#but i think the creators made one of the chapters NFT

[ju1cy-squ1d15]

Random fortnite rant

So I've been playing this game for years to the point its literally my religion, so I have some few things to say

Chapter 2:

I don't know about you but Chapter two was, and always will be my favorite chapter. Try and change my mind! But honestly Chapter two was sooooooo criminally underrated, if not hated to the point it might be up there with Colleen Balinger and Jake Paul.

I mostly feel that thr hate was mainly from when fortnite was considered "cringe" in its era, and to be fair, it was when they were overdoing it with those colabs. But basically it was grownups hating on the game cause kids were now playing it and populating it. Which by the way..." Number one victory royale!".

And all those gen x equivalent "Ogs" just straight up won't stop complaining "oh its not the old map" "oh everyone is soo sweaty" like I get it, change is weird, however as THEIR platform they need to support these changes as it helps develop the game more to not make it too one-noted. Let's not forget how glichy chapter one was, or was for me.

Chapter was the Pandora box of content, hence why I dreamed it the blue print or Pink Friday in fortnite history. The map, vehicles that aren't there for a season, introduction to abilities and collab abilities, etc. So talk all you want about it, it was literally the It Girl of influence not only to future fortnite but probably to other shooter video games

Battle Pass:

Who in the right mind thought it was a good idea to pay for each teir in the battle pass? We already have to pay for skins, and God forbid you don't have enough V bucks or you'll have to face mega in-game inflation (over 70 bucks??) Not to mention having to pay for the more tiers to level up.

The battle star system did not eat, probably worse than NFT's in my opinion. It's literally there to force players to grind instead of enjoying the game while leveling up.

I remeber I hated that system when ir first took action in chapter 2 season 7 but forced myself to like it since content creators I liked actually dick rode that shit cause I didn't know it was to keep up their fortnite membership PR brand. And I still hated it either way.

That crap made leveling up ten times harder than it is since you literally have to level up more than once to actually get ONE skin. Yall remember season eight of chapter two? Arguably one of the worst seasons with, just like it's label, the worst XP system. Bozos literally stayed afk in creative maps for like a little 2, 3 xp for hours....until they patched it for God knows why in like a week or two. My ass literally got lucky owning all the last EXTRA skins. Cuase nothing says wasting time and money on frigging recoloured skins fir 25 stars Each! And mind you, leveling up one gives you five of them and and average time a player would've leveled up (depending on how many xp) would be around four ot five minutes. So if you do the match to gain All those extra skins it'll be a lot of time and battle stars....

Funny thing is, some of these extra skins do not eat. Like half of them literally ends with gold, like I get it, Midas lore is popular......BIT IT SHOULD STAY THAT SEASON! that whole gold cosmetic alt was over done more than the actual lore of fortnite. I'm just glad later on they stopped that recipe and actually did some little patterns and colour mixing.....still means i won't buy it cuase this season has some iffy skins in my opinion.

Fortnite roleplays:

Please for the love of God BRING THEM BACK UP! I don't care if it's smutty, boring, terrible audio quality, I don't care, it was the shit!

Ever since minxraft role-playing got....weird I always find some solitude in some good ol'e fortnite roleplays. I wanna thank Newscapepro for that. That fact that their lore on fortnite actually makes sense and better than fortnite's lore is summing up what's happening to fortnite's writing creativity.

Mythics:

Remeber when the mythical use to be unique? You'd think that the more fortnite has progressed the more they'll develop abilities or weapons (I say abilities as.. if they can do abilities from collaboration then it shouldn't be to out of the ordinary) . The utter disappointment I felt after witnessing that almost all the bosses in the Greek Mythology season was not exploited well...especially with what abilities they can give when killed. Imagine this: The Aphrodiety boss drops a mythic that makes the enemy fall in love with you that they can't attack, or a Cerberus mythic that acts as a giant pet like Klombo or even Poseidon's trident that can cause the map to flood.

It's pretty clear fortnite is prioritizing medallions over proper mythic. Which I don't have a problem with, it's....just why not both? Sure it'll be chaotic but at the same time we lived through Mechs....and UFO's...and now cars.

Lego fortnite:

It's a flop. The first time I played it it was in a duration of two minutes before I stopped and never played it again. I'm curious if you guys have actually develop any worlds.

All I'm saying is that the advertising was a total scam. My dumpass thought it's battle Royale but in the style of Lego with some lego elements like "Friends" or "coins" or "ninjago". Can I sue for false advertisement? I mean, not to say they I'll win, bit we all saw how they got ate by Apple.

The vehicles:

They should stay forever movement. Period point blank. No cause to add back in the fricken battle bus along with vehicle modification!?!?

See the thing is, the mech and UFO works cause it had to be obtained, not to mention kind of easy to destroy, but for the whole ass loby to partake in a car cage match is too much fit my liking. And you mean to tell that missiles weren't added for that? I thought fortnite would knew from the backlash of tanks.

Biomes:

Can we bring back cool biomes? And no I don't mean the normal ones but the ones that are fantasy or alien inspired. The map literally is as dead as a dodo it once was when they cook with that wasteland theme.

It'll also be cool if they add back the block but much more bigger.

Creative 2.0:

So you mean to tell me fortnite wasted their grandma's fund to introduce to you an oppunity to create your dream game within another game for all of you to utilize it for...more red vs blue games with skibidi toilet? BFFR

To actually find these kind of games is soo rare I'm not even kidding. And if their is,it's either a reskin of the original or something dumb. Right now the horror is eating up those content. Can't say for fantasy or Sci fie or others....

Anyways that was just a little rant, might add a part two if I'm giddy enough.

[cabthemunchlax]

MFN is something that the devs made with heart and soul put into it

● the puppets have a reason to go haywire besides the whole dead kids trope. You would go mad too if humans abandoned you and your show and your opinions on the world was darkened by mass media.

● the game actually uses classic horror game puzzle mechanics (like in resident evil) that are actually fun and give the players something to do besides run from monsters.

● the game is finished and isn't split into parts made to drain more money out of kids bank accounts.

●Finally, the main player character has a personality and a heart that let's him help the puppets.

