I went to a nightclub a few weeks ago. I wore a multicolored sweater, jeans, and sneakers on the casual side. The sky was purple at night, with stars and clouds. There was no line at the door as I heard the booming music before entering. It seemed fairly standard and strangely reminiscent of careless pre-COVID times, but I wasn't going to a club in the real world.
Nightclubs, music festivals, and parties are popping up in various virtual platforms as the nightlife industry expands into the metaverse. More venues, businesses, and organizers are exploring this trend, which is partly a COVID-fueled fad but also part of a broader move toward digital platforms that the nightlife industry has been facing since before the Pandemic.
Decentralande is one of the largest and busiest virtual spaces in the metaverse. It would almost certainly be here if I were going to find a party. It wasn't easy to get in. The space took a long time to load, and my browser screen turned black after logging in. After I switched browsers a few times, I started my computer. It seems that Decentraland caters to people with advanced computers and tech, not people who just wander in.
My first stop was Amnesia Ibiza, a club in Spain. In the metaverse, the club was open despite being temporarily closed, but there were no performances or events going on when I stopped by. There were barely anyone there when I entered. A person in a black shirt stood in the middle of the dance floor. He immediately left when I tried to talk to him. There were videos on the walls of the real-world club. In the metaverse, socializing is driven by scheduled events. It isn't like a club in a city where you can go in on any given weekend and see crowds and a lively dance floor.
Nightlife is experimenting with the metaverse. Mirik Milan, the former night mayor of Amsterdam and co- founder of VibeLab, said that its digital platforms were amplified by the Pandemic. There was an interest in musicians who wanted to sell their work through NFTs and use the blockchain to circumvent corporate record labels.
When the Pandemic began, performers and venues began looking for other ways to interact with fans and make money. Performers began live streaming on platforms to stay afloat. A concert was held in the video game. United We Stream is a live streaming platform to raise funds and create streaming opportunities for artists in 115 cities worldwide.
The latest wave of exploration is into the metaverse. The club in Decentraland was launched in June 2021. David Arquette's club in West Hollywood is experimenting with a hybrid virtual and physical space where guests can use an NFT to get into the real world club.
Milan said there is a huge appetite for using the metaverse or digital technologies for discovering and promoting new talent.
It wasn't easy to find a more happening spot after my less-than-stellar introduction to the metaverse at Amnesia. I stopped at a casino with a Frog walking around, a jazz club that was empty, and a club with an art gallery. My mission has been unsuccessful so far. I thought Decentraland would be a vibrant, weird, exciting space with lots of activity, but it was mostly dead.
Thankfully, that changed when I stumbled across an event called Mr. Dhinga Launch Party. The denizens of the metaverse had turned out for this party in full force, reveling in all the weird and wonderful ways you would expect to see at a virtual party. A crowd of people danced around a glowing orb on the rooftop. I joined in and started dancing next to a wolf wearing a tracksuit.
I joined the stream of a fellow partygoer named Jacob Acebedo after exhausting my dance moves. His stream made it easier for attendees to communicate with each other. I found them to be goofy and welcoming. They talked about how the event was better than a real party and scrolled through each other's photos. I returned to the event with a new yellow tracksuit and lollipop after a partygoer gifted me some items.
I spoke with Acebedo in the real world a few days later. Outside of the metaverse, a military veteran and graphic design student is named Acebedo.
He said that he had a little bit of anxiety. When I'm in the metaverse, I get to be around hundreds, if not thousands of people at once, and not feel like I'm in real life.
New metaverse arrivals will have to face technological barriers that I did before feeling completely at ease.
Milan said it would be easier for people who spend a lot of time online to transition into the metaverse.
I went back into the metaverse a few days later and attended another event. Le Phoque Off was an alternative music festival that took place in the NOWHERE metaverse due to COVID-19 restrictions in Quebec. In nowhere, people had live video chats with their faces shown. This was awkward in its own way, but it was more authentic than Decentraland and felt closer to a real-life experience. The closer you approached someone, the louder they sounded.
The Hippie Hourrah band played on the stage, surrounded by a Martian landscape. Concertgoers released a spray of hearts at the concert. The Decentraland metaverse felt like an exclusive club for people with a passion forCryptocurrencies, but I felt more comfortable in Nowhere. It was fun to listen to the music and watch the other people interact with each other. I could see the artistic potential of the space because it was more accessible.
I had an interview with Jon Morris before I went to the festival. After his work was disrupted at the start of the Pandemic, he created Nowhere. He said that this metaverse allowed for more interaction than just watching a video.
He said that you can hear them respond in the room with 100 people.
Morris grew up in Kentucky with little access to those types of cultural experiences. He thinks this could make a difference for the kids in those environments.
He said that the whole reason we built Nowhere was because of that.
There were two different manifestations of nightlife within my explorations. People interested in being pioneers in the space, who wanted to socialize, discuss and learn more about their shared interests, were catered to by one. The other was a creative venture for artists that allowed them to continue performing and making money during uncertain times. Both environments respond to the needs of our time, with COVID-19 limiting in-person interaction and the ubiquity of people creating their lives online.
Many technological and social difficulties need to be worked out in order to make the metaverse a success. The physical nightlife industry won't be overtaken by its virtual counterpart any time soon, even though the metaverse offers new and exciting ways to collaborate, share creative works, and explore new worlds.
Milan said that it should not be seen as a replacement.
That isn't really the point.
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