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Wagner James Au        

Authority on the Metaverse, Virtual Worlds & the Game Industry

Wagner James Au is the author of "Making a Metaverse That Matters" (Wiley, 2023), based on his 20 years working in the metaverse industry, starting as the first journalist officially embedded inside the virtual world of Second Life. His blog New World Notes, launched in 2006, is the longest-running and most-cited news site devoted to Metaverse news and culture. A frequent speaker and media commentator, his recent themes include:

  • Why the Metaverse is even more relevant in this era of generative AI and programs like ChatGPT.
  • Why the Metaverse is inspiring, powerful, and already popular with over 600 million people -- and has a potential near-term market of 1 billion.
  • Cutting through common metaverse myths -- and focusing on powerful real world use cases across many industries.
  • How the Metaverse compares with spatial computing -- and how Apple's Vision Pro will help bridge both technologies.
  • A starting guide for businesses and organizations interested in seeking true value and ROI from leading metaverse platforms.

He has spoken about the Metaverse, virtual worlds, and related topics at South by Southwest, the Milken Institute, Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, and at conferences across Europe and Asia.

James is also author of "The Making of Second Life" (HarperCollins, 2008) and "Game Design Secrets" (Wiley, 2012). and his writing about virtual worlds has been featured in The Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, and Wired, among many other publications. He has consulted on metaverse-related projects for Samsung, Mattel, Deloitte, Forrester, US and EU government bodies, among many other organizations.

He is based in Los Angeles.

News


Making a metaverse that matters | Wagner James Au interview/podcast
Wagner James Au has been covering the idea of the metaverse for decades. He was the first embedded journalist inside the world of Second Life, the early virtual world from Linden Lab. And now he’s back with his own book about the metaverse, the universe of virtual worlds that are all interconnected, like in novels such as Snow Crash and Ready Player One
Neal Stephenson isn’t giving up on the metaverse—or crypto
The author of ‘Snow Crash’ and co-founder of Lamina1 talks about the novel’s long-delayed Hollywood adaptation, and why he finally decided to develop a real-world metaverse of his own.
Remember Second Life? That Could Be Facebook’s Future
A Q&A with Wagner James Au, author of “The Making of Second Life,” on why the short-lived success of the first virtual world has lessons for the metaverse.
Weirdly, Taylor Swift Is Extremely Close to Creating a True Metaverse
Taylor Swift has released a new album called Midnights. Over the past several weeks, Swift has presided over a meticulous online rollout: Ahead of the album’s drop, she launched “Midnights Mayhem With Me,” a TikTok video series wherein she released the 13 track names one by one via bingo. This week, she went as far as to release a full launch schedule for fans via Instagram that detailed exactly what would happen at which times and where online—including a “special very chaotic surprise” at 3 a.m. ET last night.
There Will Never Be Another Second Life
The virtual world, a strange cross between Burning Man and Neal Stephenson’s metaverse, marks its 20th anniversary with no true corporate competitor in sight.

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