Poppy playtime, on the other hand, is a complete joke to this kind of genre and was made by people who wanted to profit from little kids.

● The toys are human experiments and the game shovels this in our face constantly too much be interesting.

● The game is broken up into chapters and in the beginning, chapter one costed money to play what was basically a demo.

● The grab pack puzzle mechanics are kinda cool but the game never seems to try anything new outside of that realm.

● we know nothing about the player so I don't care about him

● the game is constantly trying to rope kids into buying merchandise on the home screen

And to put the cherry on top of this mascot horror Shitshow we call a cake, the creators of the game are very terrible people

● They tried to get away with selling NFTs to kids

● They bullied someone to the point that they had to be put on a mental hospital and it is believed that they stole his game idea

They also run the youtube channel channel Zamination which is known for their blocky minecraft styled animations that consist of other the cast of famous indie games (FNAF, Bendy, etc) which I will admit actually has some quality put into the writing and animation designed for children but it doesn't excuse the shit they did with the channel as well

● They are known to overly sexualize Baby from fnaf who is confirmed to be a straight up MINOR in the game she is from . This info is made even worse when you known that Poppy looks just like her (someone get chris hanson please).

● They profit from others people's characters rather it be from ad revenue or from merchandise they made of the series which GUESS WHAT? FEATURES CHARACTERS THEY DON'T OWN.

Overall, MFN is the game that I think should be the standards for modern Mascot Horror games and is something I would love if kids loved a lot more compared to the other junk out there.

Also, I apologie if I am going to far on this rant, I just think Mobgames and the people in charge need to be held accountable for their actions and that more people should call them out for their shady practices

This is going to sound so abrupt and random but watching my friendly neighborhood and the fact the ending made me literally cry, made me realize how little soul poppy playtime has.

[andrewsleftknee]

i’ve been playing a lot of Dead by Daylight recently, so i’m going to self project onto Andrew. this is basically me just talking about the game with a sprinkle of aftg. sorry if this is boring/not like what i usually post.

have some Andrew playing dbd hcs:

he bought Nicky and Aaron dbd after playing it for a month on his own. he had gotten pretty good at playing survivor, and he wanted some people to play with because of the challenge of not being able to communicate with your team.

because of his eidetic memory, Andrew knows the layout of every single map. when he plays with Aaron and Nicky they are always confused as to how Andrew can find them based on a brief explanation of their surroundings.

Andrew is terrible at playing killer. the only killer he can play with some level of confidence is The Huntress. he’s spent hours perfecting the sim of throwing her axes and he can hit his target with a decently level of success.

Andrew is very good at looping the killers. after playing the game for so long combined with his knowledge of all of the maps, he can escape from a chase a majority of the time.

Neil doesn’t play the game, but he likes to watch Andrew play. he likes to help Andrew even though he knows Andrew is better at the game than he is. Andrew likes to do the plays Neil tells him to even if they aren’t the most efficient.

Andrew has taught Neil the basics on how to play the game. Neil knows the controls, but he doesn’t have enough practice to be too good at the game itself. Andrew is very patient on the days that Neil wants to try and play. he tells him what he did good and tells him how to dodge killers while being chased.

on the nights that Andrew and Neil talk on the roof, Andrew would tell Neil about the dbd lore if he didn’t have anything particular to talk about. Neil liked to listen to Andrew talk about the things he liked.

Neil sometimes buys Andrew dlc packs for the characters he finds the most interesting so he can watch Andrew play as them. Andrew always tells him that he can afford it on his own, but Neil replies saying that he likes buying him tho ha that he knows he’ll like.

Andrew is working on completing the archives, which is this huge web of challenges that reward you with blood points (how you level up characters) and more lore about specific survivors and killers. he’ll spend hours completing the challenges until it’s well into the middle of the night and Neil is curled up next to him on the couch.

he likes the challenge of the game. he enjoys that who you have on your team, the killer your against, and the map you’re on basically make your game. he thinks that the verity in rounds can differ so much for a game that has the same objective for every round.

-BONUS-

a few killers Andrew hates playing against because they suck and are terrible (not my opinions at all /j):

The Plague (TW for sickness/vomit) - her power is throwing up on people and getting them sick. it’s kinda gross, but if you cleanse yourself (make yourself not sick), then she can hit you with murder vomit. you can also get infected by generators? like what the fuck-

The Shape - you never know where this bitch comes from. you’ll be working on a generator or be casually walking around the map and just get hit out of no where. he’s not invisible but he basically is. you never see him coming. his exposed status, which is okay when they can insta-down you to the dying state, happens when he stalks you for a certain amount of time. it’s terrifying when you get the notification that you’re exposed because there’s a likely chance that he was stalking you.

The Hillbilly - he’s genuinely scary. his character design is awesome in the way that it’s terrifying. his main weapons are a cattle hammer and a chainsaw. sometimes you can hear the heartbeat meaning you’re close to the killer and then suddenly the chainsaw is revving and a chorus of “fuckfuckfuckfuck-“ is playing in your head because this bitch is fast. this bitch will down you instantly if you can’t dodge him. Andrew is good at dodging, but it’s harder when his own heart is pounding. he likes The Hillbilly when watching gameplay of him, but he hates playing against him.

The Doctor: i don’t even need to explain this one. he’s the worst. his power is electricity and can find you by basically sending shocks through the floor which result in the survivors screaming. The Doctor laughs after sending out one of the shocks and it’s more annoying than it is scary. the electricity makes your character lose sanity in three tiers, the third tier making it seem like the killer is always on you unless you snap out of it, which is hard when you don’t know where the killer is and the skill checks are going backwards and fast. Andrew hates The Doctor because everyone hates The Doctor. he’s terrible.

[just-antithings]

for webcomic anon-

you can make an 'original work' on ao3: images need hosting somewhere else (that allows explicit, offensive content) and you'd need to learn a bit html to make sure the images display well on mobile (and desktop if they're too wide for it too); good moderation tools and comment sections; unless you plagiarize or harass people it won't be taken down and you won't be suspended and no one can report you for anything antis would. don't link to commercial sites or write about money, donations or payment, but you can tell people where to support you and link to a page (on tumblr, twitter, carrd, linktree, etc...) with links to commercial sites (preferably in the notes of each chapter).

