![BIG](/assets/images/blog/2022/12/18/00-cover.png)

# Notorious

So I stayed up late on Friday night to watch the Notorious B.I.G. VR Concert in Meta Horizon Worlds. 
If you read my last blog post exactly a month ago, you'll know I've been patiently waiting for the event and was super 
hyped for what it might be. I have to say I've got mixed feelings now that I've seen it. Some good, some bad. 
Overall it was just a little disappointing.

## What was good:

### Avatars

The 3D avatars of both Biggie and P.Diddy were very good! When I first walked in I thought they were playing old Biggie 
music videos before the concert started. I later realised I was watching a computer generated music video and the 
Biggie I was looking at was actually the 3D avatar biggie. Impressive.

I do have a small complaint with the avatars though. I don't think they tried at all to lip sync the avatars with the 
words they were saying. This was very noticeable during the stage performance but not the end of the world. The models
also moved around a little weird at times. It was just weird. 

### The Concert

The concert portion of the event was pretty dope. Ignoring my complaints which will come later, it was cool to see 
Biggie and P. Diddy avatars both performing on stage at the same time with Lil Cease and The Lox who also both nailed it.

I also liked much like in real life there were big TV screens above the stage that would show close ups of the action 
on stage. I think it really helps with the immersion when you have Biggie stood on the stage performing in front of you 
and you can look up and see him on the TV screen. It just makes it seem more real to the brain I think.

### New Music

We got treated to Biggie and Lil Cease performing "new" music (previously unreleased), which was nice! 

### P. Diddy

I am not sure why P. Diddy was an avatar considering he's still alive and could have done the event in person, but I'm 
kinda glad they went this route because the Diddy avatar was hilarious. I legit thought he was gonna fall over more than
once. He was super animated it was wild. 😂

## What was not so good:

### Atmosphere / Environment

I don't know who's choice this was but from the moment I joined the event I was disappointed. I was expecting to walk 
into some sort of VR arena and stand in a large crowd in front of a stage as in real life. Instead Meta have opted to 
simply allow a small number of people into separate instances which is just a small area (area not arena!) with a large 
180 degree screen at the front.

I thought I was going to a VR concert. I was expecting to be stood in front of a stage watching Biggie walking around 
large as life in full 3D in front of me. What we actually got was a 180 degree video wall playing a video of real 
performers on a stage alongside Biggie/Diddy avatars.

I'm sorry but it's just not a VR concert to me if we're not in the same space.

Unfortunately because of this the event just has absolutely no atmosphere. It just felt like I was watching a video alone
rather than at a gig with thousands of other people enjoying the performances.

### Other People

One gripe I have with Meta Horizon Worlds that is easily solved and has been in VR Chat is every world and instance is 
public. This means that you have no control over the other people in the instance you land in. My instance was filled 
with annoying kids shouting and trying to talk to everyone in the room and generally ruining the experience for 
everybody else.

This problem does not exist in VR Chat as in VR Chat you can create a private instance of any of the worlds and then 
simply travel there with your friends/party that you invite.

You might be thinking so wouldn't it have been much worse in an arena stood with thousands of other people? Yes it would 
probably suck, but only if the other people were real. I think it would perfectly acceptable to have an arena in a 
private instance filled with computer generated avatars (fake people). You don't need to talk to them, you can talk to 
the people you invited. But having a crowd there would simulate reality much better.

Please Meta take that idea and implement it, you can have that one for free!

### Censorship

I almost left this concert as soon as it started. Because this is Meta everybody is treated like a child and as such 
lots of "problematic" words were muted during live performances. I'm a 40 year old man attending a hip-hop concert. I 
do not expect language to be moderated. To make matters worse there seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to which words 
were muted and when you consider the context of what they lyrics are saying anyway, what's the point of censoring any 
words? It's stupid and dumb and it needs to stop.

If this is the future of live music events. I do not want it. I especially do not want Meta to have any control of it 
at all considering their authoritarian position of dumbing down, censoring and "protecting" adults feelings. The entire 
Horizon Worlds app feels like it's designed for 10 year olds that must be "safe" at all costs.

### Music Video Sections

Before and after the live concert section of the event their was these computer generated music videos of sorts. Based 
in a 3D city environment which felt like a level from an old Grand Theft Auto game you'd have P. Diddy driving Biggie 
around in a car (backwards for some reason) whilst Biggie spat bars. The idea is fine but what killed it for me was how 
basic it looked. I felt like I was trapped inside an old Playstation 1 era computer game, like a GTA cutscene or 
something. It looked awful. It does have potential though. At the end there is a section where P. Diddy is driving slowly
forwards with Biggie sat in the back of the car waving to his fans as they line the street. The camera does a flyover 
across the road and into an apartment where the scene is playing until you're back inside the scene. 
It's cool and something only possible in VR. If they could just make it look better I think there is a bright future 
there.

### Accessibility

Horizon Worlds did a terrible job advertising this and it's impossible to easily access your favourite parts. In fact 
it's worse than just this, I still haven't been able to watch the documentary portion of the event. I checked the times 
on Friday and Meta said the event runs 2AM to 4AM. I turned up at 2AM to watch the event and it was already showing the 
computer generated music videos. Apparently the documentary was shown sometime before I arrived. I've since been back 
into 3 different instances of the event and I've seen the same parts every time. Where is the documentary and why can't 
I just jump to it from the menu?

## Conclusion

Overall it's a cool idea and I want to see more of it in the future, but it's got to be done better than this. The 
concert portion of the event was enjoyable but could have been much better. Fixing small things like the arena and 
adding a few basic features to allow people to customise their experience would go a long way.

Also next time the avatar performer absolutely MUST be in the same instance as the viewer and not just a 180 degree 
video. This is VR afterall!

NOTORIOUSLY BAD?

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