First-generation adblockers are usually the browser extensions people use on their web browsers such as firefox, opera, brave, chrome, or safari. Adblockers save a lot of data (i.e., your internet package), protects you from malware and scams from malicious ads, and saves you time by allowing you to browse faster. In this post, I will speculate on two things: ads in the metaverse and blocking real-life billboard ads and IRL people using mixed reality glasses.
“If you are not paying anything, you are the product” is a famous phrase from the documentary “the social dilemma.” Facebook is free, Instagram is free, and Snapchat is free. Meta’s metaverse is also free. But Meta is a for-profit company, and they have been investing billions in their metaverse endeavors. Given that these are for-profit companies, they will eventually want to see some returns on their investment.
Metaverse business models
So they have a few options to have some return on investment: selling your data to third parties, selling you goods and services on the metaverse, charging fees from the metaverse vendor who wants to sell you stuff on the metaverse, or finally, they can sell ad spaces on the metaverse. Let’s assume Company A asks you to pay for you to enter the metaverse. Company B offers a free and equally-fun alternative. Most users would prefer the free option, which will most likely be monetized by ad revenue. So we will skip the former and focus on the possible ad-based model.
Ads are disturbing, and these ad billboards will be very valuable in the metaverse. Because on the browser, you can block them quickly, and as long as they are on the side of the screen, you can pretty much ignore them. In an immersive VR experience, however, ads also get immersive. The best example would be the Black Mirror Episode Fifteen Million Merits on Netflix. In summary, the protagonist lives in this chamber with walls as monitors and under extreme surveillance. There are no adblockers. Hence, you cannot skip or mute the ads; you have to watch them. And since it is not on the computer monitor but instead covering the entirety of the walls, there is no way you can ignore them.
Extended reality metaverse will be no different. Your experience is entirely digital and programmable for good or for foul. Immersive ads have the potential to ruin your experience completely.
The metaverse could be such a distopia if we do not build it with care. I hope mistakes of the Web2 will not repeated and the next iteration of the internet will be something more ethical, diverse, inclusive and equal and less toxic.
Blocking IRL Ads
Next, I would like to speculate about mixed reality glasses blocking real-life ads. Theoretically, you can create a pair of mixed reality glasses that will detect the billboards and overlay something onto them to block them. The overlay could be something as simple as a blur or some piece of art for your appreciation. Effectively, you will not see any ads; instead, you can see whatever you want on the ad sites.
Z-eyes
Black Mirror has two episodes featuring wearable technologies: White Christmas and The Entire History of You. They call it Z-eyes. Z-eyes are like contact lenses, but they could be a pair of glasses as well. Z-eyes allows you to record, search, and replay things you have seen. Pretty much like a camera that is always recording.
What is more exciting and relevant is the other feature. It allows you to block people like you would on Facebook or Instagram. Their sight and noise get blurred. So you do not see or hear them anymore, just like how you would block the ads. Blocking people with your extended reality glasses is not a very distant technology, given the speed of progress, we have so far. When asked about mixed reality devices in an interview, Zuckerberg says he does not expect to see these devices in lens form for any time earlier than 20 years, but mixed reality glasses can offer the same functionality in 5-10 years.
How is this relevant in the virtual reality context? As always, it is much easier to implement any feature in the digital realm. Because you have an entire display, everything is virtual and programmable. People behave like jerks in online environments more so than in real life. So you will be able to block other users in the metaverse. So that you do not see or hear them. If you think about the amount of your life you will spend in the metaverse, it is such a crazy thing to be able to block people.
So, would you like billboards in real life with paintings of famous artists? Or do you think they are not as annoying as the web ads? I personally would like to block all sorts of ads and signboard pollution around me.
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