I mean, this is definitely going to be a disaster but I think the title and article here are a little misleading. The author implies that Warner Brothers is spearheading (and paying for) this venture, but I just read through the buzzword salad of a press release and it barely mentions them. The project is driven by an independent company that licensed the ready player one IP from WB. The whole thing very carefully avoids any details about money changing hands, but my guess is either that WB is getting paid, or they've negotiated a cut of any theoretical future profits. Of course, the chances of there ever being profits are slim to none, but I'd say at worst they're net $0 on the deal, and at best they actually made some money by getting paid up front. They might suffer some reputation damage if it becomes a real catastrophe, but as the author of the article mentioned they are billions in debt, so its probably a risk they're happy to take.

[–] Snapz@lemmy.world 39 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Crazy that this involves the author... We really can't learn can we?

This is seeing the Titanic movie and saying, "yup, we're building the titanic and sailing into an iceberg! Who's coming with us?"

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[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 33 points 10 months ago (6 children)

"Fortnite, the real, actual closest thing to a metaverse we have"

Umm, what?

[–] lorty@lemmy.ml 20 points 10 months ago (1 children)

People don't associate Fortnite with that due to the main game being just pvp instanced deathmatches. But it is, by far, the most comprehensive example of what a corporate * metaverse would look like, specially now that they have their creative mode or whatever it's called.

*I know something like VR Chat or your favorite MMO with housing is closer to what people would want or imagine the metaverse to be, but that's not what the buzzword is for the suits.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

But it is, by far, the most comprehensive example of what a corporate * metaverse would look like,

Roblox seems to fit that more than a pvp death match game with some events tacked on.

[–] variants@possumpat.io 6 points 10 months ago

And don't forget minecraft where they made the entire earth https://buildtheearth.net/

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[–] dion_starfire@sh.itjust.works 19 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Funny thing is, a real life Metaverse has existed for over 20 years. The term Metaverse comes from a book called Snow Crash. The game Second Life was designed explicitly to be the Metaverse envisioned in Snow Crash, complete with it's own economy tied to real life money (as in, if you made enough money in-game, you could cash it out for real-world USD). Companies used to build headquarters in the game world similar to how some do in Fortnite now, even going so far as to hold actual real world business meetings in-game as a form of teleconferencing. After a few high-profile events where live TV broadcasts of in-game events got swarmed by flying dicks, the media lost interest in the game, and companies abandoned the game and moved on to more business-oriented solutions.

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[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago

When I hear about concerts, and hotels reproducing their entire layout inside of Fortnite, I can actually respect the comparison. Of course, I've also seen many advertised attempts at "maid cafes" within the residential districts of FFXIV, so there's multiple people trying it - Fortnite is just the most well known.

[–] XTornado@lemmy.ml 12 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I would kind of agree, that and Roblox. No VR though.

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[–] memo@feddit.it 7 points 10 months ago

fellers never heard of a mmorpg

[–] TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

If you take the Ready Player One's example of a metaverse, that is, one where people get to cosplay their favorite famous media properties, I don't think it's a wrong assessment.

Otherwise I would say VRChat is a much more honestly realized version of that.

[–] alienanimals@lemmy.world 32 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Ernest Cline is a sellout who got lucky piggybacking off the success of popular franchises. I've seen high schoolers write better than that guy.

[–] LeiaO42@sh.itjust.works 16 points 10 months ago

I agree. I couldn't get through the first 10 pages.

Since I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else in the comments, I thought I'd leave this here: https://372pages.com/episode-0-a-book-were-probably-going-to-hate

"372 Pages We'll Never Get Back" is a podcast where Mike Nelson (MST3K, Rifftrax) and Conor Lastoka (Rifftrax) read and review books they're "pretty sure they're going to hate". RP1 is the first book & source of the podcast title, since it's 372 pages. It's like Mystery Science Theater 3000 for books and it is hilarious, I highly recommend.

