Settlus was born during the development of OVERDARE, a metaverse centered around creators utilizing Web 3.0. The OVERDARE development team implemented various Web 3.0 features, expanding the creator ecosystem. Throughout this process, they decided to create a new blockchain incorporating core concepts and functionalities that existing chains did not support. Thus, understanding how OVERDARE uses Web 3.0 will make understanding Settlus much easier. We will gradually introduce these concepts through Medium. But today, let’s start with the story before Settlus and OVERDARE existed.
[The Story Before OVERDARE]
OVERDARE originated from the Web 3.0 Roundtable at Krafton, where deep considerations about Web 3.0 had been ongoing. This roundtable discussed the potential utilization of Web 3.0 in games, metaverse, or traditional industries and the value Web 3.0 can offer to users. The members of the Web 3.0 Roundtable have been together from the crypto summer to crypto winter, leaving three critical insights:
Firstly, “Most users are not interested in the value of Web 3.0.”
Many Buidlers, including us, highly value the decentralization and transparency that Web 3.0 offers. However, the truth is, these values aren’t a strong driving force to get average users to use Web 3.0 products over Web 2.0 ones. Why do users play games? For “fun”. It’s not that a more decentralized game is more appealing, but a more fun game is. Even if there were a Web 3.0 game that offers the same level of enjoyment, the unfamiliar (or inconvenient) UX unique to Web 3.0 isn’t compelling enough to overshadow the values of decentralization and transparency for most people. The future might be different, but at least for now, that’s the case.
Secondly, “There are enthusiasts who strongly desire Web 3.0.”
Many people, including the Settlus team (and probably many of you reading this), believe that a Web 3.0 era is on the horizon. And among these, there are those who prefer Web 3.0 based products over Web 2.0 ones. We refer to these people as Web 3.0 Enthusiasts. From those who purely believe in the value of decentralization to those charmed by the prospect of simultaneous use and investment, the reasons why Web 3.0 Enthusiasts crave Web 3.0 are diverse. Regardless of their reasons for wanting Web 3.0, their passion is impressively strong relative to their numbers, and it’s something that cannot be ignored. We believed that if we could produce a Web 3.0 based product as advanced as Web 2.0, these enthusiasts could greatly help expand our product’s ecosystem, serving as both our users and collaborators. Much like how many successful products grow alongside their core fanbase.
Thirdly, “Web 3.0 will be appealing to creator.”
Games loved by many gamers worldwide, such as “PUBG” and “League of Legends,” also began from mods created by ordinary creators. Video-based social media platforms, now a staple of our daily lives, were able to grow thanks to the diverse range of creators. This trend aligns well with the values of Web 3.0, which emphasizes individual ownership. Especially, factors like the transparency of blockchain, ownership proof through NFTs, revenue generation independent of specific platforms, and cross-border economic flows are seen as potentially attractive to creators active on platforms. Of course, one would still need to reach as many users as the conventional Web 2.0 based platforms.
However, this last insight is just a belief of ours and remains an unproven hypothesis from an objective standpoint. We hoped that we could prove this ourselves. If, through validation, our beliefs are proven right, we could bring a new trend to the Web 3.0 world. Fortunately, in the midst of this, we were able to start the creator-centered metaverse, OVERDARE, in collaboration with Naver Z, who developed Zepeto.
[Overlooked Issues]
We began to seriously and concretely consider a Web 3.0 system for creators in the metaverse, inheriting the insights from the Web 3.0 Roundtable. How can we incorporate Web 3.0 into the metaverse? An obvious approach is to issue items within the metaverse as NFTs, allowing users to purchase them using cryptocurrency. Many projects are already operating in the metaverse in this manner. Initially, we also thought of the same method, but encountered several obstacles that clashed with our earlier insights.
- Forcing users to buy NFTs to purchase items would mean forcing them into Web 3.0. From both the platform’s and the creator’s perspective, the user experience is paramount. If users aren’t coming due to Web 3.0, creators won’t gather either.
- The value of the token used to purchase the NFT changes in real-time. This would undoubtedly be a negative experience, not only for users but also for creators.
- From our experience serving PUBG, we’ve seen that identical cosmetic items sold in the hundreds of thousands. For instance, selling collections in the manner of PFP projects, like 10,000 items, did not seem suitable for massive services. Of course, while other crypto metaverses have adopted solutions like the ERC-1155 method, adopting such an approach seemed to dilute the inherent uniqueness and value of NFTs, especially concerning the original creator’s ownership rights.
For those familiar with Web 3.0, various solutions might be springing to mind right now. We too have considered various methods to solve these problems. For example, issuing only some items as NFTs so that only truly interested users can purchase them, or maybe even creating a wallet with an outstanding UX, although its feasibility is uncertain. In the midst of these considerations, we thought of a solution that would address our concerns and simultaneously introduce a value we hadn’t previously contemplated: the NFT Licensing system.
[To be continued in the next episode…!]
