They did a second thing, which is they changed their developer license agreement so that if there is ever a dispute, they need a court order to fire you. This is a fundamental belief that for the metaverse to thrive, developers must trust that their investments are respected. And instead of trying to invent their own legal system, they entrust it to democratic and legislative processes. Just as a landlord must get regulatory approval to lock you out of your facility, Epic must do so in the development route.
And so we have these two companies that are not just focused on the democratization of tools, but their whole framework is actually very different from a value capture perspective. If they can increase the TAM of the metavers, they will benefit. If they can pull it forward, they benefit from it and work very uniquely as a result.
Gilad Edelman: This book, as I understand it, grew out of this nine-part series you wrote on your website last year. So, of course, that’s available for free. So, what will people… I’m just putting you here, Matt, what will people get out of the book that’s not in the nine-part series?
Matthew Ball: Thanks for the tee up. This book is a dramatic revision. It is about three times longer, but the primer itself, which has been completely reapplied, is only the middle third. The rest, probably written 20 times, the writing time, professionally edited, supported, many others read it first, it reflects six months of progress, probably 24 months of compressed learning. But there are three sections in total.
The first deals with the history of the metaverse. Why are we talking about it now? Where is it from? It goes into why gaming, a small part of the leisure economy, seems to be at the forefront of the metaverse. It also spends about 12,000 words giving a detailed definition of the metavers and why we should see it not just as a part of the internet, but as a revolution for it.
The second part, as I said, is for the most part the primer, but with fundamental revisions and some additions. And then the third is about social questions, what businesses will be built, when, what’s the social implication, what’s the regulatory response, and what can we know and what can’t we know until it’s here.
Lauren Goode: And this comes out on July 19th. Is that right?
Matthew Ball: Correct.
Lauren Goode: Okay. Matt, we’re taking another short break and when we get back, we’re going to ask you, our guest of honor, for your recommendation this week.
[Break]
Lauren Goode: Okay. Matthew Ball, our guest of honor this week at WIRED’s Gadget Lab, what’s your recommendation?
Matthew Ball: I have two. One of them is television. i really enjoy The old man, an FX production on Hulu, starring Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow and Amy Brenneman. And then also the Strict investigation podcast on Crooked Media, especially after last month’s two very landmark Supreme Court rulings. I like the Crooked Media team but I think Strict investigation is just an incredible legal investigation with a dash of advocacy.