Making a Metaverse That Matters: From Snow Crash & Second Life to a Virtual World Worth Fighting for - Hardcover

by Wagner James Au (Author)

An up-close account from the world's first metaverse-embedded reporter

In Making a Metaverse That Matters: From Snow Crash & Second Life to A Virtual World Worth Fighting For, the celebrated author of The Making of Second Life and Game Design Secrets, Wagner James Au, delivers an engrossing exploration of how nascent metaverse platforms have already captured the imagination of millions. Featuring powerful stories and dozens of incisive interviews with insiders including Metaverse creator Neal Stephenson himself, the author uses his unique, grassroots-level perspective as the first reporter embedded in a metaverse platform. Readers will learn about:

• How to understand and define the Metaverse and cut through the many myths and misconceptions around it.
• A behind-the-scenes account of launching Second Life, the first metaverse platform to achieve mainstream awareness, and what its many controversies teach us.
• Where current platforms Meta, Roblox, Fortnite, VRChat, and Lamina1, Neal Stephenson's own metaverse startup, fit in the ecosystem.
• How to address the many dangers inherent in the Metaverse before it becomes central to the Internet.

Perfect for XR industry members and indie creatives, Making a Metaverse That Matters is also for tech professionals, virtual world communities, and anyone interested in the future of culture and commerce.

Front Jacket

In Making a Metaverse That Matters: From Snow Crash & Second Life to a Virtual World Worth Fighting For, author Wagner James Au, delivers a fascinating discussion of how growing Metaverse platforms have captured the imaginations of millions of people around the world. The book features powerful stories and dozens of insightful interviews with tech insiders--including the man who coined the phrase "Metaverse," Neal Stephenson--and explores the author's unique, grassroots-level perspective as the first reporter embedded directly in a Metaverse platform.

You'll learn how to understand and define the Metaverse, cutting through the myths, hype, and misconceptions to uncover the truth about this group of powerful new technologies. You'll also discover a behind-the-scenes account of the launching of Second Life, the world's first Metaverse platform to achieve mainstream success, and what its controversies, successes, and failures can teach us as we move forward with new experiments.

Making a Metaverse That Matters examines the current state of contemporary Metaverse platforms, including Meta^(TM), Roblox^(R), Fortnite^(R), VRChat^(R), and Lamina1^(TM), and where they each fit into the overall technological ecosystem. It anticipates and addresses the dangers inherent in this fusion of software, hardware, culture, and technology, proposing solutions that can be implemented before the tech becomes a central part of the Internet.

An essential book for XR industry members and indie creatives, Making a Metaverse That Matters will also fascinate tech professionals, virtual world community members, and anyone interested in the future of culture and commerce.

Back Jacket

Praise for MAKING A METAVERSE THAT MATTERS

"After two decades of writing about virtual worlds, James knows how to scythe through hype and misconceptions about the Metaverse, why it truly matters. I only wish Mark Zuckerberg could have read it before changing the name of his company."
--Om Malik, veteran Silicon Valley writer & partner emeritus, True Ventures

"At the center of this book is an overlooked truth: We're already living in the Metaverse. It also happens that Au is the perfect guide to help us understand the promise, peril, and genuine humanity of virtual worlds. Au's lived experience, historical expertise, and deep reporting dispels myths, cuts through the hype and brings a hopeful digital future to life. If every tech executive read this book, I'd be much more optimistic about our online future."
--Charlie Warzel, staff writer, The Atlantic

"A deeply-reported approach to an often-misunderstood subject, James tells the story of the Metaverse's evolution from the perspective of someone involved in its development since 2003 -- while also connecting it to the broader creator economy that's currently transforming all media. Woven with fascinating and surprisingly moving stories of the people who make metaverse platforms thrive, from a Jamaican woman in her 20s to a blues guitarist in his 80s, Making a Metaverse That Matters makes the case that it's the community, not the technology, that ultimately matters most."
--Taylor Lorenz, author of Extremely Online

"Making a Metaverse That Matters is an authoritative and thoughtful look at the Metaverse from an expert who's been a daily reporter from the Metaverse for years. Going far past the hype, this book probes decades of history, documents both the corporate and cultural machinations that have shaped our view of the Metaverse, and gives us a credible view of where it's all headed when the hype fades into substance."
--Anil Dash, CEO of Glitch, EFF board member, advisor to the Obama White House's Office of Digital Strategy