Comedy Club in the Metaverse: A New Frontier
▼ Summary
– The author describes performing in VR at Soapstone Comedy Club, an adults-only venue in Meta’s Horizon Worlds with a dedicated community.
– Meta announced it would shut down Horizon Worlds in VR but reversed course after backlash, though it will stop allowing new VR content creation after June 15.
– A Meta representative stated that Soapstone, built by a third-party creator, will remain available in VR for the foreseeable future despite the platform changes.
– Soapstone’s host, Miss Del Rey, expressed shock at the initial shutdown news, emphasizing the club’s importance to its users’ lives.
– Following Meta’s policy shifts, attendees at a recent improv show are uncertain about the future, despite Soapstone’s plan to continue on mobile.
On a recent Sunday, I found myself performing on a virtual stage, my digital self dressed in the free, slightly questionable wardrobe options of Meta’s Horizon Worlds. The Soapstone Comedy Club, an adults-only digital venue operating in the metaverse, has been a persistent hub for live entertainment since the platform’s early days. It has staged thousands of events, from stand-up and improv to trivia, attracting both celebrity guests and a dedicated community of regulars. The future of this unique social space, however, now hangs in the balance following a turbulent corporate announcement.
Last week, Meta declared it would shut down the VR version of Horizon Worlds to concentrate on mobile development, only to reverse course a day later after significant user protest. The service remains on life support. A critical change is still scheduled for June 15, when Meta will disable VR creation tools, preventing users from building new worlds or updating existing ones on that platform. All future development will be confined to mobile.
A Meta representative clarified the situation in a statement, noting that Soapstone was built by a third-party creator and exists on both mobile and VR. The VR iteration uses a specific framework that will remain operational for now, aligning with recent internal communications. For the community that calls it home, this technical distinction offers little comfort amidst the profound uncertainty.
Host Miss Del Rey, whose avatar is as vibrant as her Swedish wit, has been running the weekly improv show for over a year. The initial shutdown news was a shock. She describes Soapstone as a massive, meaningful production that now faces the threat of simply disappearing. At the first gathering after the corporate whiplash, the mood among the colorful avatars was apprehensive. While Soapstone plans to continue in the mobile era of Horizon Worlds, it is unclear whether its audience will migrate.
Del Rey captures the community’s anxiety, stating that people are terrified of the uncertainty. She argues that while VR may not be profitable for Meta, the platform fails to grasp the profound importance of this digital space to its users. For many, including Del Rey, Soapstone has become an irreplaceable part of their social lives.
During the show, the improv games proceed as usual. Del Rey and her co-host guide volunteers through classic exercises, pulling random scenes from a hat or constructing a collaborative story one word at a time. The results are predictably chaotic and often risqué, a testament to the raw, unfiltered creativity that thrives in this virtual comedy club. The laughter echoes in headsets, but a pressing question lingers for every performer and patron: how much longer will this frontier remain open?
(Source: Wired)
