We may someday play Olympics from home
I have been a game lover always. Few people in my friend circle know about it, but if game was food, I would have been a superlative version of glutton. I still remember the long hours I used to sit before my laptop, racing virtual cars in amazing towns, fighting warriors in the most arduous battlefields and flying away to space to protect the planet. No wonder, m academic pursuits were starved of attention. There was some magic in those virtual realms that made me forget the real world around me, despite the not-s-advanced graphics that they had.
Fast forward to today, we have digital games that look so similar to our actual world. Sometimes, it gets indeed challenging to distinguish an artificial element in those environments from the real world ones. I cannot help imagine how gaming experiences will transform massively… yes MASSIVELY! … once metaverse gaming becomes mainstream. Some of the wild thoughts that run in my mind are as follows.
Local Playing, Global Gaming
With metaverse, I may be able to play digital games with people from around the world in a much more immersive fashion. I may log in from my home and enter into a soccer match where my team member may be from Brazil or Argentina. Playing alongside the people from different regions of the world will not help me make new friends and get an international taste of the game, but also develop tolerance and respect for the other cultures. It is only when we make friends from outside our community, we become more tolerant to the global diversity. With AR, gaming extends beyond the screen. Players can see their friends’ avatars in their environment, whether they’re across the street or across the globe. It fosters a sense of shared presence and social gaming experiences.
And who knows, I may get to play in metaverse with or against Messi or Ronaldo — obviously, I mean their digital avatars that play just like them. I won’t have to wait for too long to wear the jersey of my favorite football club (guess, which one it is…) and I can indulge in the sheer joy of playing for my favorite players.
Advertising in beast mode
Companies anyways struggle to capture the eyeballs of consumers as they try to sponsor the most famous games on the planet. However, with metaverse-based gaming arena, companies can enhance the communication strategy and target their consumer base with much more relevant, contextualized and dynamic advertisements, which are tailored in real time to the changing mood of the gameplay. Large virtual stadiums can allow for country-specific marketing in the same space. For example, a billboard in a virtual soccer arena can show an advertisement of an Indian product for Indian virtual players, while the same billboard can show a Brazilian product for Brazil based virtual gamers.
Marketers can leverage Augmented Reality for brand engagement. Games are already created around products or brand mascots, offering players an interactive way to connect with their favorite brands. With metaverse, we will enter beast mode of advertising.
Immersive International Sports
Imagine Olympics being played right in front of you, while you sit at home with popcorn in your hands. This is what metaverse can mae possible for you. Currently, Olympic stadiums have limited seating capacity. However, with virtual stadiums coming up, the same virtual seat can be allocated to multiple people, thereby increasing revenues for the organizers and lifting any kind of prohibition for viewers to watch the sports from their favorite angle in the stadium. Electronic games are already being pitched to be included in international games. If electronic games can do so, why not metaverse games?
Are you game?
A lot is possible through virtual reality and augmented reality in the world of sports. All we need is to wait for AR to make further inroads in the gaming space and get ready for an exhilirating experience in gaming arenas.
