I Tried To Go to a Concert in the Metaverse. It Didn’t Work.

I Tried To Go to a Concert in the Metaverse. It Didn’t Work.

I entered Decentraland’s AO Metaverse world for the last time this morning, to attend a closing concert featuring performances from Tigerlily, Masked Wolf and Steve Aoki.

Big acts in the DJing world, this is a pretty solid ensemble of talent for a Decentraland-hosted concert. The crowd was quite large and there was lots of dancing… But I couldn’t get it to work?

AO metaverse concert
Image: Zachariah Kelly/Gizmodo Australia

So let me explain something; these are all real people, connected to a browser-based application called Decentraland. It itself is hosted on the Blockchain (basically a network of web services that function in tandem with each other) which allows players to attend events like this and dress up in these zany outfits, collected through numerous means in Decentraland.

The concert is why everyone is here – this isn’t what a standard block in Decentraland looks like, usually it’s more abandoned than this. On Twitter, it looks like a good time was had by some.

But not by me, I had to stand around for half an hour with people insisting they were having a good time. I followed all the steps, signed in as a guest (a returning one, mind you) and rocked up to the place of the concert. While the above example is something of a raving nightclub, my experience was a bit more like this.

ao metaverse concert
Image: Zachariah Kelly/Gizmodo Australia

This screenshot was taken after reloading the browser and restarting my computer. There were more people here, they were just loading in. At another point, the concert area started to look like this, but it was just a one-off before another restart. Just wanna jump in and say that it was unlikely a problem on my end, considering I have a high-performance PC, NBN 100 and HFC.

ao metaverse concert
Image: Zachariah Kelly/Gizmodo Australia

I’ve been holding back a bit when it comes to NFTs and the metaverse, but it’s obvious I’m no fan. This was, to me, even if I was to separate it from all the valid criticism of web3 buzzwords, not a terrific experience.

Even the concert in its ideal form, which I assume is what is shown in this video below, doesn’t look terrific. Not hating on Tigerlily, Steve Aoki or Masked Wolf, but this is basically a YouTube stream in Habbo Hotel.

But it’s an emerging tech, how can we be so critical? Well, we know it can be done better. Vtuber concerts have been done quite well for years now on Twitch and YouTube (with audience interaction via chatboxes) and Fortnite has proven that online concerts can be quite amazing. Below is the Fortnite Travis Scott concert. Even if you’re not a gamer, it was an amazing spectacle to experience and is special to watch.

Hell, while we’re talking about the AO Metaverse, I reckon the Fortnite take on recreating the Australian Open was significantly more detailed and graphically interesting. It did that without the negativity of being a part of crypto or NFTs or blockchain, although you can’t create your own assets for Fortnite worlds, where you can in a Decentraland world.

Anyway, here’s the link to AO Metaverse concert if you want to try.


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