The Meshverse Journal

People, Places, Things & Events Converging Electronically

Winds of Change: Meaning Beyond The Meshverse

Winds let us know when we're approaching the edge of something very large. We feel the breeze and smell the air before we see the ocean. Its sound is heard before we reach the shore. Unless you're approaching from higher ground, it can be difficult to grasp the scale of the ocean until you get to the beach.  On some beaches, there are places where all you can see without turning around is the ocean. At times, it can be hard to hear above the roar of the waves or stand your ground against the undercurrents. 


Last month The Meshverse Journal turned 5 years old. Cyberspace was quite different in 2006 - cell phones had lousy web browsers(the iPhone didn't debut until 2007), social networks were still emerging from a sea of disconnected blogs and web pages. Twitter had just launched and Second Life was a legitimate contender to Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. The MJ theme of "people, places, things and events" as a platform was an innovative concept which time has shown to be pretty much on the mark. Some things took routes I didn't anticipate. The iPhone provided a faster track to the theme of location, location, location than 3D and mobile devices slowed the emergence of virtual currencies, but these facets were in the right ballpark and are starting to pick up steam. Desktop manufacturing aka 3D printing mentioned here in 2006's The Art of the Bottom Line, also continues to expand its reach.

The meshverse platform was a natural evolution of my work with Community Catalyst and I have been able over these past five years to build and test many key components of a meshverse platform. I've learned a great deal in the process. However, even if I had today the collaborators and resources needed to bring to market a solution to a compelling problem, the window of opportunity peaked in 2009. There simply isn't enough time for a new platform to gain sufficient traction. More significantly, the dawn of a new era is approaching, one that will bring us via the big simulation, to the brink of a space called the singularity where we strictly biological humans will lose the ability to obtain meaning(search engines don't really do that) from the ocean of information around us.  By the end of the year, I'll post the final entry to the Meshverse Journal which will address the next stop on the journey. In the meantime, a quick peek over the horizon.

Update:
I decided that I mighjt be wrong about there not being enough time for the meshverse platform to take root - the winds of change may have created an opening. At a minimum, I need the meshverse platform to get to the next stop.  I am however going to take that conversation private so if you don't get an invite and want to keep following reach out for me on Twitter.
 
Today human communications reach from this planet to the Moon and very far beyond. At present the twin Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977 are both roughly 10 billion miles away in the heliopause, the edge of the solar system where the solar winds die down. You could call this the beach of the ocean of interstellar space.
Recalculating_space
The signals Voyager spacecraft are sending back have caused us to  recalculate just how large our solar system is. Even so we know that our solar system is quite small relative to the rest of the observable universe. We only have detailed knowledge about a very small part of the universe because most of it is made up of  dark matter(22%) and dark energy(74%) which we know little to nothing about. 

375px-darkmatterpie
 

... what that dark energy is remains an enigma - perhaps the greatest in physics today. What is known is that dark energy constitutes about three quarters of the Universe. Therefore the findings of the 2011 Nobel Laureates in Physics have helped to unveil a Universe that to a large extent is unknown to science. And everything is possible again.
 Nobel Prize for Physics 2011 Press Release

Along with astrophysics, advances in quantum physics are pushing us to recalculate what we actually mean by the concept of a universe. Most physicists agree that in some form or another, multiple universes exist and that  information probably plays some crucial role(see the currently airing NOVA series - The Fabric of the Cosmos).   There is a growing acceptance of the idea that the universe is the result of a calculation, that it and everything it including knowledge and meaning is computable. More than a theoretical notion, this idea is being applied today by the Wolfram Alpha answer engine which is being used in Microsoft's Bing and Apple's Siri. The question is how do we keep Humans In The Loop?

 

What MMO / MMORPG Games Can Learn From Social Network Games - MMOABC

One can release a new kind of social network game and easily see how its user base grows and how the engagement metrics show that a game is popular. Within weeks, they know if the game will flop or not. The lower costs of development and release allow game designers to try whole new and risky things.

The challenge for MMORPG games is to find a way to take risks with new gameplay styles and truly unique game challenges that the best game designers can imagine. The social game viral distribution model and Games are probably not going to become more complicated in mechanics due to issues with accessibility, but instead the game complexity will come from the players themselves instead of the game design and game engine.

When game mechanics become more complex, it reduces the potential audience because they are harder to learn. We can search for more meaningful game experiences without increasing the level of gameplay complexity. The production values and graphics quality will go up, but the real power and draw of a game is from your friends and family.

... The industry is at a very exciting point now, when people are growing tired of the same old MMORPG game. Some new games are coming out with unique twists on game mechanics, but at their core, are still a basic MMO. I see a future, though, where game designers will break away from the pack, convince investors to put up a smaller amount on a new idea, and produce a hybrid MMORPG/social networking game. And I predict that it has the potential to draw in and retain a lot of new people and old veterans and become the Next Big Thing.

via mmoabc.com

Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming 2010

2009 will be remembered as the year that casual gaming stormed social platforms and changed the way millions of people socialized with friends online. With an up-to-$400 million acquisition of Playfish by Electronic Arts, hundreds of millions of dollars in venture investments, and some of the highest engagement numbers that online entertainment has ever seen, social games are now impacting businesses across the media landscape. It's become clear that there are substantial opportunities for social game developers with virtual goods revenue models, but the market is still evolving rapidly.

...

How big is the market, and where will social gaming go in 2010? How will existing players fare as Facebook shifts the social gaming landscape, and larger and more sophisticated players enter the market? Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming 2010 provides deeper insight into social game monetization, development, customer acquisition, and the key questions facing the space in 2010 than you'll find anywhere else.

About the Report

Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming 2010 gives you an inside view of the future at this critical juncture in the intersection of social networking and online games. The big picture? We estimate that the US virtual goods market will reach $1.6 billion in 2010, and that social gaming market will contribute $835 million of that total this year.

via insidevirtualgoods.com