Yeah, I'm thinkin I'm back

Welcome back!

Or, if you're new to Virtual Vector, hello.

Virtual Vector started in 2022 as a paywalled newsletter about the virtual reality and augmented reality industries written by me, Mathew Olson. Not very long into 2023, I had to shut down Virtual Vector; I was going through a really rough patch with my mental health and I needed to claw back some time somewhere in my life to focus on recovery while still continuing my graduate studies at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program.

(For those interested, I am feeling much better these days and I graduated from ITP last spring–huge thanks to anyone reading this who supported me while I was in school.)

What's this email doing in your inbox? What's with that title? Since shutting down, what has Virtual Vector missed with regards to VR, AR, and the fast-developing industry of the metaverse?

LOL, LMAO

Going back and reading the initial run of Virtual Vector a few months ago was, for me, a pretty bizarre experience given what's happened with tech over the past two years (by the way, all those old newsletter issues are free now). 

I'm still proud of what I did, both here and with the Reality Check newsletter before it; maybe this will sound egotistical or self-congratulatory, but of all the people who were focused on writing about VR and AR as the metaverse bubble swelled, I think I did the best of anyone to avoid becoming a cheerleader for these industries–or worse, an unthinking stenographer. I took my job seriously, endeavoring to learn as much about the hardware as I could. I framed every leak or bit of marketing speak with context I found necessary, never letting myself be content to nod along with all the hype about how great the next thing from Apple or Meta would be. Even while I was at The Information, I simply ignored all pitches claiming that NFTs and crypto would make the metaverse flourish. I tried my best.

At times, it was even pretty fun. I know there are a few people on the mailing list that I met through this job who were trying to make real, interesting products in an unhealthy, unhinged investment environment. Some of you have changed jobs or gotten out of VR or AR entirely since then. Know this: if we had even one decent conversation where you weren't just trying to sell me metaverse real estate, I hope you're doing well.

Let's be real, though. The boom was absolutely primed to end as soon as the C-suite dipshits who quickly tired of trying to sell "work meetings in the metaverse" realized that OpenAI was ushering in a new era of computing, one that's all about getting computers to inefficiently write shitty emails on your behalf.

Oh, and now there's all the fascism too, a wholly unsurprising development for the major tech players that's as repulsive as it is insipid. Mark Zuckerberg, a man who I have had the great misfortune of once trying to make Normal Human Small Talk with, is now wearing ugly chains and going on podcasts to talk about how we need to bring back the good slurs, all while toadying up to a man who had been threatening to throw him jail not even a year ago.

(I wrote a long, angsty piece about Zuckerberg in the week following the election. I considered putting it up here and decided against it, but I'll echo this one bit for anyone reading this who's employed at Meta, feeling uncomfortable with the MAGA shit, and doesn't like working for an idiot billionaire who thinks age 40 is the perfect time to start covering songs with T-Pain: quit your job, or, if you have a family to support and can't, organize your workplace.)

So, am I getting back into the journalism game and spinning up Virtual Vector 2.0? No and yes, respectively. This is not going to be my new job or my new side hustle. It's going to be my blog.

A BETTER INTERNET IS POSSIBLE

Really, I'm very glad to know that anyone ever thought the things I had to say about AR and VR were interesting and worth reading (or at least something you had to keep up with as a matter of being in the field, I get it). I still think about the medium of VR a lot, and there have been plenty of times since shutting Virtual Vector down that I've wanted to write something new for it: about the bewildering late-night demo I had of the Vision Pro at New York's only open-24/7 Apple Store, or a response to the absolutely juiceless reveal of the Project Orion glasses.

I've even worked on my own VR project since I last sent out a newsletter, a complicated mess of a game with a totally custom controller and a bunch of silly, righteously angry jokes about how terrible Meta is.

This is all to say that if you stick around, I may occasionally write about VR and AR here again, but that won't be the main focus of Virtual Vector moving forward. I'll be glad to have you here if you want to keep reading whatever comes next, but no sweat if you unsubscribe now.

Why turn this into a blog? Well, for starters, I'm keeping the name and logo because I like them, and I've been paying for the domain all this time anyway.

As of today, I've also wiped all my old photos from Instagram and deleted the app from my phone. Begrudgingly, I'm keeping the account up as a way for people to find me here and so that someone doesn't snatch up my name and start posting Midjourney'd pictures of me wearing an "I <3 Google Gemini" shirt.

I deleted Facebook several years ago, way back when I worked at Digg, and I've never once missed it. I don't have FOMO for the website where boomers sous vide their brains in a bath of awful memes and pictures of Shrimp Jesus, and while I'm sure I will miss seeing my friends' little stories and posting my own, Instagram has been fucking awful for a long time now and I'll just have to learn to get over it.

I'll post pictures over on Bluesky sometimes, and maybe I'll give Pixelfed a shot. I'd be lying to myself and you, though, if I said I haven't missed writing. Bringing Virtual Vector back as my new blog is as good an option for getting back into it as anything, and it'll let people occasionally check in on what I've been up to.

If you're interested in a newsletter about how bad the tech industry has gotten, you won't find that here. I recommend you go read my friend Ed's newsletter and listen to his podcast Better Offline if you're looking for that sort of thing. I realize I'm taking every opportunity I can to call Zuckerberg a piece of shit with dumb clothing and bad hair here, but I promise that tech won't be the only thing I blog about. It just so happens that the inauguration–where Zuckerberg stood next to a guy who was talking seriously big game last summer about fighting him, very rich coming from a pale, racist ket-addict who can't even step away from The Everything App long enough to actually get good at a video game, let alone train MMA–was my last straw.

Thanks, Mark. You made all your products I once kind-of liked and thought were a necessary part of my daily life so fucking miserable to use that I'm willingly subjecting myself to the indignity of calling myself a blogger.

I'm also late to the party on this move, I realize. Several of my friends and random cool people I follow online have also started getting back into personal blogs and newsletters. Not like "oh here's my Substack, please consider tossing me $5 a month and actually Jesse Singal has some interesting ideas" newsletters–just good posts about their lives and interests. Here's to the internet having more of that to go around.

OKAY DUDE, WRAP IT UP

Credit to Martin Peers, who edited me at The Information for months as I churned out too many newsletters about Fortnite V-Bucks, for finally teaching me the value of brevity. I know this post is already "a long one" as-is, but I could've padded it out much more with thoughts about my grad school experience and the creative work I've been up to lately. That's all for another time; thank the grumpy Australian tulpa in my head.

In early February, expect a post about the work I've been doing with my friends at Arcade Commons on a cabinet for Nightmare Kart, an excellent PS1-style kart racing game made by the amazingly talented Lilith Walther. I'll also have updates soon on the next showcase of Oshi-Gokko, the original arcade game I worked on with three of my ITP classmates back in 2023.

Maybe I'll even sit down and write out my feelings about David Lynch, who I've thought about multiple times every day since he passed away on the 16th. I should say that if you're watching or rewatching Twin Peaks, you can go and listen to the Twin Peaks watchalong podcast my friend Ashley and I started when we were both underemployed recent college grads. We covered every single episode, including the movie Fire Walk With Me and the revival season in 2017. The podcast turns 10 years old later this year, and I hope Virtual Vector can stick around for a while too.

Until next time.