Although non-fungible token (NFT) transactions have taken off and grabbed headlines, to most people outside the crypto world, they are just a gimmick. The Metaverse will change that.
There is always an inflection point when a new technology suddenly goes from a puzzling side interest to a part of life. This point usually comes from the confluence of many drivers, and now, we are experiencing what happens when two such trends reach an inflection point at the same time.
Mark Zuckerberg's decision to rebrand Facebook as Meta was enough to make the Metaverse headlines around the world, even though the concept had been around for at least 30 years. It was the sudden emergence of the Metaverse that provided the escape velocity for the restoration of NFT's image as a speculative crypto gimmick.
Major firms such as Morgan Stanley are now predicting the future of NFTs, while the "digital luxury" industry predicts that the Metaverse will be worth $50 billion by 2030. The next phase of the NFT cycle has begun.
not just virtual
The Metaverse is often thought of as virtual and augmented reality, but it's not quite that simple, although VR/AR adds the expected immersive experience. The metaverse can also be considered in terms of games, such as "Ready Player One", but it is not limited to this. However, both offer clues as to what it will be.
Quoting Zuckerberg, work on the Metaverse has leaned toward an "embodied internet": an interconnected network of virtual experiences that merge the digital with the physical, offering new ways to work, play, socialize, and create Way. Think of it as an extension of the work-at-home experience spawned by the pandemic — but now in a 3D virtual space, whether you're accessing it through a headset or a regular 2D screen. Teleconferencing doesn't mean a bunch of people talking over walls; instead, you share a virtual space with a group of virtual characters. This is important because having a real presence allows for subtler, more natural interactions.
Of course, Facebook saw this opportunity early on and continued to push it for good reason. The company's Oculus Quest headset sold out for most of 2020, adding a huge boost to the VR market, largely thanks to its ease of use. The speed at which the device is gaining traction underscores consumers' renewed interest in 3D experiences: In the past 18 months, people looking to escape lockdown have creatively designed games as places of social interaction, whether it's Animal Crossing. wedding at work or a work meeting in Red Dead Redemption.
There's no clearer indication yet of how the game is laying the groundwork for a wider experience going forward. Another company that's been eyeing the metaverse for a while is Epic Games, the studio behind gaming giant Fortnite, which hosted an event with electronic music producer Marshmello a full year before lockdown. virtual concert. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney is betting all on the Metaverse, offering services including Unreal Engine design tools for free. What is the purpose? Push development in the direction he wants to see it—one with fewer barriers, more interoperability, and more data sharing. Less centralized; less harmful.
Metaphysics...plus help from blockchain
Of course, there's no underlying need for a decentralized structure, but it fits what many metaverse advocates see as the most ideal goal: Sweeney describes it as an "open framework where everyone controls their own Bound".
In order to create a metaverse worthy of the name, rather than a collection of self-contained 3D spaces, platforms need to be interoperable and seamless. Payments must be secure, frictionless, and instant, and assets created (such as your custom avatar) must be able to be retained and used no matter where you are in the metaverse. Until recently, to participate in the digital world, you had to leave behind a trail of breadcrumbs for gatekeepers (game creators, etc.) to recognize you. As individuals use the blockchain to track their accounts, assets and transactions, it adds enormous potential, and users choose to control how they behave, what they own and what they decide to trade.
Venture capitalist and influential Metaverse commentator Matthew Ball believes that blockchain is one of the "core enablers" of the Metaverse. He defines another key element of the metaverse as "the sense of individual presence, and ... the continuity of data". The longer you "live" online, the more important your personal "skin" is. Even the most basic pixel art can be deeply tied to personal identity, as shown by the enthusiasm for CryptoPunks, whose owners often say they feel deeply connected to their punks.
In fact, whether through randomly generated or carefully designed features, NFTs make it more possible for people to express their personalities online. Virtual clothing and accessories chosen by users in the virtual world will help make everyone feel authentic to their online identities and deepen their engagement. Fashion and art are a big part of self-expression in the real world; why should the online world be any different?
As mentioned earlier, digital fashion is booming and it has new growth opportunities in NFTs. Design houses and celebrities are selling skins, clothing, hairstyles, and pets as NFTs; "release an NFT" is as hot as releasing an unexpected album. In fact, musicians and athletes are embracing the possibility of earning royalties when selling NFT assets, hoping to create a new system of property rights unencumbered by traditional brokerage practices.
As digital property rights become legalized and blockchains become more secure, NFTs may become an even more important bargaining chip. For example, imagine a team negotiating with Disney to use its characters. Sound far-fetched? Sotheby's recently saw a DAO (including 17,000 donors) push bidding for a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution to more than $43 million. While they didn't win that copy this time around, it's clear that shared ownership facilitated by NFTs is going to be a real economic force.
Investing in the future
What does all this mean for capitalism, innovation and creativity? What does it mean for business models and our experience of life?
From gaming to ticketing, from software subscriptions to healthcare, the array of revenue streams offered by the Metaverse has the potential to change the technological paradigm away from advertising and big data, and all the privacy and security nightmares they bring. It's certainly not inevitable, but at least it's a possibility.
The more open and accessible the platform, the stronger this narrative becomes. Connected platforms attract more users; seamless, interoperable payment and asset mechanisms then increase incentives to design and transact—recycling revenue throughout the system and increasing the potential for parallel economic orders.
Major game companies are already making their Metaverse development tools widely available, with the express goal of encouraging interoperability and thus wider adoption. These companies believe that an open metaverse is best for business. This is certainly the best way to create a thriving online economy — one in which users are incentivized to participate and create value, which will pay off for platform developers and user creators.
This time around, the technical, philosophical, and economic case may all point in the same direction: using the capabilities of blockchain technology, toward a distributed metaverse in which online citizens can finally escape the walled gardens of Web 2.0 and learn from their contributions. Benefit. In this exciting new world, NFTs will bridge the gap between reality and virtuality. Tangible ownership will make all the difference, from identity to business. This is a whole new reality.
Cointelegraph Chinese is a blockchain news information platform, and the information provided only represents the author's personal opinion, has nothing to do with the position of the Cointelegraph Chinese platform, and does not constitute any investment and financial advice. Readers are requested to establish correct currency concepts and investment concepts, and earnestly raise risk awareness.
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