An article in The New Yorker caught my eye and kept me thinking about the #metaverse. As I was pondering what the writer was saying about Facebook’s strategies and positioning, it made me imagine a virtual war between consumers and companies inside the metaverse. Are individual governments obsolete in the virtual world? How will we organize and how will governance be enforced? Will each site have it’s own sheriff? Will we have virtual demonstrations and/or boycotts? Will we create virtual cities that are democratic, or will autocracies arise as brands have more power and control. Think about if you have to pay rent to Facebook for your little slice, and they have completely ridiculous HOA rules. Then what?
Social shopping is trending upward (especially in China), and in the context of the metaverse it makes sense. Now if Facebook buys Shopify, I’m going to worry. Including VR (Oculus) to make the purchase journey more engaging is next – virtual try-ons/try-outs (already available for some brands). Consider this: Imagine strolling the virtual mall with a group of friends. Being able to buy something physically gives you an NFT so you can wear/have it virtually within the metaverse, bringing your physical appearance closer to that of your virtual avatar.
With the use of AI, could you create an avatar that can perform your mental work while you are physically sleeping? I once had a boss who’s goal was to make money while he was asleep, perhaps this is way to accomplish that.
So far this week there have been articles in VentureBeat, Wired, The Economist and ABC News about the metaverse. It is more than a passing fad, and I’m going to keep my eye on this trend. Thanks to Avacon for creating the wordcloud back in 2013.
Tricia Wilcox Almas 