I got pdf zines on itch.io: it allows nsfw; a single product page is set to a 10 files limit (unless you request to lift it (and 20 products limit unless requested to lift that)) and you can set the price to "pay what you want" (and the percentage itch.io gets can be set to 0) according to the faq. comment sections are per product, not per file.

you could go to patreon and make posts set to free or a paying tier but their stance on nsfw isn't clear imo and the tag system is a pain; there is a minimum percentage for it. the comment section might be bare ime.

if you want it to feel more like a webcomic even if it's on download only you could make the pages html files with minimal coding skills (you can get them on w3scools.com).

you could also code a neocities.org site (requires more html skills (and css skills for efficiency) but it's less hassle for readers who would need to download files (and depending on the code, into the exact same folder; also easier to correct or change things when it's in one website as opposed to files people will have to re-download and replace)); it allows for sexually explicit and offensive materials according to the terms. you can pay monthly for a domain (p sure the options are cheap, research the providers); if you want a comment section I think you'd need to find a way to add-on disqus comment sections or something like that (price may vary).

you could also try dreamwidth.org (I think you'd need to host images somewhere else because of size limits (adult content terms may vary)): set posts to +18 if needed, with good moderation tools. this post has finr's general experience with the site with regards to offensive material and some other anecdotal cases with a way to ask for more information (with a confidential option).

I won't recommend ko-fi because they don't allow nsfw, and not gumroad either because while it does allow nsfw their ceo blew a gasket on twitter (look for screenshots of deleted tweets) after an artist revealed they quit for being asked to make nfts. (pretty sure you won't bother making a google site or post to reddit and I wouldn't either.)

[ao3 is a non-profit so no nfts; itch.io's stance on nfts is that they're a scam; patreon is doing surveys with its creators so unclear; no substantial search results for 'neocities nft' on google or twitter, ditto 'dreamwidth nft', I think they won't make or promote them.]

there are probably more options to look for (digital shops, blogs, site hosting...): do your own research on all of the options' tos and business practices; look for tutorials and instructions made about the ones that suit your needs for a general overview on what they're like to use.

promotion still needed, but I think if you make clear that's it +18 and not detail those aspects antis would miss you entirely if you don't post suggestive/explicit content on social media. remember to content warn on the platform the webcomic is on (turn on 'I'm 18' permissions if available and tag 'adult content' or '+18' if not).

good luck <3

here you go anon!

[drippingviolets3]

Hnnnnnn I need to vent cause this is SERIOUSLY bugging me.

So Poppy Playtime is fairly popular and I don’t think I need to explain it to anyone, but yeah this vent is about the game. Not the company (people talk about the company enough), the writing itself.

In the beginning I was SO EXCITED. It was a interesting concept and for once, or at least for once in my world, there was a concept of random child related objects coming to life that possibly weren’t made with the souls/body/etc of kids. It appeared more like the workers instead, and again, I was excited because the dead child thing has been used time and time again with every horror game that wants to be the new FNAF.

But the second chapter came out and while I was excited in the beginning, I was quickly let down.

Why?

Of course you know why, because there’s evidence proving that the game is following the fucking dead kids trope.

The trope is like listening to a song over and over again until it makes you physically sick to listen to. The game immediately lost that previous excitement for me, that flavor that got me hooked in the first place apart from the animation (which is still really good). There’s only two chapters out and I already hate what it’s becoming.

On top of that, based on evidence we’ve gathered, we can theorize that the reason the experiments on the kids even started was-wait for it-Actually no, because you can ALSO guess what this one is.

It might be because the creator lost a family member of some kind (presumably a kid) :))).

It’s like a regurgitated FNAF at this rate, heck even Poppy refusing to let us leave so we can fix and/or avenge the kids resembles FNAF (Aka Cassidy refusing to leave William Afton’s alone and move on). It’s like they saw FNAF and their popularity, switched the robots to toys and threw in the crazy building style of Hello Neighbor and placed it on shelves for people to gawk at and buy.

I’m not even excited for chapter three, and I know that sounds dramatic but I’m dead serious. I feel like I already know what’s going to happen because I’ve seen this a million times before. I thought the game was going to be something original but I was let down. I thought this was going to be something new but it wasn’t.

I get more excited about the story and theories for video games then I do the actual game play, and this? This is basically FNAF but spelt out in regurgitated alphabet soup. I’m so tired of this, it’s literally making my brain hurt.

That’s all. And story aside, Fuck Enchanted Mobs for not only their NFTS but their other shady actions.

Thank you and good night.

[tealfeed]

What Is the Metaverse?

Originally published by Christian Jensen here.

I take it you’ve heard about this “metaverse” thing recently. Perhaps you saw Facebook’s rebranding to Meta and the speech about being a “metaverse company” that came along with it. And Meta is certainly not the only company with this mission.

By now, it’s probably safe to assume that the metaverse will play a large role in our future. It’s gonna impact our lives as consumers, as employees, as designers and developers, as investors, and simply as human beings in various ways.

But what exactly is the metaverse?

It’s unfortunate and exciting at the same time that “the metaverse” isn’t easily explained in a short paragraph. It’s similar to having to explain the Internet. Actually, it might be like explaining the Internet back in the 1980s when we had just seen its first iterations and some of the necessary building blocks. It was enough for people to imagine the future but not enough for anyone to truly know.

Thus, the term ‘metaverse’ is ambiguous, broad, and still being defined and used differently by different people.

However, from all the time I spend in the world of innovation, technology, product design, crypto, and NFTs, I’ve gotten a pretty good grasp of the consensus understanding of the term.

So, have you read Snow Crash?

Neal Stephenson is widely credited for inventing the term ‘metaverse’. It was first used in his 1992 novel a story in which people enter a 3D virtual reality space by putting on what seems a lot like the VR headsets we know today. Think Oculus Quest or HoloLens.

In Snow Crash, the metaverse appears to its users as an urban environment where everything takes place along one large road, aka The Street. People go to the metaverse to hang out, socialize, basically live their lives. And they’re so immersed in this virtual world that they forget their real-world surroundings. To some, it’s full-on escapism from their sad, boring, mediocre lives.

