News Disney CEO Bob Chapek hails the metaverse as 'the next great storytelling frontier' and sets up a new team at Disney to create new experiences

Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
Virtual Toad said:
When I worked on Toad all those years ago, my goal was absolute photo-realism, which proved fatal to the finished product because the tech was too slow and cumbersome to achieve that result. A single frame took Ray Dream Studio on my OS9 Mac weeks to render and the intensity of the processing involved actually crashed and destroyed one of my computers.
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Chiming in to say that I too followed your project and loved seeing the result.

To me, at that time, the photo-realism made it so amazing. It truly was the closest thing to riding it again.

I do however, appreciate the difficulty of attempting such a project as a hobby while balancing the rest of life.
 
Virtual Toad

Virtual Toad

Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
Chiming in to say that I too followed your project and loved seeing the result.

To me, at that time, the photo-realism made it so amazing. It truly was the closest thing to riding it again.

I do however, appreciate the difficulty of attempting such a project as a hobby while balancing the rest of life.
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Thanks! :) The thrill of rendering a frame and seeing what you could re-create was honestly a big rush. I spent weeks and months tackling individual challenges… the black-light glow, the reflection from puddles in the queue area, stitching together photos of the 20k queue and lagoon to appear outside the queue… figuring out how to use fluorescent light grids and a pointy stick to make a low-tech 3-D “scanner” to recreate the Toad statue in the ride from the big-fig sculpture Disney had just released. You know, I stayed with it as long as I could. Then when my kids were born, I realized a big part of being a grownup and a parent was learning that some things have to be put on the back burner because others are far more important.
 
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flyakite

flyakite

Well-Known Member
All this discussion has made me think of Caprica, the prequel to Battlestar Galactica. About the Metaverse being misused and leading to AI. Just a side comment.
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
zombiebbq said:
Give it 10 years, maybe a little longer and this will be the predominant method of using the internet and social media. I'm sort of surprised how resistant people are to this. I fully expect the generation after zoomers to conduct much of their social lives/commerce and possibly work within the metaverse.
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Maybe 20 or so years; certainly not 10.

With that said, it has a lot of stumbling blocks that make it unlikely to ever be as widespread as you're suggesting. First of all, a significant number of people just don't like VR in general. They don't like being cut off from the real world. Even my 12 year old nephew, who has an Oculus, doesn't like using it for more than an hour or so at a time and that's one of the main reasons. There are even more people who simply can't use them for all kinds of reasons -- anyone with a small child, for example, cannot just cut themselves off from the world.

Of course it also depends on what you mean by the metaverse. For some reason the people who do really enjoy VR can't fathom why anyone else wouldn't, so they just assume everyone will eventually love it as much as they do (they also don't generally realize the sheer number of people who just cannot wear a VR headset for either physical or lifestyle reasons). That's unlikely for the reasons I mentioned above (and others). However, something like AR glasses that are just an overlay on the actual world instead of a fully virtual one are much more likely to gain widespread use.
 
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Heppenheimer

Heppenheimer

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
Maybe 20 or so years; certainly not 10.

With that said, it has a lot of stumbling blocks that make it unlikely to ever be as widespread as you're suggesting. First of all, a significant number of people just don't like VR in general. They don't like being cut off from the real world. Even my 12 year old nephew, who has an Oculus, doesn't like using it for more than an hour or so at a time and that's one of the main reasons. There are even more people who simply can't use them for all kinds of reasons -- anyone with a small child, for example, cannot just cut themselves off from the world.

Of course it also depends on what you mean by the metaverse. For some reason the people who do really enjoy VR can't fathom why anyone else wouldn't, so they just assume everyone will eventually love it as much as they do (they also don't generally realize the sheer number of people who just cannot wear a VR headset for either physical or lifestyle reasons). That's unlikely for the reasons I mentioned above (and others). However, something like AR glasses that are just an overlay on the actual world instead of a fully virtual one are much more likely to gain widespread use.
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My wife and I have two small kids, and two dogs, we can barely even watch TV these days, much less wear a VR helmet.

I was actually thinking that Disney could implement something like Pokemon Go at the parks, viewed through special glasses, although knowing Chapek, he would probably use this as an excuse to remove much of the physical details from the parks, particularly those with significant maintenance costs. I just see it now, the Main Street Electrical Parade Returns!.... virtually, for a $500 add-on with your already $1,000 AR glasses.
 
