Virtual worlds should be as much of an expression of the people designing and living in them as possible. With the creator tools we already have and semi-open platforms like Roblox or Minecraft we can build pretty much anything within them. You could argue that even Minecraft obeys a little too much to the laws of the physical world but it wasn’t built as a metaverse platform so you can forgive it a little.
https://medium.com/@theo/the-metaphysical-war-for-the-metaverse-were-already-losing-ba576339a3e2
Category Archives: video games
The Gamification of Humanity
When did daily life come to feel so much like a competition? In “You’ve Been Played,” Adrian Hon traces how and why gamification — the application of video-game principles like experience points, streaks, leader boards, badges and special challenges — has come to suffuse nearly every aspect of human existence in the digital era. Examples range from exercise (Nike, Strava), housework (Chore Wars) and brushing your teeth (Pokémon Smile), to — more disturbingly — going to school (ClassDojo) or work (Amazon warehouses’ PicksInSpace).
Hon slips easily between the perspectives of expert, enthusiast and critic. An education in neuroscience informs his explanation of the behaviorist underpinnings of gamification. And in his capacity leading the games company behind the popular running app Zombies, Run!, much of his working life is spent tussling with these issues. Some of the book’s most insightful moments come when Hon discusses how his team considers ethics and user experience when deciding how much to use gamification tricks in their own work.
https://www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/books/review/youve-been-played-adrian-hon.amp.html
Chief Metaverse Officers Are Getting Million-Dollar Paydays. So What Do They Do All Day?
Pressure to keep up with tech trends has spawned new C-suite titles for decades. The 1980s saw the rise of the chief information officer, who understood the inner workings of IT and how it applied to broader business strategy. Later, chief technology officers emerged as big-picture thinkers who could evaluate developing technologies and how they might be used in the long term. More recently, chief digital officers have sought to modernize outdated business practices so companies don’t get “Amazoned,” or steamrolled by a nimbler, more tech-savvy rival.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-22/what-is-a-chief-metaverse-officer-and-do-you-need-one
The subculture history of the internet – Cyberpunk [1990] Documentary
Discord: The Server as Community
Discord users create their own ‘servers,’ which are chat rooms enabling collaborations over mutually interesting topics of any kind: teachers setting up classrooms, politicians organizing campaign meetings or artists discussing their work. Today, many fashion and luxury brands invest in Discord as a space where culture, entertainment and gaming collide. It’s a place where brands can give communities incentives to co-create and sometimes own a piece of the brand, product or service.
https://medium.com/frog-voices/discord-the-server-as-community-7a958c8ba67c
Autistic People Are Better at Reading Emotions in Cartoons
When presented with drawings or cartoons of the eyes, people on the autism spectrum were better at naming the emotion conveyed than those with no diagnosis of ASD.
https://neurosciencenews.com/asd-cartoon-emotion-21179/
One Year After Beeple, the NFT Has Changed Artists. Has It Changed Art?
And yet for all his success Gerrard feels that the art world has mostly turned its back on digital work like his, in favor of the paintings that dominate an ever more conservative and analog scene. The popularity of NFTs might lead to something like a new gallery neighborhood, the equivalent of Chelsea or TriBeCa in New York — except that it would be virtual, a marketplace for the most fascinating of digital files instead of brilliant objects.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/arts/design/nft-art-beeple.html
An esports revolution is sweeping through Brazil’s favelas
Born In The Metaverse: Will RTFKT’s New Avatar Project Be The Next Big Thing In NFTs And Fashion?
With more brands like Dolce & Gabbana and celebrities like Doja Cat recently launching NFTs, some brands still have a wait-and-see attitude. Brands are having to rethink how they engage with audiences in virtual spaces, where authenticity and community are kings, and the old advertising ways of Madison Avenue no longer work.
The cinemas now hiring out their screens to gamers
“When thinking about how to make use of empty cinema spaces, I noticed that games nowadays boast excellent graphics and well structured stories just like movies,” he says. “Both have a storytelling aspect to them, so if someone can enjoy watching a film in the cinema, I thought they would also enjoy playing computer games in one.” Read more (BBC)
Analyzing Trends with Tim Stock 