OTT & Transmedia : WILDERLANDS - Free or corporate Metaverse? by Skai C

I totally agree there are pro’s and con’s running simultaneously and the Metaverse is even morphing and expanding as we write. Big companies are now marketing goods where people pay big bucks to own a link for entry into a geographical space or an item in a computer generated virtual world. Yet nothing exists in real life, there is no physical density or tangibility to the purchases. There is even Metaverse “Real Estate” and someone recently paid 450,000 dollars to live next door to Snoop Dog on a computer screen. There is a gold rush for virtual real estate yet the crypto currency or non fungible tokens used to barter is not covered for any loss by any financial ombudsman of banks. If you wake up one morning and computer screen is black there goes your private island or mansion. I am NOT totally anti the metaverse, I appreciate the possibility of being at a global arts event or business meeting without my ass leaving the chair and this will aid many businesses, social groups and individuals. The total immersion into this world however, whereby avatars of real people interact on a 24/7 basis as a replacement for a real life is a tad scary. I’d rather improve my own world than become a replica on some make believe dystopian platform.

I agree Debbie. I was quite horrified when I first heard about it because the obvious dangers of control and dissolution of our identities. And they are still there and prominent, that's why I feel it is very important that the public becomes aware of what it is and can decide what they want to make out of it. There is for sure a real potential for connection - talking with my mother and grandmother in France from LA in a lounge where I can feel I am with them is very appealing, going to a concert in Japan too, learning tai-chi in a video game or taking any type of class with a virtual teacher right there is so much better than a zoom that sadly we need to use more and more anyways.

That's why I feel that instead of rejecting it - the metaverse is going to spread anyways, it's wiser to embrace it properly and see how it can enhance our physical reality instead of dissolving it. There is also for artists a true potential to own our creations and impressive means to create worlds and new types of artworks. Being a painter myself I couldn't deny the power of painting/sculpting in 3D with tilt brush and walking through my creation... It's different from real-life painting but it clearly has a quality of its own.

How is the search going?

@Esteban Great point “embrace the Metaverse properly instead of rejecting it.” Like yourself I dig the global unity and 3D escapism in magic new worlds. However I dread collectives of headset zomboids all brain washed to abide by certain norms to gain acceptance in virtual geographic boundaries where a puppet master’s end game for them might not even be what they are playing for. Also, it’s strange how past science fiction films/books preceded modern day web platforms. EG A 1992 film called Snow Crash depicted avatars as secret agents and numerous warring factions in a virtual world. George Orwells novel 1984 was about government control yet the end result of totalitarianism is not dissimilar to the certain amount of mind control digital corporate giants increasingly have on audiences as the Metaverse expands. It’s no longer just a case of honing in to predict what “must have” marketable goods they’ll most likely persuade us we need. Tracers, trackers, fraudulent links and occasionally spy cams have been a privacy glitch for years but now built in body censors in the latest Metaverse technology study our very core traits. Dystopia looms ever closer.

I like the way you think, Esteban. I share the same opinion and concerns about the metaverse.

Thanks Christian and Debbie. I agree, the control that can be taken by the tech giants has never existed at that degree. Yet we are going there. That's why I think it's really urgent to raise awareness about it. There are countless pioneers like Wilder Wolrd, VRChat, Decentraland who are developing open and decentralized platforms and fighting to preserve ownership, privacy and freedom. The more people understand that their future personal, financial and mental freedom is at stake, the more they can join these platforms and create alternative channels to the giant corporate ones with limitless tracking and marketing ambitions.

And yes Karen, the search is going well. There are many people interested in the debate, not so much on stage 32 though...