Kgp0793

Kgp0793

Member
Lilofan said:
How are those kids going to pay for their Disney vacations?
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Well, in the future they will probably become adults and then either go to college or a trade school, after which they'll probably get a job where they will start earning money. Kids aren't going to be kids forever.
 
PuertoRekinSam

PuertoRekinSam

Well-Known Member
I am so sick of companies trying to hop aboard the train to the future and be ready for the “next big thing” thinking they will be the cornerstone of what is successful when the future is today. Historically the companies the double down on their core customer of today and their money maker of today have done quite well instead of those that have pivoted their business:

Kodak focusing on film (people want to hold their photos, not look at them on a screen)

Netflix focusing on DVDs through the mail (who can even get fast enough internet to their tvs)

Amazon being an online bookstore (who would want to buy anything else, or want them to host their data)

Disney making black and white short cartoons (what a laugh it would be if they tried color and/or feature length films.. next thing they might try is live action films, TV, or “amusement enterprises” you could visit)

Nintendo making playing cards. (Think what would have happened if they tried video games after the Atari crash of the 1980s)
Blockbuster (no… we will not buy Netflix… people who rent movies want to get it now, not wait for the mail)
 
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DCBaker

Premium Member
"Disney hired Mark Bozon, a top gaming executive from Apple, as a senior creative leader for its cross-divisional Next Generation Storytelling initiative — which encompasses Disney’s “metaverse” ambitions.

In a May 20 tweet, Bozon announced he was leaving Apple after 12 years, saying “I’m headed to an absolute dream job” (without revealing he was heading to Disney). Most recently, he served as games creative director for Apple Arcade, the tech giant’s game-subscription service.

Bozon was hired by Mike White, Disney’s SVP of Next Generation Storytelling & Consumer Experiences, a 10-year company veteran who earlier this year was appointed to lead development and coordination of Disney’s metaverse strategy. In that role White dual-reports to both Kareem Daniel, chairman of Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, and Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences & Products.

As Disney’s VP of Next Generation Storytelling creative experiences, Bozon will be responsible for leading the creative vision for the group and to turn that strategy into executable plans. He’s expected to build a multidisciplinary team that will work with Disney businesses across gaming, film, TV, toys, parks and more to deliver interconnected consumer experiences.

Additionally, Bozon and his team are tasked with innovating and incubating “bold ideas” and serving as a clearinghouse for creative Next Generation Storytelling concepts.

According to Disney, because the term “metaverse” means different things to different people, the company under White’s lead has coalesced efforts under the Next Generation Storytelling banner and defined a strategy focused on creating “new canvases for storytelling and audience engagement” spanning digital, physical and virtual experiences.

Prior to joining Apple in June 2010, Bozon worked as a freelance game designer and producer and was IGN’s Nintendo editor."

variety.com

Disney Hires Apple Games Exec Mark Bozon to Head Metaverse Creative Strategy

Disney hired Mark Bozon, a top Apple games executive, as a senior leader for its cross-divisional Next Generation Storytelling initiative.
variety.com variety.com
 
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Obobru

Well-Known Member
Getting involved in Zuckerberg's desperate attempt to find a new interest for people as the next generation ditches Facebook with be a disaster and waste of money. The "metaverse" is just Second Life 2.0 and Disney created parks and stores in that when everyone claimed it would be the next big thing.

What these people don't realise is you can't predict and force the next thing people will be into it just happens as it did with Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Tiktok.
 
Disney Irish

Disney Irish

Premium Member
Just as the article states, the "metaverse" is many things to many people. So its not JUST "Second Life 2.0", some are calling it Web 4.0 (if you consider Web 3.0 to be AI and Big Data). And companies can and do predict, develop, and force "the next thing" on consumers all the time.

I'll be interested to see what Disney does in this space. Only time will tell where this endeavor ends up, but it'll be interesting to watch.
 
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Brer Panther

Brer Panther

Well-Known Member
I still think replacing attractions with virtual reality experiences is an awful idea.

As I said before, I don't go to Disney World to put on a headset, stand in an empty room, and "explore" a computer-generated landscape. I doubt anyone else does either. It basically defeats the whole purpose of going to a theme park. If they want to add virtual reality crap to Disney World, just bring back DisneyQuest and put them in there.
 

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