The Journey to the Open Metaverse — Part I
Rarible DAO has been hosting a Twitter spaces series called “Metaversing w/ Jin”, where members of the DAO, Jin (@dankvr) and guest speakers conduct thorough discussions on topics around the Open Metaverse. The main purpose of these conversations is to develop a comprehensive view on the current state of the open Metaverse, and the challenges that must be overcome for it to prosper. At the end of the day, creating fair and open spaces, free of constraints, gate-keeping and unnecessary limitations, is what Web3 in general should aim for. 🌐
The DAO hosted 3 sessions thus far, where the main topics discussed were:
- 🧠 The Meaning of Freedom
- 🎨 Artists and Creators’ Pipelines
- ⛓ ️Interoperability within platforms
Throughout these conversations, a few important insights were revealed, and now we want to share all of them with you!
💡 Freedom fosters Accessibility
Accessibility is a fundamental element needed to build a truly open and free Metaverse. Creative people with novel ideas need tooling, asset pipelines, and distribution that’s accessible. Although the space has evolved to make these elements widely accessible, it still lacks alternatives.
A notable factor that hinders accessibility is Digital Scarcity. Digital scarcity can limit the number of people who own digital land, and dissuade persons from entering the Metaverse. However, in the open Metaverse it supports project building on open file formats and/or standards. This helps projects fund and monetize their initiatives, especially in their early stages.
In an ideal scenario, the barrier to entry isn’t land-owning, but community and culture. This, combined with freedom of expression and ownership rights, will attract more creators and builders to the Web3 space.
“Finding a balance between absolute self-expression while maintaining the concept of ownership will be the defining Q at the intersection of web3/XR” — @asafaryann
Interoperability between platforms is also fundamentally important to build a free Metaverse. If you can only use your asset in one place it diminishes the value of ownership! With this, it’s possible to conclude that the demand for interoperability will come from the users.
🤔 Big players are entering the Metaverse. Are they a threat?
Big brands are entering the Web3 space. They are minting and selling NFTs, and even hosting events in the Metaverse! Even Pepsi and Facebook (now Meta) for example, started using NFT community lingo on Twitter; but are they really a threat to the open Metaverse?
The truth is, brands that impose a list of restrictions to what owners can and can’t do with their NFTs, confuse people and do damage. For instance, you can’t do anything with Pepsi NFTs, because of their copyright licensing. Independent artists have the flexibility to permit or restrict buyers from using their artwork as they please, however, with big brands, this is unlikely to be the case. Brands entering the space should try to add value to the ecosystem, instead of simply jumping on the bandwagon.
To illustrate this, recently, Ubisoft released its Ubisoft Quartz NFT platform. While this is a big deal for NFT mainstream adoption, the platform does not allow you to transfer NFTs to wallets that have not been whitelisted by the Ubisoft KYC process, which is limited to a few countries. You also can’t sell your NFT on any unauthorized platform or contract, or build things like 3rd party staking or swapping contracts.
It’s still possible that big brands will control a large part of the Metaverse and develop it at a fast rate. In this case, the Metaverse still wins, but the open and sovereign web3 loses. It’s important to note that, although this scenario is possible, the open Metaverse has network effects on its side, because of grassroots building with standardized file formats.
💰 The monetization aspect of the Metaverse
One of the most important differences between the open and closed Metaverses are around the methods of monetization. More specifically, how creators and builders monetize their work within platforms.
The payout on platforms like Roblox and app stores, for example, is extremely low! We see this with the 30% tax, amongst other applicable fees.
In this sense, NFTs are the greatest tool for creators! They allow a direct exchange from artists to consumers, and enable programmable royalties. Unlike platforms such as Patreon, NFTs don’t require limiting your audience, and providing gated content to be able to monetize your work properly, so your reach can be potentially greater. These centralized platforms also have the power to change their Terms & Conditions as they please, which could hurt its users’ profitability while increasing theirs.
Wrapping up
This Twitter Spaces series has been happening every Friday at 1pm EST. The next session will be in early Jan 2022! So stay tuned
Do you have any burning thoughts on the current and future state of the open Metaverse? Make sure to join us in our conversations on Twitter spaces and/or leave a comment on this post!
Additionally:
Join Rarible DAO’s discord: https://discord.com/invite/zqsZsEWBbN
Consider subscribing to our weekly newsletter: https://raribledao.substack.com/
See you all in the Metaverse!
