7012io.eth

Posted on Jan 18, 2022Read on Mirror.xyz

A place called Metaverse

The more I roam in the Metaverse, the more I feel I am just scratching the surface.

When I first came across Matthew's Ball Metaverse premier, I took note of the six core attributes he identified. These immensely helped me navigate the web 3.0 maze.

A few months later, Facebook renamed Meta through a blockbuster-style production that built more buzz around this space. While entertaining and eye-opening on Zuckerberg's vision - Facebook's keynote is still too cinematic to feel tangible.

Luckily, I was early to the Doodles. I got an algorithmically generated song from Synthopia (Gramatik, Luxas and Audioglyphs), and I am training an AI that will bring an NFT to life (Alethea). Being involved in so many exciting projects helped me understand how - practically - NFTs and Web 3.0 are permeating, revolutionizing and creating more industries, communities and subcultures than we can imagine.

Still, I find it hard to visualize how the Metaverse will bring it all together. What would that place look like?

Last week, I had the chance to join Digination alpha and take my Pudgy Penguins, Scouter, for a stroll in party island (yes, I also have a peng). Full video here.

Digi-metaverses currently host Larva Labs' Cryptopunks, PudgyPenguins and the native Digiavatars, but the population is rapidly expanding.

The experience reminded me of the early days of playing Ultima Online in the late 90s. Though less brutal, it felt a little gamified to create the whole illusion of a parallel universe; yet, a little research reveals how Digination is making more than a game.

As in real life, also in the Metaverse, there are entertaining experiences (we all do some games) and more serious ones.

According to their Litepaper, Digination has been in the space for 10+ years. To date - they have a team of 20+ including designers and game developers. They recently closed a $2.4M round, with exciting names chipping into the venture; again, always do your own research.

Numbers apart, what makes Digi metaverses stand out is their vision and execution. Virtually all collections can join the ecosystem and build their custom space.

For a fee, Digination's team will take care of the 3D renderings and customize the space under the guidance of the community.

On top of personalized DAO-verses, they are building a platform economy through land sales and Digimaker. This tool will allow inhabitants to create anything from items to mini-games that they can sell in-game or on an NFT market, empowering and rewarding creators in true web 3.0 spirit.

Each community will be able to shape its space. For example, while someone will want a gamified experience, other communities might prefer a social room for networking.

You can imagine anything from virtual concerts to e-sport competitions and virtual art fairs.

Many companies are building their version of the Metaverse. They divide mainly between tech giants (Meta, Epic, etc.) and Web 3 Pioneers (Decentraland, Digination, etc.), though in my view, the elephant in the room here is Interoperability:

1) Between blockchain.

Digital goods should transcend the blockchain in which they are minted and be fundamentally cross-chain. Only then, your possession's value will uncouple from the price of ETH (or SOL, etc.).

2) Between metaverses.

Your NFT should be allowed to travel between different metaverses seamlessly. This way, you can live a continuous and progressive experience, and you don't need to "start from scratch" every time you want to try out something new.

Addressing the interoperability dilemma will give a giant boost to mass adoption. It is also a relevant topic for a movement - web 3.0 - that praises collaboration and community.