After the ChatGPT mania, Meta’s metaverse is still so empty and sad

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A British professor delved into the metaverse of Meta for several months. It describes an empty universe in which one is bored. Things are not expected to improve any time soon after the ChatGPT surge.



Is anyone else in the metaverse, wonders New York may, Wednesday, March 15. Since the ChatGPT mania, this universe, which already did not interest many people, would always, and maybe even more so, be deserted and boring. Because if he didn’t seduce the general public, he had Mark Zuckerberg as a leading defender and investor until now. Meta’s CEO continued to devour billions at all costs to build the Internet of tomorrow, despite increasingly hesitant shareholders. But then came… ChatGPT, and with it all the technology started announcing that AI would be included in their company’s products or services. All ? Yes everything. Meta was no exception.

If the words ” other way around ” Or ” Horizon worlds (the group’s virtual world) have not yet been replaced by ” Generative AI In all his communications, the CEO of the group, in a letter to his employees on Tuesday, March 14, acknowledged that: Our investment Most important is (now) about advancing AI and integrating it into each of our products Although he added below: Our pioneering work on the metaverse (…) also remains essential “. Because there is work, according to the funny and apocalyptic story of this British professor, published in the columns of the American media. Paul Murray, a semester expat on the east coast of the United States, immersed himself for several months in the virtual world of Meta to spend his long evenings alone… for better or for worse.

“Abandoned Mall”


When you first enter Horizon Worlds “, he is writing, after a short warning about epileptic seizures, you hear a female voice assuring you that if someone upsets you, you can report it. The voice adds in a whisper: ‘Don’t worry, we won’t tell them it’s you! “. Then, he reports, you have to get used to the lack of legs of the avatars, and to this impression of an abandoned world, a little “ like an abandoned mall “. In theory you can go through a whole series “ world’s – a misleading term such as these are “ small to very, very small “. And often no one is there, he notes.

For his first trip, the Professor chooses the Party House world. Once inside, the surprisingly simple architectural style is striking – a bit like the Duplos, he explains. A style he will find all over Horizon Worlds. He walks around a swimming pool and a DJ plays the house and cross” Nut bags sandwich ‘, his name floats above his head. The boredom and lack of atmosphere are shattered for a time by ” Impala expert », a user he asks what activities he could do. Who answers him very seriously: Ping pong and virtual porn “.

The metaverse, a ” cyber farm »


In addition to the presence of many children using their parents’ avatar, an episode in which several probably racist users attack a Hispanic before attacking his avatar, the teacher mainly talks about boredom. A thick and persistent boredom. We come across avatars that “ in the end they all look alike: joyless caricatures of themselves “, of “ same size, same symmetrical face “.” Hardly anyone is fat or old, age is usually only indicated by white hair “, he writes. The only truly human element you encounter: the voice.

In terms of interaction, the best to hope for is a ” aimless, but well-intentioned exchange one can have during a cigarette break outside the work canteen. We often talk about people’s origins, gender “I used to live there, but now I live here”. Aside from a few thoughts on bitcoin or the latest installment of The last of usthe poverty of the interactions gives the impression be a kind of cyber nursery – a place where you drop the kids off and let them roam around getting into mischief, knowing they’re safe ‘ explains the professor. ” We are from all over the world, we are all gathered in one place and look at us, we are bored, we do not know what to do “Complains one of the users met by the teacher.

Among the profiles crossed over the months, a ” America big and lonely “including stories” about not having sex, not talking to the girl, not having someone by your side when you take off the VR headset Only positive point: time spent in Horizon Worlds is the only time he doesn’t check his smartphone every five seconds.

Source :

New York may
 
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