A look into the Metaverse
An Introduction to the Metaverse
Did you know that someone spent $2.4 MILLION USD on LAND in the Metaverse! WHAT!? HOW!? WHY!?
To understand this better you need to ask yourself...
“What is the Metaverse?”
The Metaverse seems to have many definitions, the one I found most descriptive is as follows:
“The Metaverse is a set of interconnected experiential 3D virtual worlds where people located anywhere can socialize in real time to form a persistent user-owned internet economy spanning the digital and physical worlds”.
The term Metaverse is a portmanteau word made up of “meta” meaning after or beyond; and the late Middle English word “universe”. This word was coined by the American writer Neil Stevenson and was first used in his 1992 Sci-Fi novel “Snow Crash”.
See “prelude to the introduction” for a look into the novel where the term Metaverse is first used.
In the novel, humans portrayed as avatars interact with one another and with artificially created software agents in a 3D virtual space. This is viewed as a metaphor or symbol for the real world. This Metaverse appears to its users as a primarily urban environment developed along a 100 meter wide road called “the street” which spans the entire circumference of a dark and perfectly spherical planet. People within the Metaverse can access it though personal terminals which project an ultra-realistic virtual reality through special googles, giving them a first-person view.
If you have seen Ready Player One this concept is fairly easy to grasp. (Awesome Movie!)
When looking at both Snow Crash and Ready Player One; the Metaverse is portrayed as a futuristic AI / AR version of the internet. In Ready Player One the Metaverse offers an escape from a world suffering from climate change and a fossil fuel shortage; sound familiar?
The Metaverse is growing at an exponential rate both culturally and financially. Now that the idea of a Metaverse is becoming more mainstream due to the big data companies embracing it, some analysts are calling the Metaverse the next big investment for both crypto and tech. According to Igor Tasik, founder of Metaventures (a Metaverse advisory firm), this is because the idea of a Metaverse goes beyond the implementation of AR / VR tech. In an interview, Igor Tasik said that the Metaverse has the potential to become an ultimate experiential equalizer in the first half of the 21st century by combining people’s physical and digital existence in a hybrid virtual experience.
Morgan Stanley has also recently announced that it considers the Metaverse as the next major concept in the world of investments.
What does this have to do with crypto and why should I care?
Blockchain-based gaming protocols have the potential to become true pioneering forces regarding the development of the Metaverse ecosystem / economy. One could argue that this already happening with other games such as Minecraft, World of Warcraft, etc.
The Metaverse, Gaming, and NFT’s
When combining these 3, you can start to see what the Metaverse might look like in the future. Think of it as a virtual world where DeFi, cryptocurrencies, blockchain tech, AR / VR, and gaming all come together to create the Metaverse.
NFT’s
When thinking about NFT’s most people think of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks or Rocks (EtherRock). However when I think of the future of NFT’s, videogames and Metaverses come to mind where this could have some serious potential. Let me give you an example: think of Fortnite skins but actually owning them, being able to wear or sell them in the Fortnite Metaverse. Another example might be in a (hypothetical) Halo Metaverse; imagine owning 1 of 1000 Warthogs where you could drive yourself around in Halo’s Metaverse, or running around as Master Chief (1 of 10). How much do you think someone would be willing to pay for that?
Again these are only examples, but when thinking like this you can begin to see countless other opportunities. If we think of the Metaverse as a parallel augmented version of the real word, then it can also be thought of as an extension of it. Similar to the real world, NFTs allow holders to use and leverage their assets.
NFTs and the Metaverse will be similar in their future development and carry on growing hand in hand. This is because NFT-based Metaverses that incorporate crypto assets and blockchain into their underlying technology can bring in a completely new economic framework and financial concepts for their ecosystems. Even though Metaverse environments have already been around in MMOs for a while, adding in blockchain NFTs, digital assets and VR in the sector drastically alters who can participate in these environments and demonstrates the real world market value of those assets.
What makes a blockchain Metaverse different?
There are 3 key features:
Decentralization, User Governance & Real-World Value.
What do I mean when I list decentralization as a key feature?
Instead of being owned and fully controlled by centralized companies like early worlds were, blockchain metaverses are decentralized. This means some or all of the in-world items are built using blockchain technology and ownership of the Metaverse space is shared equally across its user base.
Thinking in terms of User Governance, Decentraland uses DAO models (decentralized autonomous organizations) as well as governance tokens to put its users in charge of Decentraland’s roadmap through governance systems. This allows for an environment with the potential to have an entire society with its own economic and leadership models.
When thinking of Real-World Value - Axie Infinity, the Sandbox, and of course Decentraland come to mind. With that said, let’s dive into each one.
Not financial advice.
DYOR. DCA. BTD. HODL.
#unbankyourself
#public #publiccommunity #metaverse #longterm #growth #axieinfinity #sandbox #decentraland
