We're stuck at home for a while
Bi-weekly update with the latest insights from the Metaverse: news, posts, creations and communities.
I found a great meme today that said: “There are 15 days left. It doesn’t matter when you ready this”. We’ve been in strict confinement for over 5 weeks now here in Spain and it’s starting to feel that way. I hope everyone is well and I want to share my appreciation to all those doing their part to keep us safe and also those who keep us entertained.
It’s been a slow couple weeks news wise, but some really cool things have happened in the Metaverse. Take this birthday party in Hubs:
I’ve seen Zoom weddings, but Dan has definitely pushed Hub’s capabilities to have the best possible birthday while confined. Events continue to happen in VR, we’re still thinking about the hard problems and time continues to move forward. Read ahead some of the most interesting things I’ve found.
I wish you all the best and see you again soon!
Food for thought
Maybe Fortnite will organically evolve into the Metaverse: The Washington Post gets into the Metaverse conversation starting with Fortnite. It’s true that it’s the current popular place to hang out online, but I saw a great tweet that I can’t find that if Fortnite were to become mainstream, the cool kids would move on to another platform. I think most will agree that the Metaverse needs to be open for anyone to create what they need, and unless Fornite opens up and develops the creation tools, it will just be one other silo on the Internet. [Link]
Mixed Reality privacy threats: Diane Hosfelt at Mozilla has written a great document that summarizes the possible privacy threats from data collected by MR applications. She makes the important point that companies are not obliged to think about all the ethical issues around their products. It’s up to us to educate the public about the risks of using MR software an the danger is as high as it’s ever been. [Link]
Mozilla Hubs’ master plan: Greg Fodor has published on Medium an updated version of the ideas behind how Hubs is pushing for the open Metaverse. Based on a document previously on Github, it outlines how the Metaverse needs to make use of the Web’s features (URLs, cross-platform support..) and add some extra things like 3D creation tools and easy to set up servers to host our content. I’m confident on how well that team understands the needs of the platform. They always seem to be focusing on exactly the most important feature at each point in team. [Link]
Cool Creations
Unity WebXR exporter gets an update: It has been updated to support WebXR. This could be a great way for non-Web developers to get started with WebXR and easily publish their creations in a very accessible way. [Link]
Treasure hunt in Mozilla Hubs: They made a treasure hunt virtual world for their 6 year old niece. It’s a really creative use of Hubs and they ended up having a whole family experience, love it! [Link]
Interesting Meetups & Communities
Gamesbeat Summit 2020, talk on the Metaverse: Gamesbeat Summit is also moving to a digital format and will be hosting a talk on the Metaverse. Panelists will be Philip Rosedale of High Fidelity, Matthew Ball of Epyllion Industries, Raph Koster of Playable Worlds, Frederic Descamps of Manticore Games, and moderator Sam Englebardt of Galaxy Interactive. [Link]
Thanks for tuning in, that’s it for today. If you find anything interesting that we should post in the next one, reach out via Twitter or Email.
See you in 2 weeks!
Alberto