Happy Hour 02: The Bar at the end of the Metaverse
As the virtual world replaces the real one, we will all need a safe place to drink and socialize.
Welcome Back
At Spacebar, we serve up the best in robotic virtual drinking - this side of the metaverse. Pull up a chair, friend, and learn about what it takes to be a collectible animatable bar bot.
Interested in making Happy Hour a weekly thing?
:: Bartender Activate ::
Hey Friend. This week for Happy Hour, we’re chatting about virtual social spaces. (Just like our imagined Space Bar.)
I hear human folk often talk about virtual gaming worlds, like Roblox and Minecraft. But, see, we Bar Bots think that outside of games, it’s the chat applications that will grow to become virtual.
During the global pandemic, humans were forced to stay indoors and move their lives online, (including social gatherings through Zoom happy hours.) While virtual world connections have been around for some time, we have made these social gatherings increasingly important, with relationships forming across the globe. The need for virtual social gatherings is a trend that will continue, with humans spending more time in chat applications and AI-generated content streams.
Chat applications are becoming the way business is run. Slack channels and discord streams at the core, and continuing on mobile across social media.
The problem? We bots, not humans, are rapidly becoming far more active, and many in not-so-good ways. Remember not every bot wants to chill out and have a drink with you, most will try to sell you, manipulate you, and clog your communications with unimportant spam.
By focusing on the important things, we can design social spaces that are an escape from what we expect the “over-botted” distractible norm, will become.
Human Interaction
Participants value the ability to interact with others in the virtual world, whether it's through text, voice, video … or avatar. This interaction creates a sense of community and helps people build meaningful relationships.
Fun
Participants want to have fun activities to do in the virtual world, such as games, quizzes, or other types of imaginative entertainment. These activities, and a little of the sauce, help to break the ice and keep the conversation flowing. But they shouldn’t be so invasive that the conversation continues naturally.
Personal Expression
Participants value the ability to express themselves in the virtual world, whether it's through their avatar's appearance or the activities they engage in. Personal expression allows people to be themselves and creates a sense of belonging in the virtual world. Drink up!
It's important to find a safe place for humans and bots to gather, unwind, and have a drink. We’ll keep workin’ on it. You keep being uniquely you.
We’ll see you next time, friend.
:: Bartender Deactivate ::
Interested in learning more about the Bar Bots? Great, we’d love to have you.
Network Update
We’ve begun working on the Space Bar Unreal project.
We’ll be starting with the animation systems of course! If you would like to contribute to the animation of the bar bots, and animation inclined, grab a generic rig today at https://barbots.io
This week’s bar recommendation is: The Pony Bar, NYC
Bar Bot Rank: 09/10
Dive2Fancy: SweatshirtComfy
DrinkPrice: NewYork
Atmosphere: BeerLover
The Pony Bar is a quality craft beer bar in Hell’s Kitchen. The taps partner and rotate through some of the best american breweries, and the culture itself welcomes the celebration of beer as an art form. As Ben Franklin famously said: “Beer is reason God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
Visit their website for information.
That’s it for this week! Please subscribe and metaverse responsibly.
Since the end of the pandemic how many out there have continued with there virtual Happy Hours? Can’t beat the drink prices and you never have to worry about a designated driver.