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Comment by PaulHoule | Hacker News Reader

At risk of sounding hyped-up, I’d say that generative A.I. could be a major factor for the success of “the metaverse” in that it would make it easier for brands and users to create interesting 3-d objects and environments. I’d also look at progress in things like neural radiance fields that could make it possible to take a moderate number of pictures of a place and create a VR model you can visit.

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I agree those things are easier (or more accessible) now, but I don't think that was the major thing holding back people from using the metaverse.

I'd second the idea that this was not the major thing holding back adoption of the metaverse.

Frankly, even if they announced a program to give free Oculus headsets to anyone who wanted one, I still wouldn't want to start using the metaverse. Judging by the other comments on this post, I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way.

I was given a free Oculus headset in late 2021. The novelty wore off after a couple of weeks, and I've barely used it since.

Megacorps can (thankfully) barely swim in new waters. These guys didn’t even start out in a completely new field.

The hubris when they think they can just create a new entire platform which people have no experience with, no mistakes to learn from etc. Especially so when the ones taking the wheel are anxious upper-mid PMs which are used to AB-test a color changed button for engagement improvements. It may sound harsh, but I can assure you that many, many of these decision makers haven’t even played Minecraft/Roblox etc and have no idea what would be compelling to “real” people. That’s why you get a remote office in the metaverse, because that’s at least one thing they live and breathe.

In my view, novel areas need grassroots “see what sticks” type of innovation, often by tiny teams/passion oriented nerds. I think the gaming world, with all its faults, understand this MUCH better than the FAANGS, because they simply have to.

As a counter-example, I’d point to Apple developing the smartphone market, although many big corps tries and failed before Apple.

I think Facebook though has a special cluelessness/arrogance which might be more widely shared by the ‘new monopolists’ of two-sided markets who inevitably mistake their luck of the draw (having the two sided marker) for their own merit and skill. Thus that kind of company can be world-leading and senescent at the same time.

Yeah thanks for filling in the gap, this is indeed very true. It’s also known as the Steve Jobs complex, and is a common yet medically serious self-delusion plaguing many of our poor tech billionaires today.

I think that whole journey is gravely misrepresented and narrativized. Much because Jobs died on such a high note. And also because people like the blackberry -> iPhone story more than they like the iPod -> iPhone story.

Also, Zuckerberg is desperately craving an ecosystem because he wants a land to rule, not because he’s a nit picky design fascist like Jobs. I think the App Store as a business success was much more a lucky side effect than people post-rationalize.

I think hardware is the biggest barrier to Zuckerberg's view of the metaverse. It's not good enough yet.

A close second is that the users and the interesting content are largely in other non-VR metaverses (like Roblox, Fortnite). Making it easy to make content probably benefits those just as much.

Starting to work on the experiences in 2d-screen-land while working on the VR hardware in parallel looks like the move that Facebook missed.

I think of Decentralland, which, lame as it is, is possible to experience just fine with a web browser.

Overall though i think it is software/content that is the real problem. Horizon Worlds isn’t any more interesting or fun than Decentralland. As much as Zuckerberg claims to be inspired by Ready Player One it’s hard to believe he saw the book or watched the movie (or played and video games) as he certainly didn’t understand what makes a compelling experience.

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