Spielberg made Ready Player One at the right time. It covers the terrain of the "metaverse" in a way which is accessible to all generations -- he did it late enough that people would accept it but early enough to remind us that Zuckerberg is a follower not a leader.
A big thing this article misses is that work is going to be a big driver for VR and in AR. I saw a documentary the other day that showed how the operators of an offshore drilling operating in Europe use a VR "Cave" to model everything from the gas reservoir they are tapping to the operation of machines that do tasks like connecting wells to pipelines. AR is hugely practical when it comes to accessing service manuals when you are inside an aircraft engine or can overlay the plans for a construction project over the physical space. In these applications avoiding mistakes can justify the cost of the hardware and software development.
In terms of entertainment the strength of VR is highly intense experiences. People can't stand to be in VR for as long as they can spend reading, watching TV, playing video games, surfing the web, swiping on tinder, etc. I would love to turn an abandoned store in the mall into a VR park where people can play LaserTag++ but on top of dealing with people who fall blind wearing $3000 worth of gear (I think I could manage to do that on a padded surface and not get hurt but I know many people couldn't) I just can't see how you could make the financials work out.
A big thing this article misses is that work is going to be a big driver for VR and in AR. I saw a documentary the other day that showed how the operators of an offshore drilling operating in Europe use a VR "Cave" to model everything from the gas reservoir they are tapping to the operation of machines that do tasks like connecting wells to pipelines. AR is hugely practical when it comes to accessing service manuals when you are inside an aircraft engine or can overlay the plans for a construction project over the physical space. In these applications avoiding mistakes can justify the cost of the hardware and software development.
In terms of entertainment the strength of VR is highly intense experiences. People can't stand to be in VR for as long as they can spend reading, watching TV, playing video games, surfing the web, swiping on tinder, etc. I would love to turn an abandoned store in the mall into a VR park where people can play LaserTag++ but on top of dealing with people who fall blind wearing $3000 worth of gear (I think I could manage to do that on a padded surface and not get hurt but I know many people couldn't) I just can't see how you could make the financials work out.