The end of the year is nigh! Our almost nostalgic view of the metaverse and all its accessories and accoutrements remind us that there is literally nothing new under the sun, and that’s not an entirely bad thing. Read on…
Max Air
This week Yahoo! Wanted to give us a quick refresher on what web3 actually is by using a quote from 2014 and a big name: Sir Gavin of Polkadot. Somehow we are taken on a journey where this titan of Ethereum and a few pairs of sneakers are stitched together in some tenuous segue to bring us .Swoosh.
Nike Virtual Studios, led by Ron Faris, has created a web3 platform and ecosystem that lives within the prestigious Nike universe. However, they are creating digital collections having successfully acquired RTFKT earlier this year (which if you ask me is a bigger story). .Swoosh’s first digital collection won't drop until January, so we've actually got to wait for a little while from the announcement to launch. I guess we're going to be sitting on the platform for a little bit not doing anything, which is something I really hate about these so-called experiences. Would you walk into a physical store and hang around for a bit before trying anything on? No, you’d browse first, and to browse first, you might want to play Aglet.
Why don't more people play Aglet? It's an actual game, and you can have a really great deal of fun with it, and you don't need to go on a platform to do it. You can browse, trade, and create sneaks in Aglet whilst participating in a fan universe.
Sometimes with the metaverse, it's absolutely pointless to create a world that doesn't really need to be created. But hey, as if Nikeland in Roblox isn't enough, you can now go on to .Swoosh and double your nothing.
A Rose By Any Other Name
This year’s Oxford University Press' Word of the Year is about as strong as a wet KitKat.
Goblin Mode: two words! #istandwith is technically three words and a hashtag; so what business does Metaverse have competing for Word of the Year? This is press-hugging pointless annual nonsense. But in reality (or should that be virtual insanity?) We need Metaverse to win to differentiate it from those horror brand awareness adverts currently being peddled by Meta on loop on UK Radio.
As someone who loves the Uxbridge English Dictionary (Cardiology: the study of knitwear - anyone?) The Metaverse is apparently going to be a contender, and among three leading contenders I have to say I was really looking forward to these words being something totally amazing.
I don't mean to be a pedant, but I'm going to be a pedant. I would choose Metaverse, it’s one word, but even with those credentials, the word itself, Metaverse, is becoming a bit of a boring term. Through my cynical Metacrun.ch eyes, this seems to be less of a story from IoT news about the word Metaverse, and more of a story about Tim Cook. If we’re going to use this word - can we be more evangelical and less brand aware? And in the paraphrased words of Will Smith: take that word out of Apple’s mouth.
Nothing To See Here
Do people really understand what the concept of an NFT is? If they do, then I am pretty surprised that The Register, my usually go-to favourite publication online, decided that it would be a good idea to host a news story about Europe's first NFT vending machine. Gosh, what's in this story? Not much - possibly much like the vending machine. A story without the utility of pay off is incredibly meta. LMAO (if it wasn’t so sad).
Nailed It!
Jack Cameron, at Insomnia Labs has nailed everything about web3 that we have been trying to say since 2016 in one beautiful article this week. I can't be salty about it, this is possibly my most favourite article of all time. What he's talking about here is building a seamless NFT 2.0 ecosystem with value creation. You know what value creation is, don’t you? It means stop talking money BS about your stupid NFT series and start making dreams come true. I've been banging on about this since at least 2020 because all we’ve had, for the most part throughout 2021 and 2022 is a useless shower of peddlers talking hogwash about crap they don’t understand. Bear market? Pfffft!
Jack Cameron is our hero: “for a brand to be true to its fan base, its digital assets must incorporate audience and community engagement to create a worthwhile experience and keep consumers coming back.” Of course, when I talk about this, no one listens, so, a man, yes a man, splains it, and it’s the greatest thing anyone has ever said? Wow. Well, whatever, I still love his words.
American Horror Story Season X
Speaking of communities, let’s talk about the great coin collapse of 2022. Terra(LUNA), FTX, damn, it sucks to be in crypto. Creating something that you say is by the people for the people is a big mood but somehow expected when you are reliant upon the success of what you have created by the power of influence.
The cult of personality often creates mystery religions - this isn’t a big step of the philosophy of say Dionysian worship to Silicon Valley. It's not a secret why idiot VCs pay millions of dollars for a bag of dog poo. The apple (pun intended) literally hasn’t fallen that far from the tree. Whether you are praying for rain during a drought or praying for gold when you are poor, there is always someone with big myths to take you out of your desperation zone. You didn't think I did a Master’s Degree in Classics for nothing, did you? The power of Demeter is in me.
In this week's CoinTelegraph token shock article, Anastasia Kor looks at the possibility of taking down crypto influencers to heal the market. I'm not sure that's the best way of dealing with it because wherever there are new and emerging marketplaces, there will always be influencers, regardless of what the technology or device or platform is, that's just the way it is. I would be interested, however, to figure out where there are good opportunities for people to do better homework, whether that's through things like DappRadar or WeMeta, or, another service, which does due diligence on these absolute shysters. Doing business via the EU might well look wonderfully organised but aren’t we just outsourcing a walled garden?
Putting A Ding In The Metaverse
Even the metaverse needs some love. I was really interested to have a look at Steve Jobs Garage, which is now available as a game-ish environment on the world wide web. The things that dreams are made of were innovated here. It’s Apple’s original headquarters, and you can go and have a look around. You won’t be there for long though, there’s not much to see, or do. The Woz? He’s not here. Tim Cook? Nope. Jony Ives? Remember him?
For something that has actually launched and is live, I’m missing some key places of interest or landmarks that might anchor the user to the story. As with everything Apple, I guess you have to be in it to win it.
That’s enough Metaverse for this week. Do give us feedback and thoughts!
Until next week folks!
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