As one of the world’s biggest tech companies, alongside the likes of Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft,Facebookis no stranger to new ideas and changes are coming. Recently,Mark Zuckerberg announced the parent company would change its name to Meta. This was a decision to help encapsulate all that the parent company, Facebook Inc, does, in an effort to show that it’s more than just its social media namesake. On top of some criticisms about the name, with “meta” meaning “dead” in Hebrew, not everyone is too convinced about the shift.
According to a report, former Oculus CTO John Carmack has spoken rather frankly about his concerns overFacebookchanging its name. While he says he is on board with the “metaverse” idea, his main issue seems to stem from the opinion that a single company setting out to incorporate a one-stop application may not be able to make “all the right decisions” to make it feasible. He goes on to say that the creators of a metaverse can neglect possibilities for its user base if it starts to make even one bad decision.
RELATED:John Carmack Thinks Xbox and PlayStation Should Auction New Consoles
Carmack adds that a universal app is the “most obvious path” to get to the metaverse end goal, comparing Zuckerberg’s plans to that of thegame creation softwareRoblox. He also refers to Meta being a “honeypot trap for architecture astronauts,” which he defines as those programmers and designers that are interested in abstract concepts, lamenting that this is perhaps not the best way to go about this new development. Having said that, as the plan moves forward, Carmack does feel that there will be effort put into it. It’s just a case of whether it will be a successful endeavor or not.
As the co-founder of id Software and one ofthe masterminds behind the originalDoomgames, which are still influencing the industry to this day, Carmack is something of a development and programming veteran. He even likens theFacebookchange to the metaverse toDoom, saying that it was about building more than just “abstract game engines” and about creating assets that can be repurposed and reused in other programs.
Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014not long after Carmack started working for the VR company, so his words are likely to have some weight. Over the years, the social media giant has run into heavy criticism and become involved in serious controversies, such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, plus accusations of the site being a harbinger of false public information. It remains to be seen whether the change to Meta will distance it from its controversial reputation.
