Business - Quartz at Work
The Memo: "Meet me in the Metaverse" By Lila MacLellan, senior reporter and Anne Quito, and edited by Francesca Donner.
ABOUT 10 MINUTES into my interview with Shep Ogden, the 26-year-old co-founder and CEO of a digital media startup that counts Mark Cuban among its investors, I began to panic. Ogden was showing me around his company’s sleek employee clubhouse in the metaverse, but it was hard to focus. I was sure I was going to vomit. “Shep, I’m sorry,” I finally said, “I’m not sure I can do this.” I was nauseated, but Ogden was gracious enough not to laugh. He said my problem was not uncommon for newcomers to VRChat, the virtual platform where Offbeat Media Group built its bespoke private campus. The real Offbeat Media—maker of virtual influencers and streaming shows—is based in Atlanta, where it has a small physical workspace. Ogden was speaking to me from his office there, I was at home in New York, and we were both
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wearing VR goggles. With Ogden’s guidance, I adjusted the way my avatar walked so it no longer made me dizzy. Now my avatar glided, allowing me glimpses of its form. I was a raccoon, I discovered, shortly before sliding—by accident, I might add—into the company’s pool. As I sank, virtual water slowly filled my field of vision. The so-called metaverse—from where I conducted this interview—is not a single place and its definition is debatable, but enthusiasts are already talking about how it will one day exist as a kind of decentralized internet, where we can live, shop, and socialize in digital public or private VR spaces. And work.
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