Metaverse and Web3
For a while now, the masses talked about cryptocurrency and crypto-assets. What started as an idea in 2008 has now turned into a full-blown asset phenomenon. But considerably fewer people understand blockchains, and truly appreciate blockchains’ role in transforming the web from “internet of information” to “internet of values”.
Then finally, Facebook rebranded to Meta.
Here Comes the New Job Market
GameStop is looking to build an Ethereum-based Web3 arm.
The retailer said it’s looking for someone with “experience with Ethereum, NFTs, and blockchain-based gaming platforms” for its “Head of Web3 Gaming” role.
GameStop outlined a metaverse-esque future for the gaming industry, where “games are places you’ll go” and “blockchains will power the commerce beneath.”
Here Come the Different Ways to Do Things
For the people who survive the pandemic, the pandemic is both a crisis and an opportunity. The existing technologies have brought their methods to work from home. And many of them have now decided that they want this arrangement to be permanent.
The ability to put on a pair of glasses and enter a new, virtual world isn’t just an exciting concept for entertainment and gaming purposes — the Metaverse can take the remote work to the next level. When an augmented, hybrid reality is the standard way of doing things, and if workers can interact with everybody in the office in a normal and natural way while being remote, they will no longer have to pay a price of not putting in “face time”.
The implication doesn’t end there.
Corporate events are increasingly moving online, not only to connect people during the pandemic but also to save costs. Again here, Metaverse creates a new way of creating and holding events.
Metaverse and Blockchains
Truth be told, we still have some ground to cover before we get to the Metaverse of Zuckerberg’s dreams. But in general, we want the Metaverse to have the following characteristics:
According to Matthew Ball, the desirable Metaverse characteristics are:
Persistent: it never “resets” or “pauses” or “ends”, it just continues indefinitely
Synchronous and live
No cap on concurrent users
Fully functioning economy — individuals and businesses will be able to create, own, invest, sell, and be rewarded for an incredibly wide range of “work” that produces “value” that is recognized by others
Rich in content: created and operated by an incredibly wide range of contributors
Spans both the digital and physical worlds: Metaverse needs to offer interoperability of data, assets, content across each of these experiences.
Blockchains can make the Metaverse an interoperable system, where users can have digital ownership of their creation, collect digital assets (such as NFTs), and make authorized crypto transactions.
This is why I believe that the Metaverse will need to incorporate blockchain technology, and the Web3 will eventually be an embodied experience.
