Show, Don't Tell: The Most Important Principle for the Metaverse right now
Drawing Inspiration from Jurassic Park: A Lesson in "Show, Don't Tell" for the Metaverse
Jurassic Park is one of my favorite movies ever. I think I have watched it more than 10 times until today. I love the entire saga, but of course the first one is special. I remember watching it with my dad. Good old times.
In the movie, there is a scene where the park's creator, John Hammond, explains to the main character, Dr. Alan Grant, how they have extracted dinosaur DNA from mosquitoes that had been preserved in amber for millions of years.
Hammond talks at length about how this represents a major breakthrough in science and technology. However, it is only when Dr. Grant actually sees a live dinosaur for the first time that he truly understands the magnitude of what they have created.
Show, Don’t Tell
"Show, don't tell" is a writing principle that encourages writers to use vivid and specific details to allow readers to experience a story, rather than simply telling them what is happening.
This means that instead of stating a character's emotions or describing a scene in general terms, the writer should use sensory details, actions, and dialogue to show the reader what is happening and how the character is feeling.
For example, instead of writing "John was angry," a writer who is following the "show, don't tell" principle might describe John's facial expression, the tone of his voice, and the way he clenched his fists to show that he is angry. This approach allows the reader to experience the emotion themselves, rather than just being told about it.
Show, don’t tell.
Since Mark Zuckerberg announced that they were changed the name of his company from Facebook to Meta, a giant hype around the Metaverse started.
Metaverse platforms, Metaverse studios, and Metaverse tools started to pop up.
Companies hurried up to enter the “metaverse”:
The problem when writers do not follow the Show, Don’t Tell principles in their writing is that readers can feel the story and the characters are not convincing enough. And that’s the end game for a book.
Of course, you can write an awesome book and become very successful even if you don’t give a shit about this principle. As in everything in life: You can be very successful by not following principles.
But principles exist for a reason.
Talking incessantly about the metaverse may be great for impressing investors, selling lectures, or closing some projects with companies that embrace the hype, but just as we run the risk of not engaging our readers in the long term if we are writing a book, the same can happen in the business world.
In almost all of these cases, people working on metaverse platforms or with metaverse consulting are telling, not showing.
They say the metaverse is a revolution.
They say the metaverse is the next phase of the internet.
They say the metaverse will change the way we build relationships with brands.
But almost no one is actually showing that.
At the same time, platforms like Fortnite and Roblox, which are not interested in using that word, but in building awesome experiences, are making billions of dollars per year, being free platforms.
In the same way, Alan just gets convinced when he actually sees the damn thing, I believe the Metaverse - its builders - need to apply the “Show, Don’t Tell” principle.
(Click here to watch the full scene).
Some brands have been talking about the metaverse as the future of technology without actually creating compelling and immersive experiences that demonstrate its true potential.
Just as Alan needed to see a live dinosaur to truly understand what was possible, consumers will need to experience real, meaningful metaverse experiences firsthand to fully appreciate its potential. The challenge for brands is to create experiences that showcase the metaverse's true potential and convince consumers that it is worth exploring.
Do we want to bring millions of companies and users into the metaverse (whatever the metaverse is)?
We must show, don’t tell.
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