Making a Metaverse That Matters: From Snow Crash & Second Life to a Virtual World Worth Fighting for

An up-close account from the world's first metaverse-embedded reporter

In Making a Metaverse That Matters: From Snow Crash & Second Life to A Virtual World Worth Fighting For, the celebrated author of The Making of Second Life and Game Design Secrets, Wagner James Au, delivers an engrossing exploration of how nascent metaverse platforms have already captured the imagination of millions. Featuring powerful stories and dozens of incisive interviews with insiders including Metaverse creator Neal Stephenson himself, the author uses his unique, grassroots-level perspective as the first reporter embedded in a metaverse platform. Readers will learn about:

• How to understand and define the Metaverse and cut through the many myths and misconceptions around it.
• A behind-the-scenes account of launching Second Life, the first metaverse platform to achieve mainstream awareness, and what its many controversies teach us.
• Where current platforms Meta, Roblox, Fortnite, VRChat, and Lamina1, Neal Stephenson's own metaverse startup, fit in the ecosystem.
• How to address the many dangers inherent in the Metaverse before it becomes central to the Internet.

Perfect for XR industry members and indie creatives, Making a Metaverse That Matters is also for tech professionals, virtual world communities, and anyone interested in the future of culture and commerce.

「世界首位嵌入式元宇宙記者的近距離報導」

在《創造一個有意義的元宇宙：從《雪崩》和《第二人生》到值得奮鬥的虛擬世界》中，享譽盛名的作家Wagner James Au，也是《第二人生的創造》和《遊戲設計秘訣》的作者，深入探索了新興元宇宙平台如何已經捕捉到數百萬人的想像力。作者以首位嵌入式元宇宙平台的記者的獨特基層視角，呈現了強大的故事和數十個深入訪談，包括元宇宙創造者Neal Stephenson本人。讀者將會了解到：

- 如何理解和定義元宇宙，並擺脫其中的許多神話和誤解。
- 第二人生的幕後故事，作為第一個實現主流認知的元宇宙平台的推出，以及它的許多爭議給我們的啟示。
- 當前平台Meta、Roblox、Fortnite、VRChat和Lamina1，以及Neal Stephenson自己的元宇宙初創公司在生態系統中的定位。
- 如何在元宇宙成為互聯網核心之前解決其中的許多危險。

《創造一個有意義的元宇宙》非常適合XR行業成員和獨立創作者，同時也適合技術專業人士、虛擬世界社區以及對文化和商業未來感興趣的任何人。

WAGNER JAMES AU is the author of The Making of Second Life (HarperCollins, 2008), based on his experiences as the first journalist officially embedded in a metaverse platform, and Game Design Secrets (Wiley, 2012). His writing about virtual worlds has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Wired, and Polygon, among many other publications. His blog New World Notes (nwn.blogs.com) is the longest-running news site devoted to the Metaverse.

WAGNER JAMES AU 是《The Making of Second Life》（HarperCollins，2008）的作者，該書基於他作為第一位正式嵌入虛擬世界平台的記者的經歷。他還著有《Game Design Secrets》（Wiley，2012）。他關於虛擬世界的寫作作品曾在《紐約時報》、《華爾街日報》、《Wired》和《Polygon》等許多出版物中發表。他的博客《New World Notes》（nwn.blogs.com）是專注於Metaverse的最長運行的新聞網站。