[–] inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

It's easily the worst book I've read, and I only finished because of the unintentional hilarity of it all. In a story ostensibly about how evil media mega corporations are, the author wrote a hail corporateove love letter to top selling franchises without realizing the irony.

There was potential in it being a self parody, although in a way the whe situation is funnier because he was so earnest.

[–] m13@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It’s a blur to me now but I just remember so many forced 80s references, and the plot was basic. Fan fiction vibes.

[–] TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

Ironically I found the megacorp produced movie version much more palatable both because it wasn't stuck on making that which the author liked the only media worth obssessing about, it showed that fans of all eras enjoyed themselves equally in that world. And because it gave more of a human core to Halliday's quests and the plot, rather than it just being about who's more of a fanboy gets rich and gets the girl.

Seeing the book describe how Wade is so great at reciting every line of War Games just took me out of it. Am I supposed to be impressed by this second hand fawning over a different story? Is there even a point to that beyond Halliday/Ernest Cline thinking it's cool?

[–] jasondj@ttrpg.network 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I spent my first audible credit on that book. I hadn’t seen the movie…still haven’t. But it was narrated by Wil Wheaton, and I knew him from reddit. He did a good job. That’s all I have to say about it.

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[–] CharlesReed@kbin.social 30 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm sorry, the what?

[–] Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 months ago

Yeah i know I'm getting old when i have no idea what the headline means and I've only read the book. 🧐

[–] twistypencil@lemmy.world 25 points 10 months ago (10 children)

I thought we were done with web3 nft bs

[–] newthrowaway20@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They're desperate to make it happen because the potential benefits to them are so great that they become blinded by greed.

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[–] notannpc@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago

WB execs are currently in the #1 position on the list of dumbest motherfuckers of 2024. And boy are they setting the bar REALLY high.

[–] YurkshireLad@lemmy.ca 22 points 10 months ago (3 children)

The book was crap so I wouldn't expect anything else. I honestly think it was one of the worst books I've read.

[–] Aielman15@lemmy.world 23 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I haven't read the book, but the movie was crap too. It was just a slide show of '80s and '90s references that completely failed to capture what made those good, or even understand them.

[–] ours@lemmy.world 17 points 10 months ago

The book ran full off 'memberberries as well.

[–] meyotch@slrpnk.net 17 points 10 months ago

It was a quick read and the entire book can be summed up as generational pandering.

[–] MargotRobbie@lemmy.world 17 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Not even going to joke about this, but I am really hoping nobody there gets the bright idea to make a Barbie blockchain or NFT or anything like that.

Speaking of "Ready Player One", the author Ernest Cline also wrote literally the absolute worst, grossest, most misogynistic poem I've ever had the displeasure of reading in my life. Now you'll have to read it too to make sure the "Reqdyverse" never succeed and thus, zero possibility of Barbie blockchain.

[–] m13@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago

That was so fucking weird and gross. Thank you for sharing.

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago

This was really sad and arrogant

[–] SomethingBurger@jlai.lu 7 points 10 months ago

bruh just search for "homemade" on PornHub

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

lol wtf

Dunno when he made that (1990s? Early 2000s?), but nowadays even those "nerdy, smart" women are easy to find in porn. Hentai also has that in droves.

[–] SomethingBurger@jlai.lu 5 points 10 months ago

Late 90's but I couldn't find an exact date (I didn't look very hard).

[–] johnlobo@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago (2 children)

i thought metaverse thingy is dead?

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[–] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Just when I thought the WB's DC cinematic Universe was such a huge Trainwreck, it looks like they plan to top it with this.

Oh and remember Space Jam?

[–] lobut@lemmy.ca 6 points 10 months ago

DCEU was and is a trainwreck but the trailer for their game DC online game was banging: https://youtu.be/0WYwXer0sgU?si=XN_Xp6wyS10X2SID

[–] nick@midwest.social 8 points 10 months ago

I can’t wait for this

To utterly fail

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