The Metaverse is a word we are hearing more and more of in the crypto world recently, but what exactly is it you might ask? You would be forgiven for thinking it is something to do with Facebook, with their rebrand of the company to “Meta”, however this isn’t true.
The idea of the Metaverse is not new, it has featured in the dreams and visions of science fiction until recently where it is now becoming the (virtual) reality.
“The metaverse is a hypothesized iteration of the Internet, supporting persistent online 3-D virtual environments through conventional personal computing, as well as virtual and augmented reality headsets.”
wikipedia.org
The Metaverse consists of virtual worlds or environments where users can interact with one another and take part in activities that would normally be performed in the real world such as gaming, shopping, personal fitness, business etc. These virtual worlds need a means of currency and crypto is quickly becoming the standard. In gaming, this is not a new feature. Gamers have for many years been using some kind of virtual currencies to buy in-game products such as clothing, land or accessories. The Metaverse expands on this by using crypto which is allows these users to have a greater control over their assets. The assets are also easily transferred and traded outside of the metaverse too.
Crypto has established itself as the means of decentralised finance. A world where no central body “owns” it and it is interacted with freely. As the Metaverse concept is still in it’s early stages, we don’t quite know what this will look like in the future but if the progress and expanding technical abilities of crypto is anything to go by, the Metaverse could be the next global technical evolution.
Many crypto tokens are using this new Metaverse buzzword to attract investors, but how many can successfully deliver a working Metaverse product?
As we always say, it is important to always do your own research (DYOR) when choosing Metaverse projects to invest in. Just as there are some amazing projects that have recently risen to fame for their great Metaverse features, there are plenty more who will be happy to take your money by just repeating this word. Always remember to find out about the team behind the project:
- Do they have a background or the right network of people in the required areas (gaming / metaverse / virtual reality):
- Do they have a whitepaper which confirms their level of technical understanding and ability?
- Are they able to demonstrate a working version of their product or if pre-release is there a demo?
What are examples of Metaverse games?
The two Metaverse games we hear the most about are Decentraland and The Sandbox. These decentralised virtual worlds are created by users in an uncontrolled way. There are filters that the community can use but users have full control of the virtual worlds. The developers cannot change or close down any parts of it, so in the nature of blockchain technology – it is truly decentralised.
Just like in the real world, it appears that some of the real estate and land in these virtual worlds are rapidly increasing in value over time.
While these 2 examples have been around for some time, seem to have had huge exposure in recent months. This will inevitably lead to further innovations in the Metaverse and new crypto launches based around these virtual worlds / environments.
Have you seen crypto based on the Metaverse that you think we should check out? Please contact us.
