mutual-interaction piece of cyberspace?
So ... somehow the "blockchain" thing is intended to anchor the avatars "in-world" to validated real-world identities? And perhaps also prevent control of an avatar being moved to a different real-world identity later?
I don't see the benefit. It's not going to prevent GreyHatGuy passing the laptop to BlackHatGuy in mid-session. It's not going to prevent GreyHatGuy setting up a "in-world" account, then passing the access credentials to BlackHatGuy outside the session, after which BlackHatGuy controls an identity associated with GreyHatGuy. And it's not going to make life easier for WhiteHatGuy, whose computer lets the magic smoke out between sessions and can't any longer provide the credentials for controlling his "in-world" identity.
Marketing hype - and unsurprisingly the programmers given this dead horse to race, produced a dead horse leaking maggots. I'm sure the maggots were beautifully rendered in wonderful 4d hyperspectral colours, but they're still maggots leaking from a dead horse undergoing a severe flogging.
Re: Jamming together buzzwords (Score:2)
Small wonder (Score:2)
It's a Samsung, not a trick.
Re: (Score:2)
At least the place didn't explode.
Insert Obligagory Second Life Reference Here (Score:1)
not a metaverse (Score:2)
3D environment != metaverse
Stop it.
metaverse (Score:1)