Have you ever been to a concert in Fortnite? How about Final Fantasy XIV or Lord of the Rings Online or AdventureQuest 3D? Have you ever been to a party in any one of countless online spaces, from Second Life to World of Warcraft, filled with virtual avatars with customization and personal touches emoting, moving around, and generally looking engaged? If so, you will probably be deeply disturbed by the soulless, inactive avatars in this footage of Decentraland, captured during a recent concert (for a very generous definition of the word “concert”).
If you’ve forgotten what Decentraland actually is, nobody could blame you. It’s proudly showing off this lifeless footage proclaiming that it’s a sign of the metaverse, but its real claim to fame is being a version of Second Life with NFTs and digital land sales. What it actually looks like is a tech demo put together from stock assets with remarkably bland avatars and a lack of emotes. This is perhaps not the rousing endorsement for the metaverse that was intended. Unless its supporters wanted to show off a vision of the future lacking the vim and vigor of decades-old online games that have surpassed this in every way, shape, and form without involving NFTs at all.
This is the #metaverse… A live rave happening right now in @decentraland for the upcoming @LightbulbmanNFT release by #BjarneMelgaard. Music from @feedelity @prins_thomas @mightbetwins #NFTdrop #rave #virtualevent #NFTCommunity pic.twitter.com/aC4WYRbgH9
— Alex Moss (@alexmoss) January 20, 2022
