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One of the most exciting propositions of the recent cryptocurrency explosion has been the development of new styles of business models with new ways for businesses to trade on their value and add value to their communities. With the ability to offer an efficient and affordable way to issue tokens and transact on the network, Elrond is poised to lead the crypto space.

This series will spotlight these businesses that are beginning to emerge on the Elrond network.

I remember taking 10-12 hour car rides when I was a kid, crammed into a tightly packed car with 4 other people on a long monotonous car ride in order to go to the beach...only to turn around and do the whole thing in reverse just a week later. Friends, I did everything my 10 year old brain could think of to stay sane during the onslaught of hours upon hours of my sister crying about her latest personal crisis and the tenth back to back replay of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Shania Twain CDs. (They were these silvered disc thingies that would play music when you put them in a special player that was the new big thing for cars at the time.)

I did coloring, counted states on license plates, slept, sang the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song in my head (turns out only takes a minute, not very effective), anything I could think of to pass the time. What I would have given for some kind of portable movie player or video game machine... If I had had a Holoride headset I probably wouldn't have ever wanted to get out of the car when we got there.

Hear me out. It's VR... but in the car.

It's not just a portable gaming machine, it's a whole VR experience. We can be flying over a landscape, doing barrel roles to escape Imperial fighters, driving through a jungle, absolutely anything and anywhere. This is like one of those early immersive car games that could only be found in an arcade fully equipped with rumble seats, but all of them together and neatly captured inside of a small portable headset. It isn't simply moving linearly either like so many of those. This communicates with GPS to dynamically adapt to the movements of your own vehicle as it moves, in real time. 

For anyone that has experienced earlier VR headsets this may sound counterintuitive at first. VR has come a long way since it's early motion sickness inducing thrill-ride-on-your-couch experience. It has developed quite a bit in both frame rate and resolution. Earlier models were using movement speeds that made sense on two dimensional screens, and then people quickly found out that when fully immersed they had been walking casually through beautiful fantasy landscapes... at 40 km/h. A lot of work went into getting us to where we are today and now, Holoride takes this one step further and includes the precise movements of your actual vehicle so that your virtual experience is seamless with your real world experience.

Supposedly this not only tracks stops but the traffic around you as well and actively incorporates this into the experience. It stops when you stop, turns when you turn, accelerates and decelerates with your car. I don't have a clear idea of how this works but, I can see the future of automated traffic and how tapping into a system like that and developing this product alongside this emerging automobile technology could lead to immersive experiences beyond anything we can imagine currently. Even better, the aspect of motion sickness has been eliminated according to Holoride, such that it can become even a pleasant and meditative experience.

What are you gonna use it for?

It makes sense that gaming will be the main reason for people using these headsets... but they have already been developing other use cases and in the future perhaps we will see even more. There will be some that are interactive, and others that are more an exotic thrill ride. The marketing videos have such suggestions as flying on a pterodactyl or a deep sea voyage. There are already big name producers creating content, namely the Russo brothers who worked with Disney to bring us an elaborate chase with Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Other more educational content will come in the form of undersea voyages or flying around the sun with producers like The Discovery Channel. Because it is aware of the position of your car, it will also be possible to create historical tours. We may be able to drive through historical Gettysburg and see the landscape lit up with historical battles or see cities as they were 100 years ago, while driving through the very same streets. I have a feeling this may open up a whole new market in edutainment.

Of the four use cases proposed by Holoride, mindfulness has to be my favorite. Maybe I'm just getting old but the idea of a peaceful flight through through fields of dinosaurs or scuba diving in tropical waters seems like where I want to be. What I am not looking forward to is the promises of Productivity. For many people a carpool to work is one of the few times they get to relax and turn off for a second and this promises to allow us to continue to be productive even in the middle of traffic (provided you are not the one driving of course), with a virtual desktop where you can do email or conferencing.... if anyone else needs a deep sigh to let it all out after hearing this part, let's do that right now, together...

deep breath...

She's Got a Ticket To $RIDE

Is what I wish I could say but I live in America so I wasn't allowed access to the lottery where people put up $EGLD for a chance to win early access to the $RIDE token (I just couldn't resist a Beatle's quote). Aside from partnering up with Auto brands like Porsche and Audi and game devs like Schell Games, Holoride has decided to Partner with Elrond and use blockchain technology to enhance their user experience. Having just finished their no loss lottery for tokens, they are set to be the first company trading their token on Elrond's brand new Maiar Exchange. When and how this will exactly happen is currently unknown to us but it seems fairly certain it will be soon.

How $RIDE will fit in to the product and user experience itself is also somewhat ambiguous at the moment. They say:

RIDE is the utility token of the Holoride platform that sits at the heart of its NFT-powered content ecosystem, built on the Elrond Network. RIDE is designed to provide incentives for using Holoride by providing additional benefits and enhanced user engagement.

It is not completely clear what those benefits and enhancements will be to the user but it does seem it will tie in heavily with NFTs.

Other uses will be ecosystem governance, so holders of $RIDE will participate in decisions regarding the future of the platform. Also development, royalties (through the integration of NFTs), and access to content are all things holders will have to look forward to. Users will also be able to mint NFTs of their experiences and earn RIDE that way as well. This platform will not only be a VR extravaganza but a play-to-earn experience to boot.

Summary

So, Holoride seems cool. Really, really cool. That it is a play-to-earn blockchain system is even more interesting. I do wonder if spending more time in the car is something I want to do, and when I'm there, spending that time working... I imagine this could also be used on a train or subway, even an airplane ultimately. Are we only setting ourselves up for more stress in our attempt to escape it?

Other concerns I have is regarding data usage. This seems like it will transmit a lot of data and that data may need an expensive plan in order to use it. Will that slow down adoption and growth? Also, VR is making headway but it isn't yet a common product in everyone's home. On the other hand, with moves like Facebook rebranding to Meta it seems like that is very likely to change soon. Parents already seek peace of mind by letting their kids play on portable game consoles in the back seat so this isn't that much different and if it ends up being at all affordable I can imagine it being on every new parent's wish list.

I also wonder about the tokenomics of $RIDE, mostly because the available material doesn't go into too much detail.  The Holoride headset could easily be the next Furby or Tickle Me Elmo but, will the blockchain integration bring more people to crypto or will it only be accessed by people already in that space? Will it perhaps integrate so seamlessly that users won't even know they're using crypto at all, let alone Elrond or $EGLD to make their transactions. I do think that this is the future of crypto and seems to be one of the aims of Elrond in particular.

These are just some of the thoughts I have about the project and I am far from knowing everything about it. It will be exciting to watch this develop over the next year and see where it goes.

To learn more about Holoride:

Website: Holoride.com
Twitter: Holoride
YouTube: Holoride 
Medium: Holoride

Disclosures: While I do not receive direct compensation for any of my Spotlight articles, I personally hold some $RIDE tokens.

Thanks for stopping by my Elrond blog! Please share with others and let me know if there are topics you would like me to dive into for future articles

If you would like to contribute and help me write more articles like these you may tip me with $EGLD, ESDT tokens, or NFTs to my address:

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