Snow Crash is a great read whether you view it as research or entertainment. If you prefer a good movie over a 500-page book, Ready Player One, Minority Report, Avatar, and the Iron Man movies are common mentions in relation to the metaverse.

What are the experts saying?

With that high-level introduction to Neal Stephenson’s depiction of the metaverse, let’s see what other important actors in the space have to say. Does the Snow Crash version of the metaverse align with what the big tech CEOs, developers, and thought leaders have in mind?

I will only highlight a few of the most relevant and interesting depictions of the metaverse here. When combined, they also serve as a good representation of the industry’s perspective overall.

Mark Zuckerberg and Meta

Mark Zuckerberg has been serious about the metaverse for a while. He said recently that Facebook will be known as a “metaverse company” in 5 years, rather than a “social media company”. And in case anyone still doubted his ambitions, he just rebranded Facebook to Meta. Talk about making a statement!

He’s given plenty of insights into his vision for the future of human connections, how we interact with each other, and how we live our lives more broadly. He naturally sees his company and its products as key ingredients in this future.

In July 2021, Mark Zuckerberg gave a talk on the topic to his employees. Afterward, he went on Vergecast to further discuss his plans. In this interview, he said the following:

“The metaverse is a vision that spans many companies — the whole industry. You can think about it as the successor to the mobile internet. And it’s certainly not something that any one company is going to build, but I think a big part of our next chapter is going to hopefully be contributing to building that, in partnership with a lot of other companies and creators and developers.”

Zuckerberg also made it clear that the metaverse isn’t synonymous with virtual reality. While he does think VR will be an important part of the future metaverse, it’s also going to be accessible through regular PCs, mobile devices, and game consoles.

Satya Nadella and Microsoft

Microsoft is one of the companies that want to bring work into the metaverse. They’re doing so through their Mesh product and, more specifically, Mesh for Microsoft Teams. The latter “ aims to make collaboration in the ‘metaverse’ personal and fun”.

In November 2021, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, tweeted the following along with a 3-minute video that I recommend you go watch:

“The metaverse is here, and it’s not only transforming how we see the world but how we participate in it — from the factory floor to the meeting room.”

Satya Nadella has also talked about the gradual evolution from video-based meetings to 2D avatars to immersive 3D meetings. He sees this as a practical way for us to think about how the metaverse really emerges.

Matthew Ball, Venture Capitalist & writer

Matthew Ball is a prominent VC and writer who’s written some excellent essays on what the metaverse could be. Among other things, he’s written the following:

“ The metaverse is a massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds which can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users with an individual sense of presence, and with continuity of data, such as identity, history, entitlements, objects, communications, and payments.”

Notice that Matthew talks about a network of virtual worlds. This aligns well with Mark Zuckerberg’s idea that the metaverse won’t be owned or built by one entity.

Putting it all together

The people who are currently building and defining the metaverse all describe it in slightly different ways depending on their context and frame of reference. I’ve only highlighted a few of them in this article but there are obviously far more people playing essential roles in this development.

If we analyze how Mark Zuckerberg, Matthew Ball, Satya Nadella, and many others view and define the metaverse, certain patterns emerge. Putting it all together, the following characteristics seem to be what defines the metaverse.

The metaverse is a network of virtual worlds

Most people believe that the metaverse will and should be a huge network of individual virtual worlds. Think of the metaverse as the Web today and each virtual world as one of the apps or websites you use in your daily life. In fact, just think of the metaverse as the next step in the evolution of the Web and imagine Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, and Discord all making virtual 3D versions of their apps. This gives us a pretty good idea of what the metaverse will be like.

This means that our metaverse experience will be defined by the individual worlds we spend our time in, just as our Web experience today is defined by the apps we use. These apps are what give the Web value and meaning. We will say the same about the virtual worlds built in the metaverse.

Skeptics worry that the metaverse will be owned and controlled by one company. Most of these skeptics see Mark Zuckerberg and Meta as the biggest threat. However, even Mark Zuckerberg himself says that the metaverse will be a collaborative effort among multiple companies, developers, and creators. A vast network of shared virtual spaces.

In this sense, Meta will be no more “the metaverse” than Google is “the Internet”. Meta will build one virtual space, albeit a massive one, alongside many others.

The metaverse is social and immersive

Perhaps the most defining characteristic of our future metaverse experience is that it will be immersive. This will set it apart from our current interaction with screen-based devices. Neal Stephenson told Vanity Fair in 2017 that the metaverse will be immersive, a completely different world than your real one, and much closer to virtual reality than augmented reality. Most people seem to agree.

Being in the metaverse will make our real-world surroundings irrelevant. We won’t see our regular living room when we’re in the metaverse, nor will it matter for our metaverse experience. Each one of us will feel like we’re actually there. We will be participants in our various metaverse experiences rather than just observers of them. These will often, if not always, take place in what looks like actual physical “spaces”, giving us a sense of presence, spatial awareness, and a literal point-of-view.

Something that will help make the metaverse immersive is that our experiences will happen in real-time, often involving other people who are there in the metaverse with us. Think live shows, video streams, or phone calls — just in 3D and so immersive that you forget about your real-world surroundings.

The metaverse won’t be all about social interactions. But social interactions are possible because of the openness and real-time nature of the metaverse. It’s similar to when you go grocery shopping, go to the library, or work in an office. You’re not necessarily talking with people all the time, but you’re likely not alone. And social interactions are possible.

The metaverse is for all areas of our lives

We will be able to do essentially everything in the metaverse. It will be for leisure, games, and socializing. It will be for work, education, and shopping. It will be for coaching, yoga sessions, and doctor consultations. Again, this makes perfect sense when we see the metaverse as a natural evolution of the Internet today.

We will wake up and go to work or school in the metaverse. When we get off, we’ll hang out with friends, play games, attend parties, events, and meetups, and go to conferences and exhibitions. We will also do our shopping in virtual stores, malls, and supermarkets.

The metaverse will be for essentially everything we currently do online. And it will be for the things we don’t yet do online because they require that immersive, 3D, virtual reality setup. That’s exactly what the metaverse enables.

