Metaverse expert Bushra Burge is the founder and creative director of the award-winning BB Studio. She spoke to us on video a few months ago to define why the metaverse has become a big deal recently, and what it tells us about our current preoccupations.
With all of the hubbub around the metaverse, how exactly do we define it? How did it come to be, and what are its future implications? More importantly, will it lead society to a wondrous utopia, or will it plunge us into a dystopian world?
How the metaverse came to be
At the online conference Beyond Games #2 (November 2021), Bushra Burge (Bushra Burge Studio) talks about the varying degrees people react to the dawn of the metaverse. She discusses collective thoughts and feelings as people are immersed in this shared virtual space. We may have seen it coming, but it has certainly snowballed into this life-altering phenomenon where things will never be the same again.
Burge also touches upon her own efforts to build her own part of the metaverse. In particular, her immersive magazine “IT’S A WILD WORLD” is an example of how mixed media can dabble into this shared space with different applications.
What’s hot and what’s not
As the metaverse expands, we have to be wary of certain cons that come with the advent of any new tech. For instance, people need to learn how to deal with the issues of surveillance. With the way the metaverse works, we can be sold things and even ideologies. There may also be a loss of self and a sense of being controlled.
Of course, all these also come with the positives and the endless possibilities of the metaverse. There is a greater sense of economy here, along with a revolutionary way of expressing creativity. We can build worlds, avatars and basically anything. There is a new sense of ownership with NFTs and an exciting shift from creators to user-creators. We can look forward to interoperability, open authoring and truly community-driven content.
In this video talk, which you can watch for free here, she tackles some of the big topics: where we are in terms of the hype around the metaverse; whether this is the true next iteration of the internet; ways to mitigate risks when it comes to freedom vs. safety, censorship vs. expression.
Towards the end of this video session, Burge answers a few hand-picked questions from the audience to cap off the talk. This is a great session for anyone who’s been curious about the nature of a technically successful metaverse – and anyone who’s ever asked if we need an online police force for the metaverse…
Catherine plays video games for a living, reads comics for inspiration, and writes because she’s in love with words. Her Young Adult fantasy novel, Of Myths And Men, has been published by Penguin Random House SEA and is her love letter to gamer geeks, mythological creatures, aliens, and epic quests to save the world. She one day hopes to soar the skies as a superhero, but for now, she strongly believes in saving lives through her works in fiction. Check out her books at bit.ly/catherinedellosabooks, or follow her on FB/IG/Twitter at @thenoobwife.
