Apple Not Among Founding Metaverse Standards Forum Members

[sideshowuniqueuser]

In an effort to prove that it is not corrupt, Meta has hand-picked members to form its “anti-corruption” committee. Nothing odd here…

"The forum is open to any organization at no cost"

As far as I can read it, this is about creating for AR/VR, the equivalent of HTML, XML, HTTPS, etc, basically all the open standards of the internet that let everyone interoperate and communicate successfully, efficiently, securely, and without prohibitive royalties for the most fundamental things.

A lot of people have spat the dummy purely because zuckerface is a part of it, rather than stopping to pay attention to what this actually is.

Meanwhile, Apple goes about deliberately creating it's blue/green bubbles for AR/VR. Good one Apple, more proprietary lock in, as usual.

When Meta aims for FOSS, and Apple aims for proprietary, that's when you've gotta start wondering which is the most evil of them.

 

[cababah]

"The forum is open to any organization at no cost"

As far as I can read it, this is about creating for AR/VR, the equivalent of HTML, XML, HTTPS, etc, basically all the open standards of the internet that let everyone interoperate and communicate successfully, efficiently, securely, and without prohibitive royalties for the most fundamental things.

A lot of people have spat the dummy purely because zuckerface is a part of it, rather than stopping to pay attention to what this actually is.

Meanwhile, Apple goes about deliberately creating it's blue/green bubbles for AR/VR. Good one Apple, more proprietary lock in, as usual.

When Meta aims for FOSS, and Apple aims for proprietary, that's when you've gotta start wondering which is the most evil of them.

Not sure if you got the joke/sarcasm aspect of it but thanks for sharing that information!

 

[wonderings]

Can you explain what it is, and what it does, and how people will use it to benefit themselves?

Of course, it is very simple to define:

"a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users."

Do you really need an explanation on how people physically use a VR headset? They put it on their head, they see a digital world that is immersive and they can interact with it using hand controllers, their actual hands or other controllers.

How it will benefit them? That is subjective and unique to each individual. For me it allows me to stay in close contact with a good friend who has. moved far away. This way of connecting is more fluid and natural then a video conference call. Benefit or not, that is not necessary for the description of meta verse.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

I find this whole metaverse idea pretty creepy to be honest. Spending time in front of a screen is one thing (which was equally feared at the time — “will the children ever go outside again??”), but actually blocking all your senses, and your sense of your surroundings, completely seems pretty scary. Not to mention anything about the idea of “hanging out” in such a space… I’d much rather see someone’s face on a screen than their “avatar”…

I don't know what kids are like where you live, but the kids here (including my teenage son all his life), have periods of enjoying their screen games, interspersed with periods of enjoying playing outside with their mates with no screens. I was worried about screen time, but in all honesty, I don't see any less of a healthy lifestyle than what I had as a kid.

I was also worried about social media. My son and his mates pretty much reject it all. They don't have fb. They have insta, but not to post pics or stories, purely for messaging. Yep, they all had an experiment with posting stuff when younger, but quickly realised how cringe it is. They now consider it lame to be posting stuff, unless it's just funny stuff, but even then they don't post it, they just send it directly to each other, often to their private group chats. They are on tik tok a lot, and again, that isn't posting, just more like their modern equivalent of TV.

It might be different for girls, I'm not sure, I don't have a daughter. Sure, I see girls posting validation seeking pics on social media, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the norm for most girls. Same as I see boys post stuff sometimes, but am pretty sure it's not actually the norm for most boys.

My feeling is that GenX and GenY caught the social media bug, but the next generations became largely immune to it and rejected it somehow. Same with cancel culture - my son's generation are all rejecting it! Full circle, life as normal.

 

[kc9hzn]

I don't know what kids are like where you live, but the kids here (including my teenage son all his life), have periods of enjoying their screen games, interspersed with periods of enjoying playing outside with their mates with no screens. I was worried about screen time, but in all honesty, I don't see any less of a healthy lifestyle than what I had as a kid.

I was also worried about social media. My son and his mates pretty much reject it all. They don't have fb. They have insta, but not to post pics or stories, purely for messaging. Yep, they all had an experiment with posting stuff when younger, but quickly realised how cringe it is. They now consider it lame to be posting stuff, unless it's just funny stuff, but even then they don't post it, they just send it directly to each other, often to their private group chats. They are on tik tok a lot, and again, that isn't posting, just more like their modern equivalent of TV.

It might be different for girls, I'm not sure, I don't have a daughter. Sure, I see girls posting validation seeking pics on social media, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the norm for most girls. Same as I see boys post stuff sometimes, but am pretty sure it's not actually the norm for most boys.

My feeling is that GenX and GenY caught the social media bug, but the next generations became largely immune to it and rejected it somehow. Same with cancel culture - my son's generation are all rejecting it! Full circle, life as normal.

My gut instinct is that it probably is different for girls, it’s my experience with women in my age group (thirtysomethings) that they’re more likely to use TikTok than guys are. It’s like the 90s stereotype of girls talking on the phone all the time, there seems to be some truth to the idea that women are more geared towards socialization than men are (or at least that they are socialized as such).

