Discover the profitable business opportunities within the metaverse and learn how you can and why you should get your company involved today.
In Decoding the Metaverse, Creative Cloud strategist and Web3 expert Chris Duffey establishes a roadmap for entry to the metaverse. Written to help businesses get a handle on a complex new business opportunity, the book begins by explaining how previous iterations of the internet led to the creation of immersive digital technology with Web3 before detailing the building blocks of the metaverse.
The book takes readers through the future of digital spaces, offering insight into immersive experiences, customer engagement, product-led growth and profitability. The chapters focus on the building blocks of the metaverse, including NFTs, blockchain, tokenomics, gaming and virtual real estate. Each chapter is paired with a corresponding case study from well-known brands currently working in the metaverse. Decoding the Metaverse ends with guiding principles about the ethical ramifications of immersive experiences and digital governance.
Throughout Decoding the Metaverse, Duffey highlights the importance of reaching customers through shared immersive experiences. Showcasing the potential impact of working with Web3, he explains how companies can use these opportunities to further their reach and grow their revenue. Readers will step away from the book eager to get their companies involved today.
Chris Duffey spear-heads Adobe’s Creative Cloud strategic development partnerships across the Creative enterprise space.
Chris' keynotes have received over 50+ million impressions. His sessions have been reported around the world including Access Hollywood, Extra, Ok Magazine, Hello, People, Daily Mail and Euro News.
In addition, Chris and his work has been featured by more than 100 global media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Inc., Adweek, Adage, Cheddar, The Guardian, The Mirror, The Drum, Campaign, CMO.com, NYPost, Business Insider... and profiled by Google, McKinsey and Wharton in their digital marketing book. Chris also serves on Rutgers University Data Advisory Board and The Board of Directors for Association of National Advertisers NY.
Prior to Adobe Chris was an Award-Winning Executive Creative Director, Noted Speaker, Author and AI & Mobile Technologist. Chris has been featured by Business Insider, and Yahoo as one of “The industry’s leaders on the top issues, challenges and opportunities in the fast-changing world of mobile marketing.” Chris has been a creative consultant with over 35 advertising agencies across the major global holding companies: WPP, IPG, Havas, Omnicom, Publicis and MDC, having worked across every major industry vertical. Chris is best selling author of Superhuman Innovation: Transforming Business with Artificial Intelligence..
Chris Duffey has spoken around the world at the leading thought leadership conferences such as being a four-times Cannes Lion speaker. In 2018, he co-presented with Microsoft on the role of Human and Machine. In 2017, Chris spoke at Cannes Innovation about Artificial Intelligence Enhanced Creativity. He has also shared the stage with Kim Kardashian at Cannes Lion, speaking on connecting with audiences via mobile gaming. For the inaugural Cannes Lion Health Festival, Chris co-chaired with Google for the keynote on future trends in mobile marketing.
Are you curious where technology is going next? Decoding the Metaverse explains where we started (think UseNet groups and AOL) to where we are going soon (the metaverse).
Science fiction has been talking about a completely virtual, digital and 3D world for literally decades. I’m not talking about Meta’s VRChat with disembodied heads either. I’m talking full immersion. So, if you are a gamer like me, you have already travelled into similar environments. But stupid NPCs will soon be replaced by smart AI bots. It will resemble a virtual Westworld.
Of course, there are risks. The author talks of how trust must be built between strangers in a completely virtual world. No offense but we see how well anonymity works in the current internet. Trolls, and even thieves, abound. Still, it is interesting to read about how the underlying systems will work together to run such a complicated environment. Will it be a Shangri la? Probably not. But it’s fun to dream…
There is just one caveat. The book is rather technical. You don't have to have a degree in computer science, but a logical mind would be helpful.
Overall, 4 stars for Decoding the Metaverse. Let’s all hope a new digital world this dazzling begins soon!
Thanks to Kogan Page and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.
Do not let this book get away. You want to read it but more importantly you need to read it. You will learn about the world to come that is so fascinating that it is beyond imagining. It is easy to be overwhelmed trying to understand the Metaverse, but Duffey give a concise, sequential explanation that is easily digested and covers all the good stuff. More importantly this work goes beyond entertainment and gets to the practical and commercial aspects of the Metaverse. The possibilities are so much fun to imagine that you might giggle. You have been warned.
It took me a really long time to get through this book. Partly because it covers a lot of ground and packed in tons of information, but mostly due to the writing style, which is best described as "wikipedia article." There are lots of bulleted lists, lots of acronyms, lots of footnotes and references. Which is mostly good, and certainly well intentioned, and provides ample opportunities to pursue topics of interest. But it's really tedious to read, and doesn't provide the level of detail of an academic text to really gain mastery over the subject.
