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Nike start advertising in Roblox with free minigame-o-rama NikelandEven a lawless vision of the metaverse can be an advertising space
Even a lawless vision of the metaverse can be an advertising space
For all theloathsome talk of the metaverse from companies like Facebookand Epic as the future of reality, many facets of the concept already exist in sandboxes likeRoblox. The problem with Roblox for them is that it’s a lawless frontier town, one they don’t control. Still, Roblox is obscenely popular, so it’s popular with brands who don’t need control, they just want to advertise products. Enter Nikeland, an official Roblox game from the cobblers at Nike.
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You canplay Nikelandfor free through Roblox.
Nike had a Fortnite minigamein 2019, back when Epic’s battle royale was the hottest place to advertise your products to children. Fortnite is still huge, no doubt, and still a huge advertising platform, but it’s interesting to see Nike turn to Roblox now.
I’d want the metaverse to be as joyful and scrappy and weird as people are. I want a metaverse whereroleplayers blag their way into real White House press briefings, hordes of peoplechase and abandon fads like Squid Game, and virtuapet creators find enough fame tofound a whole new studio. For more on the opportunities and oddness, check out Alex Wiltshire’s three-part series from 2019, talking with Robloxroleplayers,success stories, andthe company themselves.
Epic’s tentative steps into the metaverse involve the licensed likeness of Captain America flossing on you during a lightshow promoting a pop star’s new album, and Facebook’s particular brand of lawlessnessenabled genocide. These are not metaverses I desire.
I really enjoyed seeing developer and artist Everest Pipkin discover Roblox (often with a pal of mine, V Buckenham), exploring the odd and unplayed. They have compared it to experiences in their rural teenage years around an abandoned cement foundation in the woods. Sometimes it hosted hangouts and parties and life’s precious moments, but it was usually just an grafittied slab of cement in the woods with a few old chairs.
“To stand in these places is to stand in a place where desire was met,” Pipkinwrote. “Where for a moment, something that wasyourswas carved out of the ugly body of online corporate games culture. Like building a fort in the woods between the highway and the mall.”
This is, alas, a form of metaverse so wildly untenable that even now I accept that we’re infinitely more likely to see a controlled and sterile metaverse which exists primarily because huge companies want a cut of people selling’limited edition' virtual superhero merchand just the ugliest god damn stupid Twitter avatars you ever did see.
Pipkin alsobuilt a dream diary in Roblox, which has some beautiful scenes. I’d strongly recommend a visit.