We will have an identity in the metaverse

We won’t just pop into the metaverse as someone new and/or anonymous every time. We will have an identity in there, just like we do in the real world. This will include our names, how we look, what we wear, what we own, our past activities, accomplishments, relationships, and so on.

We will likely be able to have the same identity across virtual worlds. This is different from today’s Web where we register our usernames and create profiles separately on all social media networks.

It’s also important to note that anonymity may very well be an option. At least in some areas of the metaverse. And you will likely be able to switch between any of the digital avatars you own. People already do this when they match their NFT avatar to each of the Discord servers they’re in. We’re starting to see this in 3D virtual worlds like Decentraland as well.

We will truly own our digital items in the metaverse

As we begin living parts of our lives in the digital world, even more so than we’re already doing it today, it seems natural that we can own digital things as well. Our possessions will likely include virtual land, homes, furniture, home decor, and pets. We will buy clothes and accessories for different occasions and to express our style and identity as we do in the real world.

Some of us may be business owners with our own storefronts, workshops, studios, and other venues. Many will own game items, skins, and characters, just as gamers already do in Fortnite, Roblox, and other games.

Unlike the current games though, we will truly own our belongings. They won’t just be in-game items that essentially belong to the game company. Put another way, we won’t buy a shirt that can only be used inside Meta’s virtual world and another for Microsoft’s.

Our identity and our possessions will be usable across worlds, just as our real-world clothes, accessories, gadgets, and pets can come with us across borders and to the grocery store, the theatre, and a party. Okay, maybe we can’t take our pets everywhere, but you get my point.

To many people in the space, this interoperability is one of the key characteristics of the ideal metaverse. It’s still very unclear how exactly it will be made possible and if corporations will get onboard. Many people see blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs as playing important roles here. More on this a little later.

There will be a whole new metaverse economy

Regardless of how immersive the metaverse is, we will still need to pay rent, buy food, and live our lives in the real world. But think about all the money you spend on entertainment and services that could easily move into the metaverse.

And think about all the money you spend on clothes, accessories, and other items that will feel completely natural and necessary to buy in the metaverse as well.

All these digital goods, services, and experiences enable a whole new digital economy in the metaverse. We will work and live, earn and spend, in the metaverse. We will buy from companies and creators, and trade among each other on secondary marketplaces.

Many people see cryptocurrencies as the obvious medium of exchange in the metaverse. They’re digital-native and can be completely decentralized without government control. It remains to be seen if one cryptocurrency will win out and become the metaverse standard. At the same time, governments and corporations are working on their own cryptocurrencies. Many people are following this development closely and it’s definitely going to be interesting to see how the metaverse economy takes shape over the coming years.

The state of the metaverse

Most people talk about the metaverse as the future. But you know what they say about the future, right?

The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.

Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) like Roblox, Fortnite, and World of Warcraft are already operating like their own virtual worlds. Players can have their own identities, meet and interact with other people, and trade virtual items as part of an immersive experience.

Marshmello held a virtual concert in Fortnite as early as 2019. Travis Scott had his own surreal Fortnite event in 2020. Both artists attracted millions of attendants. Second Life created what could easily fit into the futuristic depiction of the metaverse all the way back in 2003.

Decentraland and The Sandbox are creating blockchain-based virtual worlds for casual hangouts, events, exhibitions, and games. The latter is just about ready for public launch.

Meta’s Horizon Workrooms lets you connect and collaborate with your team, even if you’re across the world. It’s currently in beta mode and not yet open to the broader public, but it’s not far off. You do need a pair of Oculus Quest 2 to use it though. And this brings me to the next point.

The state of VR

Mark Zuckerberg has made it very clear that he does not see the metaverse as synonymous with VR. He’s even said that the metaverse will be accessible via regular devices like smartphones and laptops.

However, many people in the space describe the metaverse as an immersive experience, one that transports you away from your real-world environment. Some call it a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal virtual world that is facilitated by the use of VR and AR headsets.

And, to be fair, Mark Zuckerberg himself said that VR and AR will play a very important role in the future metaverse. With this in mind, I think it’s safe to say that better hardware, especially in the form of VR headsets, will be an important step toward mainstream adoption of the metaverse.

Zuckerberg’s Oculus, which has been owned by Meta since 2014, is leading the charge in the VR headset space. Microsoft’s HoloLens is more targeted toward professionals. However, they’re both big, clunky, and expensive. Oh, and they’re still making a lot of users dizzy and nauseous.

All these shortcomings could quickly be a thing of the past though. Meta is expected to release a new version of the Oculus in 2023. Apple is rumored to be developing its own VR headset as well. These could be what usher in the mainstream moment for VR and the product evolution we need for all the ambitious ideas about the metaverse to become reality.

The role of NFTs in the metaverse

Let me wrap up this piece with a topic I’ve been known to talk a lot about lately: NFTs.

I’ve written multiple articles about why NFTs aren’t just expensive art, weird animal avatars, and essentially overprices jpegs. Rather, the NFT technology is simply an enabler of digital ownership. And remember how that was one of the key traits of the metaverse?

NFTs enable us to own our stuff in the metaverse. This could be a plot of land, the house we build on it, our clothes, our pets, or even our names. And sure, also our cartoon avatars.

And while games and virtual worlds like Fortnite, WoW, and Roblox to a large extent fit the description of the metaverse, NFTs may be the differentiating factor. Because while you can buy and trade skins, weapons, and other items in these games, you don’t really own them. They exist within a given game’s closed borders and you cannot take them with you when you leave. The goal of the metaverse is to break down these borders. And NFTs could be what enables this.

Closing thoughts

The metaverse promises to make our digital experiences just as immersive, engaging, and real as the ones we have away from our screens. Thus, I think we can look at the metaverse as the ultimate replication of real life in the digital world and as the natural next step in the evolution of the Web.

In some ways, the metaverse is already here. At least to some extent. And from this point of view, it would make sense to expect a gradual transition where our lives move further and further into the metaverse.

At the same time, technological advancements like new VR headsets coming from Meta and Apple could easily take metaverse adoption from a slow trickle to sudden mainstream.

