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[Eddie-Griffin]

Meta is testing a new feature for Horizon Worlds. The idea is that visitors to a world can complete small missions and receive exclusive rewards for their avatars. For example, clothing and accessories that match the world visited.

The feature is being tested in a new Horizon world called Giant Mini Paddle Golf, a mini-golf game set in a tropical island landscape. The quests are fairly simple, requiring a hole-in-one or completing an entire course. In the latter case, you can win a sea captain costume for your avatar’s wardrobe.

The feature continues to roll out in the coming weeks, says Meta.

Horizon Worlds has trouble attracting and retaining users​

Horizon Worlds has struggled with low user numbers and sparsely visited virtual worlds since its launch. By the end of 2022, Meta had halved its user base target from 500,000 to 280,000 active users, and despite thousands of worlds, only a few are visited by more than 50 people, according to WSJ report.

But Meta’s proto-metaverse isn’t just struggling to attract visitors. According to a leaked information, only ten percent of users return to the platform after a month.

A soon-to-be-released 2D web version of Horizon Worlds for desktop computers and mobile devices is expected to significantly increase usage. Meta expects only ten percent of visitors to participate via virtual reality.

https://fortune.com/2023/03/22/meta-horizon-worlds-quests/

“We will continue to roll out this feature in the coming weeks and more people will have access to check it out in Giant Mini Paddle Golf, a new Horizon world where players play mini-golf across a tropical island landscape,” the company wrote.

At launch, players of the minigame will have six quests they can complete. The option to take part in these is currently limited, but Meta says it hopes to roll out the option to a larger audience in the weeks and months to come.

More mini-games are on the way to Horizon Worlds, which could mean more quest options. The company has said it plans to release 20 new “experiences” in the virtual world that are built by third-party studios in the near future.

Meta has continued to sink money into its metaverse initiative, but people who have spent time in Horizons haven’t stuck around, including Meta employees. And the founder of Oculus, who sold his VR startup to Meta in 2014 has lambasted Horizons, saying “I don’t think it’s a good product”.

Horizons saw a peak of about 200,000 active users in late December. Meta’s hoping to hit 500,000 by the end of June. As part of that effort, the company has reportedly considered lowering the age requirement from 18 to 13. Government officials have warned the company against doing that, citing the company’s “documented track record of failure to protect children and teens”.

This is what the Quests/item menu looks like, Ironically, legs are shown on the cosmetic clothing despite legs not having been added to HW yet and still being worked on,

Zucker hopes to reach 500,000 users by the end of June which may be possible with the web app for novelty, but by adding Horizon Worlds to web browsers and phones/tablets/pcs that kind of defeats the whole purpose of the metaverse dream and would be taken as a sign that they have given up.

The fact that only 10% of users even return to Horizon Worlds means that any gains from removing the VR requirement will be temporary. The whole point of Horizon Worlds was to create the VR Metaverse so removing that makes this compete with the dozens of better, more content filled, more polished competition which seems like a very bad idea.

The fact they couldn't get the millions of Quest headset users to touch the thing is pretty incredible really. I know he wasted tons of money on it but maybe he should cut his losses now, take the hit, and replace it with something else.

I doubt this new Quest and perks system is going to significantly change anything.

Will the Quest and rewards system be enough for you to jump into this... sophisticated and exhilarating worlds that is displayed in the above pic? Immersion is flowing off the pie charts.

 

[Fuz]

 

[DrFigs]

VR was a failed experiment.

 

[ReBurn]

They forgot to make it interesting or fun. They need to do that before offering bribes. I spent about 2 hours exploring it and I haven't gone back. They took the concept of Second Life and somehow made it worse.