A lot of people remain mystified about the whole Metaverse brouhaha.
It has been hard to define, but I’ll attempt coin a descriptor.
The metaverse (gaming-entertainment wise) is a digital socioeconomic ecosystem, where each model an evolving artificial life form or an evolving artificial organism supported by living citizens with ownership as its core.
To put it in context, we must apply some comparisons.
- As first comparison, we are all familiar with stock or crypto market. At its base, in very simplified manner, it’s about price action - Up or Down. What/Who causes these price changes is hard to define as there is no one singular action that is seen as direct cause and effect, instead a ripple.
The price change indicators provided digitally to some may indicate a life since the signals look like a linear heart rate monitor. However, this information is flat and doesn’t capture or illustrate everything. - Second comparison - traditional games where a few projects that have introduced internal marketplaces, with interesting environments and amazing realistic graphics. But these environments are within a walled business structure. The game design is fixed, and the number of multi-users can be limited. Marketplaces (buy-sell) are platform controlled, most not allowing for any internal or external trades.
In many cases once you leave the game that’s it, you re-enter starting back where you left off - surroundings unchanged. Yes, there are some exceptions (Minecraft/Roblox), however back to key point of centralized control – user input/options practically nonexistent.
How does the Metaverse in gaming context differ?
- Designed to be open, and less centralized. Open where users can move owned assets around. Marketplaces with the ease to buy, sell, and trade seamlessly.
- Opportunities that allow different people or businesses to participants in an ‘open’ market. Using open loosely. Well-structured metaverses will be wise not to support ‘wild west anything goes’ approach but build healthy, playful, and economical sound environments.
- Adding, a few marketplaces have extended to accessing real world assets via tokenization or creating solution base initiatives.
- Extended player engagement where users can shape a platform’s direction, its features and more through voting and/or governance ie DAOs.
- Because of such growth, tools (often user generated) have been created to monitor metaverse activities that is accessible to users of a platform. I have not seen this in traditional games.
- It’s Alive!! Metaverse projects are constantly evolving, users/businesses are injecting numerous resources (time, money, talent, new models etc.), changing its landscape and/or its options (in reference to non-immersive metaverses). In some cases, right before your eyes. All happening 24/7, reaching a global audience.
Photo 234574321 | Metaverse © Vittaya Sinlapasart | Dreamstime.com
This post is not meant to debate which is better, but to highlight how innovation can introduce and push different parameters. By building asset portfolios, community networks, marketplaces, and collaborative partnerships the list goes on.
This can be seen as combination/convergence of many layers from – create & build, play and entertain, earn and trade to name a few.
I hope this analysis helps de-mystify the metaverse, and keep in mind this area is still very new, after all Rome wasn’t built in a day .
The only way to really understand the concept is to experience it. It’s like someone describing a culinary dish, you can’t really get what it tastes like until you try it yourself.
Here is where I encourage you to go on metaverse adventure find a project you can dive deep into or if you have questions please post below.
On a side note, here’s a referral link to one metaverse project I am part of, use if you like.
Enjoy.
https://r.upland.me/T9Wz
