Boring Silicon valley, thriving APAC loneliness and Uno reverse ⁉⁉⁉

👉 Fast Company says Silicon Valley doesn't understand fun, thus metaverse faded in West. In an intriguing take, they explain how the tech bubble of 2010 is dominated by everything "for productivity". They quote Zuckerberg (describing his own daily practice of sartorial monotony, “I’m not doing my job if I spend any of my energy on things that are silly or frivolous about my life.”) to drive across the point of lack of fun and a lost spirit of childhood thus even the games they make and fund don't attain the kind of traction attained by Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate, or Pikmin

👀 Nikkei Asia reports metaverse is thriving in Asian markets like Japan, South Korea and Philippines. They drive across a major takeaway as a 32 year old gamer says "[playing VR based games] doesn't recover my physical health, but it helps my mental health because I don't feel lonely". BORGET Sebastien exclaims "Excitement for the metaverse in Asia is incredibly strong and [has been] leading the growth of The Sandbox over the past 12 months. Coupled with this many federal agencies have developed digital twins - Seoul Metropolitan Government, Virtual Osaka, Tokyo neighborhood of Shibuya, Pacific island nation of Tuvalu

⁉ So are Asian markets feeling more lonely than Western markets

⁉ Are Asian markets more fun loving and less productive

⁉ Can fun loving and lonely go hand in hand

⁉ Understood with people, but are certain federal agencies also more creative and fun loving than others

⁉ As we see metaverse picking up better in APAC, how would the 5G, digital twin and connectivity markets be affected

🏠 Finally, something on the future of work. Recently The Verge reported that Roblox has asked employees to transition back to "working from office" (by next summer). Mind you - Roblox has been at the center of popular virtual experiences and flag bearer of "virtual workspaces to be as ‘engaging, collaborative, and productive’ as physical ones". Remember when Zoom, Meta, Amazon and recently Tata Consultancy Services asked employees to come back to work (Is it an Uno-reverse moment⁉)

Sources: -

📒 Fast Company article titled "Why did the metaverse die? Because Silicon Valley doesn’t understand the concept of fun"

📒 Nikkei Asia article titled "Asia's metaverse is still thriving, from digital cities to gaming"

📒 The Verge article titled "Roblox says employees must return to office because the metaverse is still isn't good enough"

(Views belong to respective publishing agencies and authors, storyboarding & forward looking questions are personal)