InceptionVerse — Metaverses Inside of Metaverses
We’ve discussed the reality of megacorps racing to build their own metaverses (more info) but get ready for metaverses within metaverses.
We’ve all heard Wayne Gretzky’s quote, “I skate to where the puck is going.” Well, that’s what many content and merchandise companies seem to be thinking when it comes to interacting with their customers in the new age of the metaverse. Not all companies have an appetite to build their own metaverse platforms like Meta (Facebook) and Microsoft. Most companies just need a place to brand as their own — like a store in a mall.
This phenomenon happened a decade ago when SecondLife started becoming popular. IBM (and many other brick-and-morter) companies started buying up parcels in SecondLife and staffing them with 30–40 full-time employees to greet and conduct sales in the pre-metaverse (more info).
Merely duplicating corporate headquarters in Second Life is insufficient, according to Lee Dierdorff, IBM’s then vice-president of Web strategy and enablement, who said that IBM thinks the “inherently social” aspect of Second Life is the key to a successful implementation of this new business centre. It would have six different aspects, most centered on interpersonal interaction. A reception centre would feature an IBM avatar that would welcome guests (anyone can come into the centre), while the sales centre would have brand specialists at all times to educate on products, services, and consulting.
Fast forward to Nike’s announcement last week, “Nike is building its metaverse inside of ‘Roblox’”. That’s right. They are building a virtual play space in Roblox called Nikeland. In its current iteration, Nikeland includes mini-games such as tag and dodgeball and more games on the way.
It’s no surprise to see Nike partner with Roblox on a metaverse play. With more than 200 million estimated monthly active users, it’s one of the most popular games among kids and teenagers. By offering a free space where those young people can interact with the brand, Nike creates an avenue for them to become its customers in the real world.
This is a win-win for the megacorp metaverses since brands like Nike (and perhaps Disney, Starbucks, and even Walmart) may be able to drive even more customer traffic into the megacorps’ metaverses. I also suspect that these are new customer engagement opportunities since these Roblox users are not going to nike.com in the first place so it makes total sense to go where the puck is going — Roblox today and then Microsoft’s Minecraft and then Epic Games’ Fortnite and then Meta’s Horizon and so forth.
Imagine if there were one metaverse with interconnected worlds/verses, one avatar protocol (perhaps like Gravatar), one decentralized inventory system (perhaps the blockchain), one teleport protocol (perhaps like HTTPS links), one communications protocol (perhaps like WebRTC), and everything ran in a Web browser across all devices. Users could jump into the metaverse via anyone’s start page with their avatar wearing Nike shoes while sipping on a Starbuck latte and hanging out with their friends in an immersive 3D world. What if you could build your own virtual world in the metaverse that suits your style?
That’s exactly what we are building at Metaverses.io, a low/no-code Web-based metaverse platform with peer-to-peer WebRTC communications and linked verses to teleport to other worlds with your friends, colleagues, and customers. More info.
Reach out to us on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn or drop us an email if you would like a demo of Metaverses.io or discuss your team needs in more detail with us.
