Blurring lines with reality
So, the metaverse is not a video game, it doesn't exist yet either... What is it, then?
Well, I believe it will be necessary to accept popular conceptions of the metaverse in its definition. Inevitably, its configuration is intimately linked to the way the public perceives it. The confusion between virtual world, video game and metaverse is less and less inaccurate, and some extremely popular groups, probably among the closest to delivering a global, accessible, persistent, but also approved metaverse, are rightly taking the MMORPG model for their conception(9). The Sandbox, most likely one of the most popular and successful metaverses so far, is produced by a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, whose core business is originally video games. This is the same company that invested in the metaverse mentioned in the previous note, Otherside, alongside the giant Andreessen Horowitz, whose huge influence can only prompt creators to exploit video game standards to produce a successful virtual world.
Therefore, it's not surprising that metaverses look a lot like video games. I'm confident that it will continue to be the case, and that the line between the two will totally fade away. The exception would be that metaverses will most likely have much more influence on reality, that this fact will be acknowledged, and that they will be intimately linked to every new technologies of "Web3".
Great! I hope I will be able to join the metaverse(s)!
I hope so. If this environment, tightly related to NFTs, is for now mainly intended for a wealthy public, it will certainly take less exclusive and more accessible forms in a near future. Moreover, the connection between user and virtual world has been widely reinforced during the pandemic between 2020 and 2022; the success of virtual events (concerts or festivals) in such spaces made it obvious. Some plots of land in main metaverses host live conference broadcasts, and other daily events that are gradually going virtual, partially or entirely. Also, it should be mentioned that a metaverse does not necessarily have as much of a commercial purpose as the most popular ones have. Even though, this aspect is almost systematically the most prominent, mainly because of the chase for "utility". A virtual environment, which has the characteristics of a metaverse, but "simply" offers a sensitive, sensory, and/or social experience, could be accepted in the definition. We can imagine, for example, an exhibition place integrating an immersive visual and sound system, without its access being so restrictive!
In any case, I am optimistic about this evolution. I think the definition is not as crucial as to build this environment together and to stay aware of what is real and what is around us, especially what/who we care about.
And above all, not to repeat the same mistakes with Web3 that we have made in the last decades.
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Among all the companies that claim to build a metaverse, Yuga Labs, which has some of the most popular NFT collections (BAYC, CryptoPunks, Meebits), launched a collection of terrains usable in their future metaverse (Otherside) in April 2022. They raised on this collection almost $600 million in 24 hours, in addition to the support of a large Venture Capitalist, Andreessen Horowitz, which led a campaign that brought them $450 million in March 2022. The creators explain, about their platform, that it will be:
[...] a gamified, interoperable metaverse [...] The game blends mechanics from massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) and web3-enabled virtual worlds. Think of it as a metaRPG where the players own the world, your NFTs can become playable characters, and thousands can play together in real time.