Doubtless, when most people hear the term metaverse, they think of a future where a person can be anyone or anything they want. The metaverse, as a concept, is so much thanks to the likes of science fiction and movies like Ready Player One.
The Metaverse is not necessary if we are asking the question "Is the Metaverse really necessary?". The metaverse is the future of human interaction because it is a collection of digital and real-world ideas melded into a cohesive space for people to socialize.
Digital ownership is a part of the concept of a metaverse. The term "ownership" is different from the term "own" because it means something different.
The connection between owning a physical drink from the company and using it in the game is completely disconnected. One has nothing to do with the other and, even if you were to complete all the challenges in Coca-Cola's special world, you're not going to be able to turn in your accomplishments for a real-world drink.
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The problem with NFTs, in particular, is that the term has been hijacked by con artists and snake oil salesmen.
Real-world rewards for digital accomplishments are not a core issue. Digital ownership is a concept. The account you opened when you first started playing the game is the only account that has ownership in these games. If your account is banned or you lose access to it, you won't be able to spend your money. Digital goods can't be carried from one game to another like an object in the real world can.
To allow digital items to be carried through digital worlds, no matter who makes the world, and to provide a way to verify ownership outside of any one type of account system, is the obvious solution to this.
NFTs are the best way to assert ownership over a digital object. The problem with NFTs is that they have been hijacked by con artists and snake oil salesmen. The concept of NFT is still good if it can be used correctly.
I'm not talking about buying stupid pictures of monkeys. I'm talking about using the concept of an NFT to prove ownership of intangible digital objects. This could mean anything from a plot in a digital metaverse to your digital skin.
Having a way to verify ownership beyond your account has to be laid as the groundwork to convince people that investing time and money into a digital world is actually worth it.
A mixed reality metaverse called QuestoWorld uses a limited number of NFTs to assert ownership of a digital portion of a real-world city. The game uses the term "real-world" to refer to the location of a realm where players can solve puzzles and riddles. The person who owns the realm on top of which the quest is built gets a portion of the game's proceeds.
A broader metaverse concept that was spun at last year's Connect conference is not what QuestoWorld is. It is similar to Ingress, a game where players walk around the real world to do battle in the digital world. Pokemon Go is an evolution of this concept.
Having a way to verify ownership beyond your account is an important beginning and, if we are to take the metaverse concept seriously, has to be laid as the groundwork to convince people that investing time and money into a digital world is actually worth it.
It's fine to change real money for digital currency that's unique to a specific game, but a proper metaverse with its own currency concept would need to provide a way to exchange that money back to another currency if the user deems it necessary. If this is going to be an augmentation of reality, then digital currency should be exchangeable in the same way as currency in a foreign country.
Any concept of ownership requires identification. How can anyone claim ownership of anything if they don't have proper identification? The ability to remain anonymous in a way that is physically impossible outside of digital spaces is one of the most powerful parts of the Internet. It is easy to register a fake account on a forum or other social setting and say as much as someone wants, and it is done all the time.
If the metaverse is to be more successful than the current structure of the Internet, it has to have a cohesive way to identify individuals and hold them accountable for actions that are deemed inappropriate by society. In a metaverse, you wouldn't expect to shout racist or sexist things from a street corner and not be confronted.
Without proper identification, how can anyone assert ownership of anything at all?
I talked to Anshel Sag, a senior analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy, about the idea of a digital identity. The key is using a system of fingerprints to make sure you are who you say you are.
Irises are more secure than fingerprints, says Sag. They are more unique and harder to spoof. It logs you in when you put on the headset. When you take it off, it logs you off so no one can make an unauthorized purchase again even if they had your password.
Your irises would need a two-factor method to make sure you are who you say you are. The PS VR2 is shipping with eye- tracking sensors, which could make this possible. It is not yet known if Sony could use them for this purpose, but it presents a very clear way to make sure you are the owner of your digital goods and no one can steal your account and take those goods away.
There needs to be more accountability over actions made in the metaverse than there is on the Internet as we know it now.
When I spoke with David Whelan about the metaverse concept, he talked about the need to separate the spaces that are more serious from the ones that are more casual. It makes sense for Whelan and his company to work to ensure that commercial metaverses work in a digital manner or visit a virtual trade show.
Current platforms like Horizon Worlds aren't secure enough because of the requirement of a Facebook account and restrictions on users under 18. One of the core tenants of the Engage XR platform is to create more accountability over actions made in its metaverse space.
Facebook uses us for their client-facing meetings because of that. They don't use their platform because they are afraid of a top-line executive going into Facebook. They are standing next to a child who has been abused. That won't happen on our platform.
While Ready Player One's Oasis paints a vivid picture of a society where the metaverse is an individual's only hope of achieving any kind of success, that singular realm of possibility isn't a great concept for a real-world delivery. It's difficult for players to come back to the metaverse for this reason. It's great to have a world where players can build their own worlds, but having a single company control the outcome is off-putting.
Right now, we’re in the early 90s Internet-equivalent stage of the Metaverse.
I think metaverses that encourage open interoperability are going to be the ones to win. The platform's success goes beyond the control of any one company or individual, as shown by its organic growth over the years. People who are looking for an alternate world to live in can meet up with others in these spaces. A cohesive identity for a player can be created with the help of ombs imported from other popular digital platforms.
REK, a mixed-reality sports concept that is launching in a few weeks, will provide players with an alternate way to stay physically active without throwing a ball or lifting weights. Like traditional sports, Rek is designed to be a platform where people can tune in to live broadcasts of games, many of which defy the concept of sports that rely on the use of a ball or a goal.
The metaverse isn't a single concept that is going to be realized one day. In the 90s, if you wanted to find a business, you needed to be on AOL. The lessons learned from the birth and evolution of the Internet proved that the AOL modicum strategy was not the long-term one.
The kind of winning strategy a metaverse company needs to consider is the creation of the open-sourced Chromium. It's almost certain that building a tool that lets you access a wider digital world is the right way to go.
The metaverse is in the early 90s Internet-equivalent stage and while the direction of the evolution of the concept is anyone's best guess, one thing is clear: the metaverse is here to stay.
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