The crazy metaverse — ideas from the fringe

Any shift in society, whether it’s technological or otherwise, brings a deluge of new ideas. We rarely remember the alternatives provided as the mainstream dictates what history remembers. The “Craziest Ideas for the Future of Gaming and the Metaverse” panel during this years GamesBeat Summit Next 2022 discusses these kind of ideas.

Moderator Mark Long, CEO of NEON, got the ball rolling with a question about what’s going on out in the metaverse today. “I’m all about misguided passion. I’ve made a career, such as it is out of really bad video game ideas, so I’m really excited to host such a fun panel. So, there’s bad ideas and good ideas, right? What are some of the best ideas that you really like?”

“The whole play to earn has gotten a bit of a bad name,” replied Viz Virk with MIT. “Back in like 2007, 2008, when Second Life was big, people used to have jobs in Second Life and they’d say, ‘I have to show up at eight o’clock at this bar, right?’ And that was a key part of their income. So I think this merging of your work in the metaverse and getting paid in the metaverse for the work is a good idea long term, even though the economies of some of the games thus far haven’t been well managed for that purpose.”

Augmented Reality (AR) is a concept we see more in movies than we do in practical, everyday use. Nils Wollny, CEO of Holoride, wants to bring AR to more than just the office setting. In fact, he wants to bring it to your car.

“I think one of the best ideas in gaming is combining the digital reality with physical reality,” said Wollny. “Creating fully immersive, but connected to the real environment, real friends, real you, physical you and create experiences that really connect to this space.”

One of the most fascinating concepts of the connected world is content generation by players. Science fiction author Eliot Peper is interested in shared content and experience.

“I discovered a really cool new mobile game Castle (Castle Make and Play), which I’m sure people in this room probably know more about than I do,” said Peper. “The entire experience revolves around making a game on your phone that you then play on your phone. So if you’re a player, the experience is like TikTok where you’re flipping through different games that other players are making all over the world. There’s been huge uptake just in the past couple months, especially in the Philippines and elsewhere, of people spending enormous amounts of time making experiences for each other and enjoying them through that shared space.”