By Mariko Oi
Asia business correspondent.
The image is from Zepeto.
The image caption is.
Almost a quarter of a billion users use the biggest metaverse platform in Asia.
Which app do you open when you have five minutes to kill? Many of us use gaming apps or social media. It's a metaverse platform for more and more teenagers.
Your virtual world can look similar to the real world. You could pretend to be different. That's not all of the attraction.
Monica Louise, who is also known as Monica Quin on South Korea's hugely popular metaverse social media app, Zepeto, says that she wants to be on that day.
In the digital world, it's not hard to grow your hair back, but in the real world, it's not easy.
The caption is media.
The technology correspondent of the British Broadcasting Corporation enters the metaverse.
What is a metaverse? It's a bit of virtual reality and a bit of augmented reality. It's been called the next big thing in tech. The biggest metaverse platform in Asia is called Zepeto, which was launched three years ago.
Some 70% of these people are women, some are young teenagers, which is unusual, as most rival metaverse platforms such as Roblox are dominated by males.
Rudy Lee, chief strategy officer of Zepeto, says that a lot of their users haven't used eitherInstagram or Facebook yet. "We are the first social network that they are using."
Monica Quin is the image source.
The image caption is.
Monica's salary is now six-figure.
Monica, who lives in Canada, or Hannah, who lives in the US, are both located outside of South Korea.
They both joined the company. Monica liked seeing an electronic version of herself, while Hannah was interested in seeing the real thing.
Hannah tells me that she has never been a fan of social media. There is a lot of pressure and I didn't have the most pleasant experience, but on Zepeto, you don't have to show your face and there is no obligation.
Monica now makes six figures with her Zepeto avatar.
Monica is a virtualinfluencer who designs dresses and tops for other people to buy. Over 1.6 billion virtual fashion items have been sold by creators on this platform.
The image is from Zepeto.
The image caption is.
Many young metaverse users use traditional social media.
Monica's items range in price from one to five zems, and they are sold using an in-game currency called "zems". A creator gets $106 for every sale of 5,000 zems. Users pay for zems with real money.
"We have people designing and publishing tens of thousands of new items every day," says Mr Lee. "I think we're the largest virtual fashion marketplace in the world."
Gucci, Dior, and other big luxury brands are planning to release their virtual products on the platform.
Monica says that she can buy all of the clothes she can't afford in real life, but in the digital world. I think that's a huge factor in why I'm drawn into this.
To inspire the next generation of designers like her, Zepeto has announced a scholarship with a fashion school. The platform asked applicants to create a collection.
The image is from Zepeto.
The image caption is.
You can use a currency called zem to buy your digital wardrobe.
It goes beyond fashion. You can start a career as an entertainer or architect in the metaverse.
Hannah creates a virtual environment for your avatar and other avatars to explore by building maps on Zepeto.
She tells me that it's like an alternate reality. "I create mostly things that exist in the real world, taking inspiration from real architecture, but a lot of people make fantasy elements, too."
There are people busking in the metaverse. Mr Lee says that they are working with music labels to develop virtual singers.
Monica Quin is the image source.
The image caption is.
South Korean's love for gaming, shopping, and other activities are all related to the use of digital humans.
"We are working with other colleges, high schools and online educational institutions to ensure that a lot more people have access to tools that they can use in the metaverse to create their own content and create a real career off of it."
South Korea's gaming, entertainment and home shopping platforms are populated by digital humans who act like real-life celebrities.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)influencer, Rozy, has more than 100 real life sponsorships. Lucy has more than 60,000 followers on the photo sharing app.
Monica Quin is the image source.
The image caption is.
Monica Quin has a metaverse with her real world.
Even dead humans could come back to life in the future.
Stanley Kim, the chief executive of Vive Studios, says that as technology advances, all those who have passed away can be restored virtually. Last year, Vive created an avatar to help a mother grieve over the death of her daughter.
Virtual humans will be created in the next five years with 3D and artificial intelligence. If you have 8 hours worth of recording, you can duplicate their voice.
With every company investing in the metaverse, are we going to end up with multiple disconnected metaverses?
Mr Kim from Vive says it is a bit like when we first had the internet. Some of the companies won the competition to dominate the industry. That is what will happen with the metaverse.
Monica Quin is the image source.
The image caption is.
Over 1.6 billion virtual fashion items have been sold on the Zepeto platform.
The first major global city to get in on the action is the government of South Korea, which has invested $35 million into its own metaverse.
An artificial intelligence public servant will help residents in the metaverse with questions and solve real world problems instead of having to come to the city hall.
Festivals can be held without worrying about Covid-19. People can go back in time to the Chosun dynasty.
All of this virtual living feels a bit far-fetched for most people. As with every new technology, control and regulations are bound to follow, as risks and privacy concerns grow, and the metaverse has only recently become more of a hot topic.
There are ethical questions to consider. What if anavatar commits a crime in the metaverse?
I think it's important for the regulators to use this a lot more and understand what the pros and cons of it are. Mr Lee of Zepeto says that they have a lot of dialogues with operators that are managing the platforms.
The metaverse is still taking shape in bits and pieces but the race to populate it and create the most valuable assets that will sit within it has begun.
Asia.
Asia Pacific.
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South Korea.
It's lifestyle.
Fashion.
There is a virtual reality.
