Heya. It’s Brady again.
There is, at times, a misconception that entry into a metaverse requires VR goggles. The idea was likely planted by the many fictional works that are set in these environments. After all, full immersion opens up a new world of possibilities in terms of special effects. (Plus, watching the protagonist stare at a screen for two hours doesn’t make for good cinema.)
In reality, in the present, the metaverses we have access to can be explored on a screen, even your smartphone’s. It’s much less immersive than what most people expect, but can still be plenty of fun.
Baidu has released Xirang, its proprietary metaverse environment. The name means “Land of Hope,” although it isn’t clear how Baidu will build upon that theme. For now, Xirang is still bare-bones, and the people who are landing in it don’t seem too talkative. But it’s a first step—and the avatars have legs, unlike Facebook’s!
Jiaxing wrote about Xirang yesterday. You can read about it here.
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