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Do People Actually Want Virtual Reality?
On 1/3/2022, a Twitter used named @DigitalisHomo posted a video of what shopping at Walmart could actually look like inside Facebook’s new Metaverse. The video was universally panned, with those who prefer in-person shopping arguing the experience looked lonely and dystopian, while those who preferred online shopping thought the it would ruin the convince of their shopping experience through forcing them to behave as if they’re in a physical store.
Matt Walsh can hardly be called a man who gives popular opinions, but he really did nail everyone’s reaction when he said:
(Also, throughout the video a Walmart employee follows you with the goal of helping you out. For some reason, all I could think of when I saw this was a video game called Cybermorph for the Atari Jaguar. It was a flying game — think Star Fox — where this green head would go “where did you learn to fly?” in a robotic voice every time you hit something. Personally, I think the fact that your virtual reality experience is reminding me of an Atari Jaguar — one of the biggest flops in video game history and the system that ended Atari’s success as a first party publisher — to be rather telling.)