 

[Kilibee]

The whole MetaVerse idea is riddled with crypto grifts bordering on fraud.
IMO Apple is wise not to touch this with a 10 foot pole.

If there should be any user value at some point – which I doubt –, Apple has still ample time to join or coordinate. Anyway, their goal is augmented, not replaced reality.

 

[laptech]

The arrogance of some members in this thread is unbelievable. There is some serious heavyweight companies in that group and yet these arrogant members think they know more about the in's and out's of joining the group than these heavyweight companies do.

 

[Onelifenofear]

Also, whenever the Ready Player One analogies pop up with Metaverse, I wanna facepalm. Ready Player One is deliberately set in a dystopian universe. (In fact, OASIS is the bread and circuses meant to distract from the IRL dystopia, and OASIS itself is a bit of a dystopia.) Why does anybody want that?! Some escapist fantasy it is, “let’s flee from dystopia into another dystopia!”

Don’t be Ridiculous. Whenever the word dystopian pops up on regards to VR I wanna Facepalm. The dystopian RP1 universe is the indentured servitude, complete reliance on the Oasis, “real” world problems set up in the novel. No jobs or food etc. That wouldn’t actually happen.

I referenced ready player one for the technology that you can be in your home space and then leave and go through other experiences / games and it wouldn’t be seemless, no matter who created it or what game engine. The oasis used virtual planets to accomplish this framework. What is on each planet is created by other companies.

 

[SFjohn]

Another smart move by Apple. 😉

 

[svish]

Surprising to hear it is not in the list. Anyway Apple could join in the future!

 

[Chester Stone]

No Apple, no Nintendo, no Disney, no Level-5, no Square-Enix, no Google, no Roblox, ... no quality software companies.

Yawn. Creating standards means nothing if the experience is crap.

 

[kc9hzn]

No Apple, no Nintendo, no Disney, no Level-5, no Square-Enix, no Google, no Roblox, ... no quality software companies.

Yawn. Creating standards means nothing if the experience is crap.

Actually, that’s a fair point about the companies not participating yet. Granted, if Nintendo does have an interest in VR, they probably still wouldn’t have an interest in the metaverse, they’d probably be most interested in VR experiences exclusive to their consoles. But the lack of Squeenix, Disney, and Level 5 does indicate a certain lack of interest in the Metaverse from some major media and game companies. Maybe they don’t want to be associated with Meta’s whole PS3 era PlayStation Network-esque game lobby idea?

 

[_Spinn_]

Good. Social media has been a cancer on society thanks to algorithms manipulating people. I can only imagine what kind of damage the Metaverse will inflict.

 

[Santiago]

Granted, if Nintendo does have an interest in VR, they probably still wouldn’t have an interest in the metaverse, they’d probably be most interested in VR experiences exclusive to their consoles.

Hey now, let's not forget the Virtual Boy!

 

[ponzicoinbro]

Yeah we should put a stop to that and anything like it.... or wait, you literally just described the internet and all social media today.

No eye tracking in the Quest 2, that will need some new hardware for that, but it is coming with the next release.

Are you using VR at all in any social way? The only place I have seen what you describe is in VRChat, which I agree is chaos. Here is the thing, you don't have to use it, and parents should be monitoring their kids and the content they consume. Yes I know, that is hard.... parenting is not supposed to be easy and tech and the internet are really not must haves to have a happy life.

There is a great app called RecRoom, recently discovered it with some friends. It is on every device, not just VR. Super fun stuff to do as a group. It has become a highlight in VR, playing out fun quick quests to bowling, golf or dodge ball, among other things.

I have played Rec Room Etc and seen adult perverts trying to prey on college kids. There was no way to prevent them doing it or even prevent them pretending to be younger than they are.

No, don’t make ass saving excuses for this crap by comparing it to ‘the internet’. Meta verse apps and social media apps are platforms, they aren’t ‘the internet’.

The internet is hardware infrastructure and connection protocols. It isn’t the apps and platforms running on the internet that should be regulated and moderated strongly. When platforms fail at moderation and their software design permits bad behavior they are complicit with crimes.

It’s super easy to design apps that don’t harm users and society. They just don’t want to do it.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

It’s super easy to design apps that don’t harm users and society. They just don’t want to do it.

It’s super easy to design unsuccessful apps that don’t harm users and society. And that’s why they don’t want to do it. They saw Apple’s Ping just like the rest of us did

 

[ponzicoinbro]

It’s super easy to design unsuccessful apps that don’t harm users and society. And that’s why they don’t want to do it. They saw Apple’s Ping just like the rest of us did

There was almost zero awareness Ping existed. If you tell people you can create a profile page on Apple Music and have ’followers’ most people don’t even know that exists. No big marketing push. Different story.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

There was almost zero awareness Ping existed. If you tell people you can create a profile page on Apple Music and have ’followers’ most people don’t even know that exists. No big marketing push. Different story.

That’s because it was a “good” social network that didn’t have an aim to be a huge part of people’s lives.