‘Snow Crash’ author Neal Stephenson says the future of the Metaverse won’t require goggles – Decrypt

Neal Stephenson coined the term “metaverse” in his 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash. 30 years later, Sotheby’s is auctioning rarities associated with the book, and Stephenson is working on a new layer-1 blockchain company for the Metaverse, Lamina 1. The company’s stated purpose is to help creators build an “open metaverse,” a term Stephenson says he uses to differentiate it from current corporate versions of the metaverse.

Calling it an “open” metaverse, Stephenson said on the latest episode of Decrypt’s GM podcast, “Works pretty well. I think people understand the way it works: Companies stick to one word.” and use it for their purposes in a way that helps them achieve their goals as a business, and it’s left to us as consumers to look into that and Expect to doubt that.”

So, what is the open metaverse, and what is it not?

Stephenson said that he thinks two main things go wrong when people talk about the metaverse these days.

One mistake people make, Stephenson said, is “talking about a metaverse or multiple metaverses that I think is wrong, that’s always a sign to me that someone doesn’t get it.” In Stephenson’s view, there is a metaverse like the Internet, and companies creating closed metaverse environments aren’t getting it.

This does not mean that there will not be games that are closed areas. Stephenson said that game designers who “create coherent worlds that are masterfully crafted” aren’t about making their games completely open areas where you can bring digital items from some completely different game. Stephenson said, “If someone brings a sniper rifle to my football game or whatever, it’s just an abomination aesthetically, and it doesn’t affect what I do as an art director or game designer.” Shows disrespect for.” “I hope that games will continue to exist as pure works of art like they are now. But there are also games that are mashups of very popular games that are aesthetically pleasing, right?”

His examples of such games: Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox—games that have a “mashup kind of feel, which I think is very close to the feeling of the metaverse described in Snow Crash.”

Another mistake people make, Stephenson said, is “to assume it’s always about using glasses, which is a reasonable assumption.” “I mean, it’s like that in the book and in other depictions of virtual reality and fiction. It seemed like a logical assumption at the time that it would be the output device. But it didn’t. What happened was that everyone was using these 3D Accessing the world through two-dimensional flat rectangles on a flat screen. And it works really well. In some ways, it works better than using glasses for a variety of reasons.”

Stephenson isn’t saying that no one will make and sell VR headsets. Apple’s highly anticipated mixed-reality headset is coming soon. “To be clear, I’m not anti-headset,” Stephenson cautioned. “I know people who build those things for a living and their capabilities are amazing and getting better all the time. You just have to look at the reality of how people approach these things. Today, you Can’t spend tens or hundreds of millions of dollars creating an experience that can only be used by the tiny minority of people who have these things. So you have to make it work on a flat screen as well.

Listen to the full episode and subscribe to The GM Podcast.

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