Metaverse: A Fusion of Virtual and Actual World

One who is familiar with digital terms will not be new to the term "Metaverse". Metaverse create physical realities in a virtual world.

Just as there are entertainment Metaverses, there are art, social and medical Metaverses as well.

In fact, several games are built on the concept of Metaverses. Some of these games include Fortnite, Animal Crossing, and Roblox. These games and many more present a concept of virtual reality in an augmented superset.

Over the years, several industries are beginning to see reasons to build their applications on the concept of the Metaverse. The government is seeking to hold virtual-physical meetings with leaders from around the world and artists are seeing potential in using the Metaverse to hold concerts too.

What then is the importance of the Metaverse that the crypto world is seeking to adopt? 

This article will extensively discuss all you need to know about Metaverse. We will also discuss it's importance with respect to blockchains and the digital world at large.

But first, what exactly is a Metaverse?

What is a Metaverse?

Simply put, a Metaverse is a concept of creating virtual spaces using a 3D augmented spectrum.

For instance, games that allow one to own lands, build cities, go outside space all operate on the concept of Metaverses. Any concept that presents a realistic virtual world is a Metaverse. This can be seen in plenty of Sci-Fi movies and even in novels.

The word Metaverse was first used in a fiction novel in 1992. The novel – Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson described it as a world outside our world.

Other examples are seen in virtual reality games like the Minecraft. Minecraft presents a unique medium for social interaction and relationships.

Students of the UC Berkeley were able to create a virtual campus on the Minecraft game. The students even conducted a virtual ceremony where each person joined with Minecraft characters.

Another application is the Roblox game. The Roblox game allows developers to create games and receive tokens as incentives. Afterwards, the developers withdraw their tokens outside of the game’s platform.

Furthermore, there is a wide application of Metaverse in the crypto world. There, Metaverses will allow users to own tokens, lands, and assets which can easily be traded while virtual money is converted to real money simultaneously.  

Aside from this, there are other applications of a Metaverse in the crypto world. We’ll discuss these shortly. Before we do, here is what to know about Metaverse basic foundation.

Metaverse Basic Foundation

The basic Metaverse foundation explains the components put together to build a blockchain Metaverse. These components are open standards, the internet, hardware, open programming language, and a decentralized ledger and smart contract.

The Internet

The internet is essential in creating a connection for digital assets. But the internet connection for blockchain Metaverse is highly secured.

Connections between computers on a decentralized network restrict authorized individuals or bodies like the government from gaining access. It only allows users of that network to gain total authority over their decentralized network.

Open Programming Language Standards

Metaverses use programming languages like web XR, javascript, WebAssembly, and HTML. Open standards of the media like 3D audio, images, and texts. It also uses 3D sequences and geometric figures and vectors.

Decentralized Ledger and Smart Contract

Metaverses are incorporated in blockchains, so they exhibit features of blockchain technology. They offer secure and plain transactions as well as public availability and support to the blockchain ecosystem.

Blockchain Metaverse and it's Importance

Many refer to the Metaverse as a replacement for the internet, whereas, it’s in actual sense the successor of the internet. Perhaps, it can be the next trillion-dollar project.

In the crypto world, Metaverses offer new experiences to gamers and creators of NFTs. Even in the decentralized platform, it offers permissionless and transparent transactions at high speed.

NFTs serve a foundational role in a Metaverse as they offer users the complete ownership of their lands. Afterward, one can sell off their virtual properties and exchange their money for real money.

A 259 parcel of virtual land in Sandbox was sold for over $900000 and it’s still the largest to date.

Arthur Madrid says people are easily blown away by the number of money players spend on digital assets. He thinks that making NFTs assets can add a layer to the already existing digital economy.

Mark Zuckerberg even said and I quote, 

"We want to get as many people as possible to be able to experience virtual reality and be able to jump into the Metaverse and to have these social experiences…",

This he said while referring to Horizon - the company’s experimental virtual reality project. Mark Zuckerberg is hoping to explore this using Facebook's oculus headsets.

Here are the main advantages of a Metaverse

Metaverses will allow fans to attend concerts virtually with characters that represent them. In April, Travis Scott helped a convert which had about 1 Million concurrent views. The concert which he held at on a Fortnite with half the attendee using the creative modes. 

While we cannot predict the future of Metaverses in the crypto world, we are certain that they will cause exponential growth in blockchains.

How does a Metaverse Work?

Up till now, the application of Metaverse is not popular among people and only a few projects use them.

Just like decentralized blockchains, Metaverses aren't owned by a single individual. The project is for everyone, and is owned by everyone. So, be sure of secured transactions on the Metaverse.

To own a part of the Metaverse, one has to invest in its architecture, services, and development. 

Since the project is still in its early phase, here is how it works and why it's the perfect successor of the internet.

Portability 

Metaverse creators have been able to create certain items. These items are virtual assets and can be sold and exchanged for real money. 

Likewise, you can transfer these items from one application to another without interference. Hence, the contents of the Metaverse is not "siloed"

Decentralized Nodes

Currently, there are over a thousand nodes that host the Ethereum network. Hence, the ethereum network is not held by an individual. So, one will not need any permission before carrying out any transaction.

The Ethereum network can do this due to its Metaverse projects as it will allow for permissionless transactions; transparent and quick.

And as you'll expect, the decentralized nodes are of great importance to the blockchain Metaverse. It also offers high-level security through its consensus mechanism. 

To Wrap It Up

Blockchain Metaverse is changing the way we interact in the digital world. It's changing the way we carry out virtual activities by providing more acceptable and realistic features to games and apps.

