It seems as though it might be a difficult feat to throw a shitty metaverse party. I mean, if you want, you can allow your metaverse party guests to mingle with ancient dinasours, or play in a WWE ring (WOOOOO!!!), so it’s hard to fathom unhappy guests.
But South Korean technology company, Samsung, found a way to screw things up. Although, not as bad as Zuckerberg’s bizarre metaverse avatar debacle. Still, kinda bad.
Here’s how.
Last Wednesday, Samsung hosted a party in Decentraland, one of the main players in the incoming metaverse. By the way, if you aren’t metaverse versed, yet, read our metaverse guide and come back metaversed. So what I did there?
Decentraland is a crypto virtual reality world. It is likely to be the biggest, most robust metaverse option in the future (sorry Zuck). In Decentraland, one can create a virtual avatar and use a keyboard and mouse to navigate a fantasy world. Yes, no matter what some of you are saying, the metaverse is a fantasy land.
So in this case, you don’t use headsets, which breaks from the perception many folks have in regards to the metaverse.
Samsung held their Samsung 837X virtual event as a simulation of their New York experience center, according to CNBC.
Here’s the Samsung New York experience in real life.
Here’s how it turned out.
Trying and failing to get into a Samsung event in the metaverse pic.twitter.com/u9NMtLpLjR
— Sam Shead (@Sam_L_Shead) February 9, 2022
Ok, let’s take a breath.
The problem isn’t the toony graphics. In the metaverse, this is the content we expect.
Instead, the issue arose when people got into the metaverse door and couldn’t find the 837X building. And of those who did locate it, many couldn’t gain access.
Yes, people were lost and befuddled in the in a Samsung virtual world. I’m laughing inside, and so are you, but most of us weren’t feeling slighted in a metaverse debacle.
Samsung responded with a mix of “nothing to see here” and “there’s a little to see here.”
“Visitors and the Decentraland community have given us a highly positive response, seeing it as a fresh spin into an all-digital world.” The company told CNBC.
No matter how you spin things, people were meta-mad over the Samsung party.
“Many people were unable to actually enter Samsung 837X before the event started,” wrote CNET’s Russell Holly.
“Everyone outside the metaverse was enjoying a strange crossover with the popular TV series Bridgerton at the start of this event, while I and dozens of my fellow metazens were changing servers to find one that worked. Once a server with open doors had been located, the next challenge was finding the room inside this virtual building where the announcement event was actually streaming.”
I went in too Sam, same result for me. Pretty awful brand experience let alone for a product launch pic.twitter.com/8PQbIkkBYM
— Drew Benvie (@drewb) February 9, 2022
Fortunately for me, this weekend was spent in a bizarre world outside of my house with real people. So I didn’t get triggered by any of these modern issues.