News And Commentary: Questions Raised About Horizon Following Zuckerburg's Comments, Announcement of Creator Fees

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

Facebook/Meta's virtual world of "Horizon" has gotten it's share of criticism (and jokes) over time. But two recent developments have added to it. There was an inworld meeting not long ago in which Mark Zuckerberg met with several online creators. That the owner of Facebook goes online to meet the people there is certainly a positive development. But among the things he had to say was something at one point when they were discussing the ability of people to build things within Horizon using existing tools there, rather than building them outside the game and importing them. Just after the six minute mark in the video of the meeting, Zuckerburg makes this comment:

"...one of the things that we've just tried to do differently is the whole co-developing experience, the fact that everything that you're building is in Horizon itself. I think that is really just different from all of the other experiences out there."

Anyone even remotely familiar with Second Life knows this is not true at all. Since the begining, it's residents have had the ability to build items. Among the first things yours truly did was make a new shirt and jacket. So surely Zuckerburg would know this? Probably, though it's not outside the realm of possibility that he's been so disinterested in Second Life, he hasn't bothered to learn much more about it than it exists (If he's spoken anything about our virtual world, I haven't heard it).

Another possibility is that he is aware that Second Life, and other virtual worlds, do allow inworld building. So why would he just up and tell a mistruth? Maybe he sees that as part of a "spin" to promote his virtual world, pretending that there's no one else that can match him. Or maybe he doesn't want to acknowledge Second Life's existence and feels he doesn't have to.

So either he's unaware of basic details of other virtual worlds, perhaps unaware of them entirely, or he's not telling the truth. Neither one looks good.

Facebook/Meta was criticized over another detail of Horizons: how much of a cut do the owners of the virtual world take from content creators? An article in Business Insider stated that they would charge content creators 47.5% in fees, almost half. "We think it's a pretty competitive rate in the market," Facebook/Meta's Vice President would say of it. But in the past, Zuckerberg had been critical of Apple charging 30% for developers to sell in it's App Store. Naturally, Apple was quick to point this out. A spokesman would say the "announcement lays bare Meta’s hypocrisy. It goes to show that while they seek to use Apple’s platform for free, they happily take from the creators and small businesses that use their own."

PC Gamer suggested a better comparison was Second Life in which fees to "move money into or out ... range from 3.5% to 7.5%" Executive Chairman Brad Oberwager would say, "I can't imagine that Meta's nearly 50% take will be that motivating to creators," pointing out that the Lab had paid 86 million USD to content creators last year. Philip Rosedale, the founder of Linden Lab, would tell PC Gamer, Facebook/Meta's fee "seems like a great way to dissuade creators from actually participating in its economy, but, frankly I would expect nothing less from them. They need to find some way to fill the coffers as their surveillance model loses steam."

Meta/Facebook seems rather untruthful and greedy, which will not help it's reputation, or that of it's virtual world Horizons, and will discourage people, regular users and content creators alike, from using it.

Hat tip: Hamlet Au, Mattie Carlton

Sources: Vidyuu Nights, PC Gamer, Marketwatch, Buisiness Insider

Bixyl Shuftan
 

More on Facebook And Meta And Virtual World Plans, Grumpity Linden's Interview

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

Late last month in late October, Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook the company would be changing it's name to "Meta" to reflect it's plans to build a huge virtual world called the "Metaverse." Since then, there's been more than a few comments and developments.

As the term "Metaverse" was developed by Neal Stephenson in his cyberpunk novel "Snow Crash," he was interviewed about Facebook's move. "It’s flattering when readers take the work seriously enough to put their own time and money into bringing similar ideas to fruition," he remarked, "... science fiction writers have occasionally been given credit for inspiring real-life inventions, so this is not new and it’s not unique. I was aware of that fact thirty years ago when I wrote 'Snow Crash,' but I didn’t necessarily expect it to happen." He had never spoken to Zuckerberg, nor expected any kind of compensation, "In order to get compensation from FB or any other company I would need to sign some kind of deal in which I gave the company rights to some IP in exchange for payment."

As it turns out, Facebook may have a problem as another company filed first for rights for the name. Meta PC, which has been in business for a little more than a year, decided to officially apply for the name in August. The founders Joe Darger and Zack Shutt say they're willing to let Facebook have the name, but only if the larger company pays them 20 million. They also poked fun at Facebook by photoshopping a picture of Mark Zuckerberg holding one of their computers. Since neither company officially owns the name, Facebook may still be able to get it. But this oversight is resulting in a few chuckles. In the meantime, the result has been a great amount of free publicity for the smaller company, which saw it's social media followers increase by fifty times.

And what do the people at Linden Lab think of Facebook's move? Grumpity Linden, or Anya Kanevsky in real life, was interviewed by the French magazine Le Journal du Net (JDN). "It's interesting to see this interest in the metaverse from the Epic Games and Facebook announcements," Grumpity commented, " A metaverse is a collection of connected virtual worlds. In a sense, Second Life is a full-fledged metaverse. A living place in which, in the form of an avatar, you can stroll through shopping malls, go to the beach, visit art galleries, etc. Second Life also has its own economy and its own currency, the Linden Dollars."

She would go on to say that Zuckerburg and his people, "realized that the reputation Facebook has forged over time can be a barrier. This lack of confidence in the company exists and there will have to be a number of levers of confidence to allow those who wish to explore these virtual worlds. At Second Life, we ensure the privacy of our residents. For example, some assume their homosexuality in Second Life, but we know that some may live in areas of the world where their sexual orientation could lead them to prison. We are therefore extremely vigilant on this issue of data security. With the immense wealth of data in the hands of the digital giants, it will be necessary to ensure the protection of the privacy of the users of these virtual worlds."

Grumpity would remind that most content in Second Life, "was created by our residents and not by Linden Lab employees. We just play the role of facilitator. This represents our vision of the metaverse. I don't see how creating different games that would be connected to each other could be akin to the metaverse. In my eyes, this is content created by companies for users. For the metaverse to exist, it must be created and managed by the people who live there."

Sansar and it's option to wear VR helmets came up, "Many were not thrilled with the idea of ​​carrying these VR headsets that are quite heavy and require enough space at home to be able to use them. If virtual reality allows for an immersive and incomparable experience, we observed that few of our residents were ready to wear these helmets for more than thirty minutes. So we plan to keep trying new things around virtual reality, but VR isn't the only possible future for Second Life."

Grumpity would remind Linden Lab's virtual world was still making money, "In 2020, the creators of Second Life collected nearly $ 73 million. Many of them use the platform as a completely or have made it their main source of income." Although the Pandemic was ending, the people who signed on or returned were still logging on to Second Life, "even if they spend less time there."

The interview can still be read on the JDN website. As it's in French, English speakers may need to copy-paste in Google translate or have some other way of traslating it. Inara Pey would also write about it.

As time goes on, no doubt there will be more developments about Meta and it's plans to go into virtual worlds. Stay tuned for further details.

Sources: Axios, TMZ, IGN, JDN,

Bixyl Shuftan