Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

According to news from August 29, many critics believe that today's meta-cosmic platform has poor picture quality, poor details and poor user experience. But brands that have invested heavily in the meta-universe project do not think so. They generally believe that the meta-universe business is still developing, the design details are not important, and the important thing is to provide more channels for them to attract new users.

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, was quickly ridiculed last week when he released a selfie of himself in front of the miniature Eiffel Tower in the company's virtual reality game Horizon Worlds.

"I think the quality of the Sims 1 is better," someone wrote on Facebook. One user on social media Twitter joked: "this selfie cost Zuckerberg 10 billion dollars."Children, stay in the ivory tower."

Three days later, Zuckerberg responded on Instagram and Facebook that the virtual selfie in front of the mini Eiffel Tower is a very basic "classic version" and that Horizon Worlds is about to make a major update in graphics and image processing. He also released two new photos, a new virtual selfie that looks better, and a more realistic picture of the square, adding that Horizon's graphics and image functions are much more than that.

But the negative impact on meta-cosmic business has been formed. Many critics are questioning how the universe, which burns billions of dollars, can be like this. Will it be like this forever?

Many brands and investors who have invested in the meta-universe project say these issues do not matter. They insist that meta-universe is the next stage in the development of the Internet and is still in the process of development. In addition, the Horizon Worlds currently developed by Meta is only a part of the development process. A spokesman for Meta declined to comment, saying the company would release more details about Horizon Worlds games this fall.

Ethan Zuckerman Sackmann, an Internet scholar and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, says the simple photos in Horizon Worlds may have been designed. When asked about Zuckerberg's Horizon virtual selfie, a Meta representative highlighted Zuckerberg's updated photos.

"if I were Zuckerberg and I wanted to get 1 billion users, I would say,'it has to be simple'." "they are sacrificing visual attractiveness for a certain amount of creativity," Sackmann said. " Sackmann added that "my World" and Roblox, two popular games that users often interact with, are not visually flashy, "it's hard to make tools that are both easy to use and good-looking." He stressed that to do this, the whole system needs to be able to support more animation functions than the current digital world.

Akkash Akash Nigam, chief executive of Genies, a virtual avatar, believes that photo realism is rarely the ultimate goal in such an environment.

"the whole point of avatars lies in emotional communication and inner personalities that humans can't show themselves," he said. "that's why the most popular role in our system is not even human form, but other species."

Mark Cuban, a billionaire investor and online celebrity of the Creative winner program, said meta-universe can represent different types of projects. In his view, the digital products of large enterprises or meta-universe virtual real estate belong to the meta-universe business.

"the problem is that the meta-universe is not single, and almost anything can be defined as a meta-universe," Cuban wrote in an email. "there are unlimited possibilities. this diversity will make it difficult to set standards."

Brands are devoting a lot of energy to the meta-universe business. Disney and other companies hire executives to specialize in meta-cosmos. Balenciaga and OTB Group, the parent company of Italian denim brand Diesel, have set up departments dedicated to projects such as non-homogenized tokens (NFT), avatars and digital clothing. Well-known luxury brands such as Gucci, Givenchy and Ralph Lauren have launched virtual experiences in Roblox, while Nike and Magale have added brand experience content to the game Fortnite. Stars like Ariana Grande (Ariana Grande), Travis Travis Scott and the smokers have also given digital concerts.

Venture capital firms Anderson Horowitz (Andreessen Horowitz) and Felix Capital have both earmarked hundreds of millions of dollars for the meta-universe project. Nearly a year ago, Facebook announced that it would change its name to Meta, and its core business is Zuckerberg's plan to build an immersive 3D Internet that allows people's avatars to communicate freely in a work or play environment.

There are also some projects that pay more attention to visual experience and picture details. Fabricant, an Amsterdam-based digital fashion company, designs digital clothes for clothing brands such as Off-White, Marques Almeida, Puma and Tommy Hilfiger. These clothing designs are three-dimensional and have rich detailed features. Some may take weeks to complete, according to Kerry Murphy, chief executive of Fabricant.

But when digital costumes and NFT are transferred to the virtual world, they must be formatted to adapt to the artistic language of different games. Some virtual items lose their design elements in the process.

Rtfkt is a company that sells virtual assets with $500 worth of digital sneakers and virtual images priced at $10, 000. Co-founder Benoit Benoit Pagotto said: "as a super-high-value collection, the NFT has received a lot of attention, but so far, no high-end meta-universe can show them." But he says the lack of a boutique environment hasn't stopped a steady stream of Rtfkt customers, who seem happy to display virtual objects in their favorite digital space.

Cathy Hackl, founder of metacosmos market strategy company Journey, believes that the company is still improving the design and experience of the virtual world. "I think people's expectations need to be preserved."

Hackl has run Metasmos for brands such as Ralph Lauren and Clinique. She is currently working with a musician who spoke on condition of anonymity to plan a concert in a virtual reality game. The performer has long hair, which requires "a lot of rendering work" to reflect the performer's bouncing and movement, Hackl said. In the end, she chose a ponytail avatar for the performer.

"my time is limited," Hackl said. "I'm realistic."

Tommy Hilfiger has launched the brand experience feature in both Roblox and meta-universe platform Decentraland, and the company believes that virtual worlds can provide a channel to build close relationships with Generation Z customers. Roblox players have bought or won about 10.3 million Tommy Hilfiger products in the game, and the company plans to broadcast live the upcoming New York Fashion week catwalk on Roblox.

"despite all the limitations, we don't think we should avoid exploring meta-universe," said Avery Baker, president and chief brand officer of Tommy Hilfiger.

Alfred Chang, co-chief executive of retailer PacSun, which opened a "virtual mall" on Roblox earlier this year, says retailers that want to cater to young shoppers should not focus entirely on design.

"from a visual point of view, Roblox is very simple," Chand said. "but what attracts us are tens of millions of active users and market opportunities based on our customer base."

In September, Puma will launch a digital center that can buy virtual sneakers, which consumers can then exchange for real sneakers. The company thinks this is a new way to interact with customers.

"will it be better than the best game on the market?" "Yes, of course it's not that good, but it doesn't have to be that way," said Adam Adam Petrick, Puma's chief brand officer.

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.