For all the talk about VR headsets, the metaverse is not a specific technology though. Rather, it’s a state of our technology, or a term to describe our interaction and relationship with our digital devices and the Internet.

Now, I didn’t write this article to share my opinion or try to assess all the implications of the metaverse. Good or bad. But I get why you may not be ecstatic about the idea of a world inhabited by VR headset-wearing zombies who abstain from human contact to live their lives online.

If you share this perspective, it may ease your mind to think of the metaverse as an enhancement of our digital lives and our digital lives only. The metaverse is not meant as an enhancement, let alone a replacement, of our lives in the real world. There is no substitute for the real world and real-world connections. Luckily for us, even Satya Nadella, one of the people responsible for creating the metaverse, shares this perspective.

[orbemnews]

How NFTs are fueling a digital art boom Written by Oscar Holland, CNN This article was updated following the auction of Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 days,” which sold for $69.3 million. When graphic designer Mike Winkelmann started producing a drawing a day in 2007, he was simply looking for a way to improve his art skills. At best, the resulting “Everydays” project would help him promote his freelance work, which includes creating concert visuals for the likes of Justin Bieber and Katy Perry. But selling the digital images was not on his mind. This week, a compilation of over 13 years’ worth of the artworks, collectively titled “Everydays: The First 5000 days,” sold for $69.3 million via Christie’s, putting Winkelmann’s name among some of the art market’s most valuable living artists. A multi-million-dollar auction for Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 days” closed this week at $69.3 million. Credit: Beeple/Christies “It’s a bit surreal, because (digital imagery) wasn’t really something that I pictured, in my lifetime, being able to sell,” said Winkelman, who goes by the name Beeple, in a video call from his home in South Carolina ahead of the sale. “So it (has) come out of nowhere. But at the same time, I also really feel like this is going to be the next chapter of art history.” Virtual art has been created, and talked about, for years. But now, thanks to endorsement from celebrities as diverse as Elon Musk, Lindsey Lohan and Steve Aoki, online buzz in art and cryptocurrency circles, and, perhaps most importantly, blockchain technology, it has not only entered the mainstream — it is generating huge sums of money for digital artists and online collectors. Beeple’s latest sale comes just weeks after his animated work “Crossroad,” which imagined Donald Trump’s naked, graffiti-strewn body slumped on the ground, was purchased online for $6.6 million. Elsewhere, a digital animation of the “Nyan Cat” meme — a flying cat with a Pop Tart for a body — earned its creator Christopher Torres almost $600,000 in a virtual auction. The musician Grimes meanwhile made $6.3 million in under 20 minutes selling a range of collectible digital artworks. At the center of this explosion in transactions are non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Acting like virtual signatures, they address concerns that digital art’s value is diminished by the ease with which it can be copied or lost. While an oil painting can only be displayed in one place and has a definitive owner, a digital image, video or gif can be infinitely duplicated and enjoyed on screens around the world for free. This has often posed problems for prospective collectors, who don’t know how to price digital art and fear it will lose resale value. But now, NFTs are offering two things that the physical art market has always depended on: scarcity and authenticity. The rise of ‘non-fungible’ tokens NFTs are built on blockchain technology, which — just as it does with Bitcoin — offers a secure record of transactions. This digital ledger serves as incorruptible proof of ownership, meaning that “original” artworks and their owners can always be identified via the blockchain, even if an image or video is widely replicated. A “fungible” asset is one that is that can be replaced with another identical one of the same value, such as a dollar bill, while non-fungible ones, like NFTs, are tied to unique goods and are not mutually interchangeable. Like bitcoins, the tokens can be kept in a virtual wallet. They can then be sold or traded, often gaining value in the secondary market. This makes NFT artworks similar to physical ones — or any other real-world asset, according to Duncan Cock Foster, co-founder of Nifty Gateway, the platform behind Beeple’s and Grimes’ recent multi-million-dollar sales. “We have systems for collecting paintings, and we have systems for collecting sculptures. But until now, people hadn’t figured out a good way to collect digital art — and NFTs allow you to do that,” Cock Foster said on a video call, adding that buying tokens is easier and “a lot more accessible” than traditional art collecting. Related video: Just how much has the internet changed art? On Nifty Gateway, artists set the number of editions for any single artwork by deciding how many accompanying tokens will be made available. This can range from one-offs, where a piece is sold to a single collector, to open-edition “drops,” where tokens are made available for a limited period of time. The sale of Grimes’ “WarNymph” collection, for instance, allowed up to 9,999 purchases of various artworks within a seven-minute window. Several of the creations were listed for just $20 per token, some of which are now selling for thousands of dollars. By connecting artists directly to collectors, NFTs effectively cut out galleries and other traditional gatekeepers. While Cock Foster would not disclose the size of Nifty Gateway’s cut, he claims it is “far less” than what a gallery would usually take. For Beeple, this represents a “democratization” of the art market. “Now I have direct access to my audience,” he said. “I don’t have to go through an intermediary.” And there’s another benefit for digital artists: They can continue making money on their work, even after it has been sold. NFTs can allow creators to receive a cut on all future transactions — on Nifty Gateway, this is typically set at 10% — breaking with the centuries-old model whereby artists do not directly benefit when sold works grow in value over their lifetimes. (For instance, when a David Hockney painting sold for $90.3 million in 2018, setting an auction record for a living artist, the British artist didn’t receive a single cent from the sale. His dealer had sold it for just $18,000 in 1972.) One of digital images that Beeple produced daily from 2007. Credit: Beeple/Christies So, while Beeple made less than $67,000 when he originally sold his “Crossroad” animation, he pocketed a further $660,000 when the initial buyer sold it on. “The royalties are definitely something that make this much more sustainable and equitable for all parties,” the designer said. New breed of collector The collector behind the $6.6 million “Crossroad” sale, Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile, said that supporting creators is one of the unique benefits of investing in NFTs. While there is money to be made, and plenty of speculation happening in the crypto art market, the 32-year-old said that collecting digital works is about more than money. “I try to look into the life and career of the creators. I like to get in contact with them and meet them … for me, it’s important to see consistency and thoughtfulness about everything outside the art as well,” said Rodriguez-Fraile on the phone, adding that he is drawn to works that are “masterfully executed.” Beyond “Crossroad,” Rodriguez-Fraile said he has collected hundreds — perhaps thousands — of NFT artworks, selling only a handful so far. Beeple’s art often plays with pop culture icons in grotesque and unexpected ways. Credit: Beeple/Christies While the Miami-based collector was previously interested in blockchain and cryptocurrencies, were it not for NFTs, he said he would not be involved in buying art. His experience, like Beeple’s, suggests that the tokens are empowering a new breed of artists and collectors rather than taking a slice of the existing art market. “The analogy I like to make is Uber,” Cock Foster said. “When they were trying to make a forecast for Uber’s market size, they looked at the amount of money people spent on black cars (private car services). But because it’s so much easier to call an Uber than it is to call a black car, the actual market ended up being much larger than that. I really think we’re seeing something similar with NFTs. “They are lowering the barriers to collecting significantly,” added Cock Foster, whose platform operates under the ambitious tagline, “We will not rest until 1 billion people are collecting NFTs.” Future prospects Nifty Gateway may be a long way from its goal of 1 billion collectors, but the platform’s growth nonetheless reflects exploding interest in crypto art. In March 2020, the site recorded monthly transactions of $30,000; last month, this figure was up to $75 million, according to Cock Foster. This jump broadly coincides with another major force in the art world: Covid-19. With galleries and auction houses shuttered around the world — and people spending more time browsing the web or shopping online — NFTs have offered a new outlet for art enthusiasts. According to Beeple, this is why interest in the tokens has skyrocketed in recent months, even though the technology has been available since 2017. “You keep hearing that Covid has pushed things 10 years forward, and I think this honestly is a big part of it,” he said. “Everybody was sitting at home over the last year — so while I think this was inevitable, it really got accelerated.” The use of NFTs is now stretching far beyond the art world. DJ and musician Deadmau5 has used the tokens to sell digital merchandise, while the new Kings of Leon album is being released as an NFT. Nike is even reported to have registered a patent for tokenized shoes, branded “CryptoKicks.” This rapid growth has led to fears of an NFT bubble — one that may burst when the world emerges from pandemic-era restrictions. While collector Rodriguez-Fraile believes that “NFTs are here to stay,” he accepted that “we might be going through a period of hype … and I think the general ecosystem might slow down a bit when it comes to pricing.” For Cock Foster, however, the return to normality presents opportunities rather than threats — not least because galleries offer ways to experience digital art beyond a computer screen. “Digital art is very, very immersive,” he said, adding that displaying art is still important to online collectors. “So, I think we can build some really cool physical experiences.” This article was updated to reflect the final amount generated by Grimes’ NFT drop. Source link Orbem News #Art #boom #Digital #fueling #NFTs

