Let the Battles Begin
“The Metaverse is going to be far more pervasive and powerful than anything else. If one central company gains control of this, they will become more powerful than any government, and be a god on Earth.” Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeny of the gaming engine Fortnite
"As June came to an end, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told his employees about an ambitious new initiative. The future of the company would go far beyond its current project of building a set of connected social apps and some hardware to support them. Instead, he said, Facebook would strive to build a maximalist, interconnected set of experiences straight out of sci-fi — a world known as the metaverse." The Verg reporter Casey Newton
The Big Shift
In 2010 The Next Web made some good points about Web 2. Their advice way back was "that you shouldn’t hedge all your bets when building up social media profiles or community within a site. Even though you are getting great results or find a site massively useful at the moment doesn’t mean that in a couple of years it will be the same site."
Today as governments seek to break up Big Tech, our content is filtered and censored, our data is mined and sold to the highest bidder, business and artist around the world are looking to WEB 3 the metaverse if the next pathway on the internet.
So is there really a decline in web 2 or is the new universe being created that at some point it will all simply just shift over to?
So what is the Metaverse?
The metaverse is where the physical and digital worlds come together. Think of the physical world we live in and the digital world we access through the internet.
Closed vs Open Metaverse
The Metaverse we observe emerging is showing two types. One that is dominated by closed platforms and Big Tech like Facebook / Oculus and the other built on open protocols leveraging blockchains like Decentraland on Ethereum.
The Open Metaverse and WEB 3
Jamie Bourke of Outlier Ventures in his Open Metaverse OS Paper proposes that "ultimately we believe the defining characteristic of a true Metaverse is that it needs its own economy and currencies native to it, where value can be earnt, spent, lent, borrowed or invested interchangeably in both a physical or virtual sense and most importantly without the need for a government."
According to Jamie the open metaverse will need a WEB3 including NFT assets, the data economy, data custody and portability of indentity. This is where blockchain, crtypto and digital assets come into play.
The GAME Changer is Here
The evolution the WEB 3 user started with buying and hold protocol layer assets the underlying infrastructure payment rails like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Plokadot, Dfinity, Cosmos, Algorand, Elrond or XRP to make P2P payments and access DEFI applications.
But Australia's own Robbie Ferguson of Immutable X sees Video Games and NFTs as the Trojan Horse for Global Blockchain Adoption. (Immutable X is the first layer 2 solution for NFTs on Ethereum with Zero gas fees, instant trades and scalability for games, applications, marketplaces, without compromise.)
So think about it what is the size of the Open Metaverse
In an open Metaverse you will have access to the entire planet as customers and fans. Global Brands already have access to that but in the virtual metaverse you have direct access to your customers without the rent seekers and middlemen.
GameFi
When you build on an open decentralised network you will own everything from your Domain name with no ongoing fees, own your own data, virtual assets and digital representations of real assets. Those assets can be used to earn, mortgage, swap and trade across a interoperable networks.
The USER vs the Shareholder
The battle is on for the future is a User Centric Metaverse vs the Closed Shareholder Driven Metaverse. Its time learn and experience which game you want to play in.
If the Metaverse is the holy Grail of advertising, entertainment, value transfer and data ownership it is crucial that the metaverse is designed on open and permission protocols.
Building for the Metaverse in Agnes Water
The Digital Playhouse believes "If you play it learn to make it"
We see an opportunity for our region to be at the forefront of the open metaverse. The Australia's First Digital Currency project was to educate our community on the power of decentralised open networks.
As Crypto and WEB 3 move towards mainstream it doesn't matter if you are a first time entrant or a seasoned crypto veteran the Digital Play house is here to help all of us on that journey.
The opportunity for business, artists, musicians, creators to harness the power DEFI, P2P payments, NFTs in the open metaverse will provide value to your fans and customers and more profits to you rather than going to Big Tech and monopolistic industry players who rule the world today.
The TIME TO BUILD is now.
References, interviews and podcast where you can get a deeper understanding
The Verg interview with Facebook CEO
Jamie Burke: Accelerating the Emergence of the Metaverse
Delphi Digital Metaverse Musings Episode 09
Outlier Ventures "The Open Metaverse OS"
Bankless HQ Into the Metaverse
Imutable X
The first layer 2 solution for NFTs on Ethereum with Zero gas fees, instant trades and scalability for games, applications, marketplaces, without compromise.
Delphi Digital
A research-driven firm dedicated to advancing the understanding and development of the growing digital asset market.