The Building Blocks of a Metaverse
This article is written by a passionate, Metropolis community member, Poncer. Make sure to follow @x8poncer on twitter for further insights and takes on the metaverse.
What is the Metaverse? According to the book Navigating the Metaverse, “The metaverse represents the top-level hierarchy of persistent virtual spaces that may also interpolate in real life, so that social, commercial, and personal experiences emerge through Web 3.0 technologies.” That is quite a loaded statement & sounds great & all, but what does it actually mean? To me, it means that the Metaverse is a real virtual world, with certain aspects beyond what most can conceive of at this point in time. Paving the way in bringing to life this colossal endeavor is one project with the team, talent, experience, and vision to make it a reality: Metropolis World (MW).
They have taken the monumental feat of creating one the first Metaverse worlds. This virtual world combines all aspects of social & commercial engagement into a future Web3 based ecosystem, even creating new concepts that can only exist with the use of Web3 technologies.
The First Step: Passports
Their first NFT collection, MW Passports, was launched on the Ethereum Network ($ETH) & all 5,000 NFT’s were minted out within hours. Owning a Passport grants exclusive VIP membership with several exclusive perks in MW. Following the lore of Metropolis, each Passport has one of six elemental forces; Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Space, & Pixel; with six cities housing each of these elements.
A Digital City: Celeste
The City of Celeste, with the elemental force of Air, is the founding city of Metropolis World. The first of six planned cities in MW, Celeste has all the elements that would make up any real-world city. At the moment you can buy property, converse with AI citizens via Discord, with much more functionality coming soon. Additionally, the team has onboarded 40 founding citizens who believe in its vision like Steve Aoki, Fvckrender, & Diplo, among dozens of others.
Celeste is made up of 9 districts, 27 neighborhoods, & ~600 properties, each property being represented by an NFT on #ETH. While the exterior elements of the city will be fixed, the owners of a property will be able to customize the interior to their liking. What can a property owner do with their property? Whatever they decide. You will be able to host events, open up a digital marketplace, play games, socialize, anything is possible. With fully functional 3D environments, nearly anything you do in the real world, you will be able to do in Celeste.
Your Online Identity Personified
Having a digital identity will be a basic tenet of Web3, & we will be able to choose how to represent ourselves in & traverse the Metaverse using our very own avatar connected to our digital identity. MW has already released an avatar builder for future citizens to create their own avatar for the new digital world. Built on the Polygon Network ($MATIC), anyone in the world can build their custom avatar for the Metaverse right now. These future citizens of MW are made up of unique & varying peoples, exposing one to a diversity never experienced before. To make this experience more diverse and fruitful, MW has also partnered with several artists, creators, & brands to allow for hundreds of thousands of ways to customize your avatar.
No virtual world would be complete without virtual pets. Discovered in impossible to reach locations within Metropolis World are hundreds of mysterious Eggs. Each Egg, after certain conditions are met, hatches to expose an Ethereal. These Ethereals bond with the carrier & contribute to the rich lore of Metropolis. Eggs are available as NFT’s on $ETH along with already hatched Ethereals.
An Economic Revolution
No city exists without a thriving economy, & Metropolis World is no exception. The native currency & driving force of the Metropolis economy is $CLAY. $CLAY is the key to the Metropolis ecosystem & has an ever-growing utility in this new world. Whether one chooses to rent out their property or contribute to governing the City, it will all be done with $CLAY.
Conclusion
Designing a vibrant, living world in the Metaverse is no simple feat & takes time. Currently the team is working on Celeste & its underlying fundamentals, transitioning from 2D to 3D avatars, & starting work on the City of Calypso. The community is eagerly waiting on the next bull run, $CLAY distribution, & further updates on the City of Celeste’s progress.
Given the multi-chain approach Metropolis has taken, along with their partnership with Songbird & Flare, & the global reach the founding citizens have, Metropolis World has massive potential that is hard to speculate on. One thing is certain though, this is a project all crypto enthusiasts from all networks should be part of. I can’t wait to see you there.
