On Tuesday, Microsoft cited the so-called metaverse as a reason for acquiring the game developer Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, saying the deal would provide “building blocks for the metaverse.”Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has also bet on the metaverse and renamed his social networking company Meta. Google has worked on metaverse-related technology for years. And Apple has its own related devices in the works.文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/whats-all-the-hype-about-the-metaverse.html
But what does the metaverse really mean, and does it even exist? Here’s what you need to know.文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/whats-all-the-hype-about-the-metaverse.html
The metaverse is the convergence of two ideas that have been around for many years: virtual reality and a digital second life.文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/whats-all-the-hype-about-the-metaverse.html
For decades, technologists have dreamed of an era when our virtual lives play as important a role as our physical realities. In theory, we would spend lots of time interacting with our friends and colleagues in virtual space. As a result, we would spend money there, too, on outfits and objects for our digital avatars.
In what techies like Mr. Zuckerberg call the metaverse, virtual reality serves as a computing platform for living a second life online. In virtual reality, you wear a headset that immerses1 you in a 3-D environment. You carry motion-sensing controllers to interact with virtual objects and use a microphone to communicate with others.
The Fort Lauderdale event won’t be your only opportunity to immerse yourself in the boozy pink paradise.— Joni Sweet, Forbes, 18 Jan. 2022
劳德代尔堡活动并不是您沉浸在醉人的粉红色天堂的唯一机会。
Matthew Ball, a venture capitalist who has written extensively about the topic, said the metaverse represented the fourth wave to computers, following mainframe computing, personal computing and mobile computing.
“It’s moving into what people call ambient2computing,” he said about the metaverse. “It’s about being within the computer rather than accessing the computer. It’s about being always online rather than always having access to an online world.”
Just before Scott came out, Lira said, the speakers blasted an ambient, humming noise, which stirred more panic inside her.— Washington Post, 11 Nov. 2021
莉拉说，就在斯科特出来之前，扬声器发出了嗡嗡声，这在她内心激起了更多的恐慌。
That’s it? It’s you and your avatar interacting with others in a digital environment?
就这样吗？就是你和你的网上化身在数字环境中与他人互动吗？
To put it simply, yes.
简单地说，是的。
Does the metaverse already exist in gaming?
元宇宙是否已经存在于游戏中？
To some extent, there is already a metaverse in games. But — and it’s an important but — it’s rudimentary 3.
在某种程度上，游戏中已经存在一个元宇宙。但是——这很重要——它是不成熟的。
3.rudimentary adj.早期的，基本的；初步的；未充分发展的
举个例子：
The spread-the-love mentality originates in the screenplay, which is rudimentary in its plotting but nicely democratic in its characterization.— Jessica Kiang, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2021
传播爱的心态起源于剧本，它的情节很简陋，但在人物塑造上却很民主。
Some social elements of the metaverse can already be found in video games. Consider Fortnite, an online shooter game played on computers, game consoles and mobile devices. The average Fortnite player spends hundreds of hours in the game with a personal avatar, fighting with and interacting with the avatars of other players. Players also accrue virtual currency that unlocks outfits and other goodies to customize their avatars.
A precursor to the metaverse could also be found in Second Life, an online social platform developed by Linden Lab nearly two decades ago, where people created digital representations of themselves to socialize with others. In the virtual space, users could shop and build property to enrich their virtual lives.
Virtual reality is also somewhat advanced in video games. In 2016, Sony released the $400 PlayStation VR, a virtual reality headset that plugged into its PlayStation 4 console to play virtual reality games. This month, Sony said a second-generation headset was coming for the PlayStation 5, though it did not share a release date.
But those were just steppingstones toward the complete metaverse, which is still taking shape. Technologists say that thanks to a number of things — fast internet connections, powerful virtual reality headsets and a large audience of gamers — it is now more possible to live in a richly animated, lifelike 3-D simulation.
“It’s only in the last few years that a critical mass of working pieces has come together,” Mr. Ball said.
“直到最近几年，才出现了一大批关键的工作部件，”鲍尔说。
What does Activision Blizzard build for the metaverse?
动视暴雪为元宇宙创造了什么？
Truth be told, not too much.
说实话，不是太多。
Activision Blizzard is well known for making online games that have a metaverse component, where players spent hundreds of hours forming communities within the games. In its role-playing game World of Warcraft, released in 2004, gamers worked together online to complete quests in an effort to make their digital avatars stronger by collecting items like weapons and armors.
动视暴雪以制作带有元宇宙元素的网络游戏闻名，玩家在游戏中花费数百小时建立社区。在2004年发布的角色扮演游戏《魔兽世界》(World of Warcraft)中，玩家在线合作完成任务，通过收集武器和盔甲等道具，让他们的数字化身变得更强大。
But the company has not dabbled in virtual reality. It has primarily made games for personal computers and game consoles4 but has yet to release a virtual reality game.
但该公司尚未涉足虚拟现实领域。它主要为个人电脑和游戏机制作游戏，尚未推出虚拟现实游戏。
4.console:
vt. 安慰；慰藉
n. 仪表盘；操控台；(游戏)平台；落地式支座
举个例子：
Now, multimedia monitors offer visitors to the observation deck interactive lessons in Chicago history and architecture, as well as aerial images of the city to console visitors on days with less-than-spectacular views.— Washington Post, 14 July 2021
So far, Microsoft’s work on the metaverse has been nascent.
到目前为止，微软在元宇宙的工作才刚刚起步。
For several years, the software giant has developed the HoloLens, a $3,500 headset that shows digital holograms 5, with a focus on applications for businesses and government agencies. The device is related to augmented reality, which some technologists consider to be part of the future metaverse.
It’s polished and spooky and has a hologram — a kind of proto-NFT? — for a heroine.— New York Times, 16 Dec. 2021
它抛光而诡异，并且有一个全息图——一种原始 NFT？ ——作为女主角。
Microsoft is also the developer of the Xbox, the second most popular game console after the Sony PlayStation. But unlike the PlayStation, the Xbox has been conspicuously 6 absent from the virtual reality gaming space.
Image management is every bit as important as artistic invention, and conspicuous in these books are exertions to anticipate (and thereby defang) criticism—to avoid committing to anything that could mark them as problematic or uncool.— Sam Sacks, WSJ, 17 Dec. 2021
文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/whats-all-the-hype-about-the-metaverse.html
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