[jackcliu]

On tokens, markets, and a path to a real-time economy

Two years ago on March 1, 2019, I posted a Letter to my future self to the Bitcoin blockchain. This is the story of that letter, one where I didn’t write a word, and how two years later, the dream is still alive. There is an actual path with tokens and markets to make utopia a reality, and my case for what that might look like. 



About a month prior to March 1, 2019, I had privately begun telling my close friends, colleagues, and family that I was going to be making a significant career and life change and dedicate the next chapter of my career towards building exclusively for the Bitcoin SV blockchain. You can guess the confused looks and concerns people had about what it was I was doing. Did I lose my mind? To be fair, I still get those messages today. I knew what I had envisioned when I first read the white paper back in 2013 and somewhere along that journey, the crypto industry had taken a path that veered dramatically from the one I had imagined. With Bitcoin having course corrected twice already via hard forks, I wanted and needed a guiding compass - a North Star. That’s when I had the idea to write a letter to my future self.

I confided in one of my best friends, Jackie to help me write it. It was a busy month for me, my mind was all over the place and I needed help. Over two afternoons, I shared with Jackie what I wanted to say, what was the possible world that I imagined. To her I must have been repeating myself since she and many of my friends had heard this for a decade. The future would bring Proof of Work from a term to describe a computer science thing to one that would describe the workings of the entire global economy and drive a seismic shift in how value was created and how we humans would interact and cooperate with one another. I wanted her to include a thank you to some people who helped me along the way - titans of the industry whom I was fortunate to cross paths and work with. Jesse Powell, gave me my first job at Kraken. CZ hired me to OKCoin in 2014. Star believed in me and gave me so many growth opportunities. At Circle, I worked with my long time friend Dan, who would go on to create CMS. A few days later, Jackie sent me a draft. I was pretty shocked at first, thinking hey this doesn’t even say Bitcoin in it. Where are all the names I wanted to include. Then I read it another time and when she asked if I wanted any changes or if the approach was right, I said, “Let’s not change a single word”. It was different, it was exceptional, to me it was perfect. I sent the letter internally as part of my Circle resignation email, flew off to San Antonio with my parents to watch the retirement ceremony of my favourite basketball player Manu Ginobili, and then a month later on April Fools Day, RelayX was launched.

Having this Letter out there has served me well. Nobody could have expected the course of events of the past two years both within BitCoin, and the world at large. Politics, COVID-19, money-printing, delistings, court cases, you name it. Without it as an anchor, I might have lost sight of the bigger picture. If you would have asked me then what BitCoin would look like today, I would have predicted a 100x rosier picture than the current situation. Despite most of the boom in the cryptocurrency industry having not occurred on the Bitcoin SV blockchain, the rapid adoption of blockchain and digital currencies from NFTs to DeFi, to institutions putting BTC on the balance sheet shows the underlying movement is in full force. Just this week, I watched sharpshooter JJ Redick utter the words “non fungible token, and blockchain technology” on his podcast talking about NBA Topshot. That’s incredible.

In the letter are the words - “Your world will be frictionless and marked by truth, freedom and fairness. Your world will truly be one that is defined by human imagination and honest work.”