Part of the problem is the wide range of topics that are crammed into the book. As the subtitle suggests, the business perspective underlies and pervades the narrative, so everything is presented within the framework of how to use the information to maximize corporate profits. And we've seen where that approach ends, with the disastrous disappointment of social media from its early promise.
Undeterred by their calamitous track-record, controversial concepts like cryptocurrency and NFTs are presented as not only good ideas, but central to the success of a modern business and essential to implementing the metaverse. However, there is a bit of hand waving involved. The blockchain is certainly one of the approaches that could potentially be utilised to consolidate payments and ownership rights, but from the end user perspective this is just as easily done with conventional bank accounts, credit cards, and online payment systems (PayPal, Amazon, et al. have done just fine without the Blockchain). And this still doesn't solve the underlying problem of interoperability between the various platforms. The reason we can't cross-post between Twitter and FaceBook isn't a technology problem, it's a policy decision by both companies to lock in their users and make it next to impossible to transfer our own content to another platform.
Instead of a solution to this problem, we get a sales pitch for blockchain contracts, as if Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and Alphabet (Google, YouTube) will suddenly see the light and respect users' ownership of their uploaded content because it appears on a Blockchain. It's not at all a compelling vision of the future, as it adds huge overhead and complexity to every post, and Bezos, Musk, and Zuckerberg are not voluntarily going to relinquish their empires. Nor will the underlying issue of having to recreate metaverse content for the various engines, systems, platforms, and applications. It's already a chore for developers to support multiple operating systems (Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, etc.), form factors (PC, smartphone, tablet, console, etc.), having to also worry about compatibility between graphics engines (e.g. Unreal, Unity, etc.) and applications (e.g. Fortnite, SecondLife) makes it a daunting proposition.
Not that the book is required to solve all of these problems (it will take at least a couple of decades, many billions of dollars, lots of contentious lawsuits, the creation of multiple standards, and a slew of legislation), but it should provide the reader with a clear roadmap of the obstacles that lie ahead, and not just tout the opportunities like a slick salesperson.
I was pleasantly surprised again by the Chris Duffey's book which is a must read on Web3 technology from my perspective. I've read his previous book on AI and found it to be quite unique at that time.
“Decoding the Metaverse” is very well written and organized and provides clear and concise information on Web3 while covering the evolution of the static Internet to the present-day marvel of innovation. I especially liked the intro on the Internet's history which gave me a nostalgic throwback to its beginnings. Also, one of my favorite chapters is the one on Gaming which highlights the endless immersion possibilities of virtual worlds that Web3 would enable. Another big plus is that the book is also altogether technical and provides the reader with a good understanding of Web3, with everything being presented, from the infrastructure aspects to the boundless entertainment capabilities that the new wave of Web3 applications will unleash.
Solid book, worth a read. Looks at the underlying technologies and possible applications. Very thorough though I would have preferred bit more technical detail. Diagrams always help. A bit too expansive towards the end. You cant include the history of computing and theories of ethics for example in a book like this. It's too much. The author correctly emphasizes the radical revolution in human experience and practice already starting to take place. This goes way beyond the 'holodeck' as amazing as even just that will be. It will radically transform the very nature of human thought, action and interactions. I for one one cant wait.
Chris Duffey’s book is a foundation course on the modern world; the metaverse, NFTs, Crypto, AR, VR, etc, etc. He also details, how these technologies can be and will be used in the future and in which verticals. My point being this isn’t an “ivory tower” book, but a book that covers fundamentals and their applications. If you are looking for a beginner’s book or even an intermediates book on the Metaverse this is a great place to start.
The author sent me the first two chapters to read to provide a review.
Based on these chapters, I am highly interested in the rest of the book. He did a great job of explaining the technological background in a way that would be understandable to a wide audience. Prior to reading, I thought the metaverse was primarily how Facebook was referring to their line of products, but instead, I learned that the metaverse is a way to referring to how the numerous technological advancements of network technology are create a new way to experience the world. He starts in using the OSI layer model to cleverly communicate it, which I thought was pretty cool.
I think this book would be perfect for a person who is a bit befuddled at everything they're hearing about cryptocurrency, smart devices, NFTs, and VR and all that and wants to be able to know what all these things are and how we got here and how to start joining in the conversation - and as the title says, possibly apply it to their business ventures. It would also be good for someone who is already interested in some or all these topics.