Usually the open source community is very scattered, there are many groups developing similar projects like operating systems for instance. If all open source developers focused on the same system it would be miles ahead of the proprietary alternative but it’s usually the other way around. I think with the Metaverse is important that we focus early on a single project because if the Metaverse gains traction everyone may end up living in Facebook’s virtual reality and that would be the same as if we considered Mark Zuckerberg to be our god.
Forget the Metaverse. We’re at very early days with VR. Just spend some time using an Oculus, play some games, and then try to imagine what it would be like to have the thing on for longer than 30-60 minutes. First there’s making these things comfortable. Then there’s making these virtual environments useful for something besides games.
I’ve spent the last several days diving into VR, trying to see if I’d want to work inside it, if it would provide any benefits, and documenting the issues.
There are many issues. It’s so disconnected from our normal digital lives. Facebook buying Oculus screwed it up (there are scripts to de-facebook the device apparently) and resolution still isn’t great.
If you want to get involved with FOSS VR, check out Lovr. There’s a neat in-VR Lua editor (inDeck) that you can use to develop whatever you want. In my case, I feel a big strength of VR is control of attention since you can’t see anything that wasn’t intentionally put there. So, in pursuit of a better development and writing environment I started a new repo. Here’s a little video of what it looks like. https://c4.social/@weex/107556016704877363
Anyway, I wouldn’t worry. Code if you want. Write about your vision. Join efforts like Lovr or help me out with my repo. Let’s not get sucked into the shiny object they’ll be pedaling with their billions and just work toward the world, virtual or not, that we want.
Eh, I think I’m at a very different place. Yes, it’s true that it’s in early stages, and the rollout and media talk at the current moment if probably influenced by public criticism of Facebook rather than the technology being ready.
However, one of the largest companies in the world is working on it, and elevating it to a central strategic objective. They are seeking to set the trajectory of the whole technology, possibly creating new cultural norms, possibly setting everything on a centralized framework instead of open protocols, and possibly creating a whole new set of issues relating to access, privatization, democracy, spread of misinformation, and power. We could easily look back in 20-30 years and say we wish that robust alternatives were opposed in the beginning.
So while I ate there’s nothing much to do and nutting to be done right now, I think facebooks involvement should be considered a significant thing to reckon with.