I am making the case for tokens as the critical solution to a real-time economy. I want to break the spell of the narrow definition of tokens that has bounded the Bitcoin SV ecosystem. For much of the past two years, there appears to be two camps in BSV when it comes to tokens. The dominant one being we want only regulated tokens, security tokens, tokens backed by real assets, with real utility, that real businesses and enterprises can use to make their businesses more efficient. The other, perhaps out of jealousy for what’s going on in other blockchains being let’s just port those Ethereum ERC20’s over and let it run wild for it might pump the BSV price! Funny thing is neither has happened as developers are busy debating whether tokens should be on layer 0 or layer 1 or layer 100 but that’s a topic for another day. Both views are myopic. 



Tokens are going to be a much bigger deal on BitCoin than anyone might imagine. 

How many websites are there on the internet? I looked it up recently and the answer is 1.7Bn. How many token contracts are there on the Ethereum chain? The answer is 350,000. 



Websites are kind of hard to set up - you have to purchase a domain name, at least use a website template creator, and there isn’t that much use for getting one for the average person. Not when you can have an Instagram page, a Facebook account, a Twitter handle, a Medium blog without having your own site. Yet there are 1.7Bn of them! Ethereum tokens are prohibitively expensive mining fee wise to generate. Out of interest, I asked one of the devs who minted the original USDC contract during my days at Circle to find the transaction. It cost 0.44 ETH. At today’s prices that’s well over $500 to create a token. Yet there are 350,000 contracts!



I would wager there will be over 100Bn unique tokens on BitCoin and I’d guess higher but I don’t want to be outside the bounds of the very Overton window I’m creating.

It takes a few seconds to issue a token on BitCoin and at current mining fees, less than a tenth of a cent to issue. If I’m a store owner, I might issue a different gift card a week for the various deals I have going on. If I’m an artist, a different NFT for each piece of artwork. Neither the store owner nor the artist needs more than one website and you start to see the math.

If reading this, you still think tokens are going to be contained to some narrow definition of ‘security’ tokens, or NASDAQ like tokens, or fiat currency tokens, realise it’s like saying the internet will only have The New York Times or CNN or some licensed officially approved site. It’s ok if not every account on Instagram is world class photography. Not every Twitter account is going to be insightful (that’s clear) and that’s ok. In a world of 100Bn unique tokens, You bet there’s going to be a great deal of useless ones and a pretty large number of scams. Just like there are websites that are phishing for your passwords, websites with illegal content, and websites with viruses in them. Over time, services emerged to protect you by blocking, or warning you about potentially dangerous websites.

What’s the bigger picture and what do tokens have to do with a real-time economy? I’ve made the case for there being a ton of tokens. Does that mean it’s just going to be a Coinmarketcap with a lot more pages? An exchange with a lot more trading pairs? No, a lot more exciting than that.

A world with 100Bn tokens means every single asset, service, good, company, project, video, post and many more abstract things than one can imagine is going to have a dynamic, live price. It’s not about the tokens, it’s about the markets. Today, you visit a restaurant and you check Yelp to see if has a good review. BSV entrepreneurs are making some new review site but with reviews posted on the blockchain thinking this is the problem that needs solving. “Immutable reviews”. Much more valuable than a review or immutable review however is if this particular restaurant’s loyalty token is trading at a premium to the other one next door. There’s actually money on the line. Then after eating, instead of being a foodie with a blog and an Instagram to hype up such restaurant, if you’ve got that talent for knowing what’s going to be the next hot restaurant, you can just buy on the open market more of the restaurant’s tokens. Yes, a local foodie just became an crypto trader. Now you profit when you promote the restaurant on your blog. The chef who started that restaurant instead of using Groupon to attract an initial set of customers who have no loyalty to you, can instead issue 10,000 tokens, where each dish costs 100 tokens. Pretty soon if your food is delicious, those token prices are going to jump. Think Global, Live Local is not just going to do good, it’s going to now make you rich. 



I grew up in a lower middle class first generation immigrant family. I remember being a teenager in those years where oil prices were very volatile as the world approached the idea of “Peak Oil”. We would sometimes drive by a gas station one day where prices were a few cents cheaper than the day before, and even though the tank was half full, we filled up. Other days, the warning light would be on, but we held off for another day to fill up the tank in hopes prices would come down. Is this speculation on oil prices bad? Another fun memory I had was going grocery shopping with my folks and my favourite cookies were the Chip Ahoy Crunchy chocolate. Eating those with milk is probably half the reason for my height. Once in a while they would be on sale but next to them were the No-Name brand versions of the same cookies. Chip Ahoys were definitely better but were they $2/100grams better? No. We would calculate every time to decide which we would buy. Is this speculation on cookie price bad? How come other goods and services in the economy didn’t fluctuate in price? That’s what’s always fascinated me. I knew they would if they could. With Bitcoin, it was possible.

Tokens on Bitcoin with the perpetual scaling design of Bitcoin where it isn’t the holder that’s rewarded (Proof of Stake) but rather those contributing to scaling the network (Proof of Work) will lead to the formation of markets where markets were too inefficient to exist - unlocking trillions of value in the process. 



A fully tokenised economy makes everything efficient, fair, honest, and real-time. I don’t mean efficient like fast transactions or cheap mining fees. It’s the economy that will be efficient. You won’t need to be a big grocery chain or a big oil company or big tech company with financial analysts, and big data and machine learning folks in order to know what to set the price of a Chips Ahoy or a Gallon of oil or surge pricing on a taxi ride. It’ll be orders of magnitudes better than that and for every person on earth because it’s all going to be open, issuable, transferable, tradeable. You won’t be checking page 978,950 of Coinmarketcap. You won’t be scrolling to AHOY/USDT on an exchange. I predict all of this will happen without you realising that it did and all our lives will improve as a result.

For those who immediately think of the regulatory ramifications of this, I’ve thought the same. In 2015, while leading OKCoin, I led our initiative to become the first international benefactors of Coin Center - the industry body working with regulators and governments. I am a minority seed round investor in Chainalysis which looks for criminal activity onchain. I look forward to working with all those who would like to embrace innovation while having an eye on ensuring an orderly, legal transition to this future.

I could not be more excited to support the emerging token projects on BitCoin, through building products, investment, advice, or even in spirit. 

Bitcoin is plumbing - just plumbing where billions of trades and speculation down to the satoshi will be happening every second.