The basic idea of the metaverse isn’t complicated. Put simply, the metaverse includes any digital experience on the internet that is persistent, immersive, three-dimensional (3D), and virtual, as in, not happening in the physical world. Metaverse experiences offer us the opportunity to play, work, connect or buy (and just to make things extra fun, the things we buy can be real or virtual). It is also perhaps a misnomer to say “the metaverse” as if it were a monolithic, connected, or even interoperable universe, because it is not.
Each entity that creates a virtual world does so with its own access, membership, monetization rights, and formats of creative expression, so the business and technical specifications vary widely. The metaverse refers more to the concept across these individual worlds and experiences and the acknowledgement that we are entering into a more substantive, immersive landscape than ever before.
3分39秒、Metaのやってるメタバースはくそ。あれをメタバースとは呼びたくない。嫌いだ。みんなメタバースと聞くと、Metaのやってるメタバースだと思うが、そうじゃない。技術の話が多いが、実際の実用例は乏しい。例えば、NFLのチケットをチケット販売店に行かずに買える、これがメタバースだ。Whatever good for consumers in many different ways.で、メタバースだ。
Benjamin Blank:So the future. Data, Web 3, how should we be thinking about content as creators? How should we be preparing for it? What is the best approach? Evan, I'll start with you on this.
Evan Shapiro: Yeah, I think it's experimentation. I think we're in Web 2.5 on Roblox and Fortnite and Minecraft right now, and you look at what Ariana Grande and Marshmallow and Trev Scott all did on Fortnite and Bieber. And I don't see a lot of other genres experimenting in these ecosystems.
Why are we not trying that out now? Why is there no stand up comedy in Fortnite? Why are we not seeing The Masked Singer or some other show? At least player fuck around with it. You don't have to build your own metaverse to start experimenting in this new art form. And I think you're going to see these metaverses, these platforms open up new storytelling possibilities and attract new audiences to art forms that wouldn't have gotten to them otherwise. Because, you know, it's very hard to get through to a 14 year old right now because they're paying 9 hours of Minecraft or 9 hours of Fortnite in a row.
But if you can invade that system with something that a story that they haven't heard before. Yeah, I mean, imagine the next chapter of John Wick is taking place on Fortnite or in one of these little ecosystems. I'm not saying that's where it's all headed, but to not be playing around with it now. And I don't see publishers other than music,I don't see publishers and other than marketing.
Like, NFL has the most popular skin in Fortnite, but that's not storytelling, that's merchandising. Right. So I think we're sleeping on a great opportunity right now.
Benjamin Blank:So the metaverse is exciting in terms of it being viable, in many ways, we're a ways off from that adoption. There's a number of roadblocks. When we talk about the future, what is the approachable future right now? How should we be thinking about it? When you talk about opportunities, I think those are the right type of opportunities. Janet, as you think about that and you talk to your team, what are you instructing them to do? How do you think about the future and reasonable opportunities?
Janet Balis: Well, first, for me, 2.5 is just an acknowledgment that you're not going to jump to 3.0 and there are intelligent choices and you're going to use different technologies that are fit for purpose at a moment in time. And so for the foreseeable future, we're going to use 2.0 and 3.0 in the right blend and mix. And I think that's all we're really talking about there.
For me, I think the thing about the Metaverse and Web 3 in particularly as marketers seek to explore it, one, I do agree, we want consumers to lead us and we want to explore that and experiment. We want creators to lead.
But I think for businesses as they go into it, the thing I do encourage is don't just follow the hype cycle. And just because someone else did it doesn't mean you should go do it.
It may not be right for you. You have to figure out your why. Why do you need to go do this? Is there an insight about your audience, your consumer, the "humans" you want to go touch that leads you to believe this is going to be something they're going to connect with?
And I think it's really important to do that. Is it important to your talent agenda? Is it important to your innovation agendas? Is it important to your consumers, your future, your business? If so, then yes, go for it.
And then the other thing I think it's super important is to just make sure that the technology doesn't lead you there. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
We've seen this so many times. I mean, frankly, you can go out to the convention center, you can see a lot of really wacky use cases because somebody's like, well, the technology can do this, so I'm going to go use it to go do this thing...
Evan Shapiro: Create a digital twin that lives after you die? Why?
エヴァン・シャピロ:自分が死んだ後も生きているデジタル・ツインを作る。でも、なぜ?
Janet Balis: Like... There's not a why. We as humans don't need to do a lot of it. So I think it's really important with the Metaverse and Web 3 to just make sure that we go back to the fundamentals. This is about storytelling. Will it make a "human" connection? Will it be more compelling, more immersive? Will that third dimension make it better? Will it allow you to engage fans or fellow artists or in a more compelling way will allow you to bring people in? Then yes, go for it. If not, it's not the right answer.
I just think it's all of the conversation, whether it's about audience or relevance, it's about just being thoughtful and honoring the craft of storytelling and really just being very bespoke in the decisions and choices that you make. Because if you're deliberate, you can get the right answer.
Benjamin Blank:And in some ways it's what is the most basic human utility? Right? How is this making my life better? And then it seems like there will be a plat form or a technology that does make sense to lean into.
Janet Balis: And if it's not an intuitive journey, if they're not going to figure it out, they're not going to use it. Nothing's going to scale right now.
Part of the problem with the metaverse is it's obviously not at scale in one place, which is fine, and that's not going to change. But the issue is will people be able to take the journey and figure it out? If not, it's probably not going to make sense. Just like something at a store or something on a website or anything else that we experience today.