One common app that is looking to adopt this concept is Facebook. And other apps are looking to work with the project as governments are looking to enhance their modes of operation. Government officials are seeking to meet via virtual-physical platforms provided by Metaverse.

The importance of Metaverse on blockchains cannot be undermined. It allows users to transact easily and is permissionless. It also enables users to accrue virtual assets for themselves and exchange them for real money. To top it all, they can transfer assets from one app to another without any interference.

In a nutshell, the essentiality of the Metaverse cannot be undermined.

Also read Loot: The First On-Chain Community-Driven NFT Platform

Loot: The First On-Chain Community-Driven NFT Platform

Surely you must have heard about Loot Project and thought, "What in the bananas does that mean?"

It is pretty simple, but to whet your curiosity, let's wonder together why Loot is an NFT project that has completely wowed the Crypto and Blockchain community.

The outbreak of the spontaneous Loot project has sent chills down the spines of traders and a frenzy around the global Ethereum community. In a manner that some would call unprecedented and out of this world! Curious yet? So sit back as we take you on a journey about the Loot NFT.

Introduction

It is bewildering how the origin of the social NFT frenzy, Loot, started with one tweet from the Vine creator, artist, and programmer Dom Hofmann.

Dom tweeted on the 26th of August about jamming over the weekend in a fun and unsuspecting manner.

After Dom unveiled Loot on Twitter, the Loot Project kicked off. The project contained randomized adventurer gear with 8000 loot bags in total.

These virtual loot bags omitted stats and facts intentionally to give others the power to interpret them. Players could freely mint the game bags directly from the smart contract and cost just the gas price. 

The mind-blowing NFT project exploded due to Dom's experience in organic community building. As a matter of fact, before the Loot NFT project, Dom had pioneered other projects that gathered massive response in the crypto world, projects like:

Zooming into Blitmaps for a minute, the intention was to use Blitmap as the foundation of a Blockchain mimic of the Marvel cinematic universe, turning game characters into merchandise. 

Dom worked with 16 other artists to create one hundred 32×32 pixel images combining fantasy and science fiction. Expectedly, the project was a big hit.

Not surprisingly, when Dom unveiled the Loot Project, many of whom were involved in his previous projects jumped on the opportunity to pick the brains of the outstanding artist and creator. 

Loot's main advertising channel was word of mouth. Friends telling friends about the NFT project caused it to spread like wildfire! With projects having mantras such as You can do whatever you wish, causes them to spread even more because it suits and accepts all sorts of Ethereum-savvy Web3 enthusiasts.

At this point, you are abreast of what the trendy NFT project looks like on the inside, but just in case you need a little more detail, you can either visit the project's FAQs.

Right now, you can safely say the best of Loot NFT is a game. Ethereum creator, Vitalik Buterin, tweeted:

The project's foundation is a game, and it is now left to the community to decide what the next step or its future would look like.

A better insight into Loot NFT includes the game bag containing 8 items with readable smart contract parameters, unique in the Loot universe.

"Divine Robe of the Fox" and "Short Sword" are rare NFTs in the game. Whereas, others amongst the bags are considered common.

The Divine Robe appears only once while the Short Sword a total of 325 times across 8,000 Loot bags.

What Problems does Loot Solve?

Now that you have read and seen all that you have, you may be thinking, what then is all the fuss about? What problem does it solve?

Well, hopefully, you are still strapped in 'cos the ride has just started. You see, Loot and its entire 8,000 Loot bags can function as the basis of a gaming metaverse. 

The end goal of Loot is an ecosystem of games where items in the game (Like the Short Sword) serve multiple functions. Can you see it now? Whoever builds on Loot NFT can decide the functionality of an item. 

This is the angle! Asides from the massive value of the project, Loot NFT gives creative freedom, one that Web3 dreamers can engage in. Loot successfully built the foundation of a game without creating an ideal game in itself, leaving its fate to be decided by a decentralized community. 

Thus, plenty of experiments have sprung up since the inception of Loot NFT. One of such is Lootmart. This project enables Loot holders to unbundle their game bags into NFTs and allow the individual exchange of items between holders. 

Likewise, Lootcharacter was developed to generate pixilated characters based on these bags. 

In another instance, a community member, while waiting in an airport developed an ERC-20 token. He named it Adventure Gold ($AGLD). For this token, anyone with a loot bag can claim up to 10,000 $AGLD. 

A spot and futures market was dedicated to it by FTX. After the token hit the market, it was worth $7.70. This makes that loot holders receive gift tokens worth over $77k. 

The concept and intention behind AGLD is the hope that someday it will be as a game currency.

Those are not all of the amazing things Loot brings to the table; it changes the conventional gaming and community development path. What Dom did was simply set the foundation for a gaming universe and opened the floor for creators to build on it. 

The frenzy around Loot NFT and bullish NFT market put Loot NFTs on a pedestal, with the cheapest bag worth at least $23,000. 

Loot – A Collaborative Value Creation

How the Loot NFT has created value still baffles many. The creators only created a foundation for games and threw it in the wild for many gamers to make do with what they think. With this, one is safe to say Loot NFTs have energized communities together with its host of new projects.

The response of the people in conjunction with the Loot NFT's current bull market price fired up the pricing. With no guarantee of creating an actual game or utility, Loot builds hope for future developers and utility builders.  

Loot NFT Survival in the Market

Like other NFTs, creating a Loot NFT would not be much of a hassle. Once creators are ready with the NFTs, they release the items into the market together with airdrops, competitors, and an array of events. All of these events and competitors help to increase the hype of NFTs sales in the market. To further expand the project, creators can intensify all these events and project a stronger team.

It’s worthy of noting that all of these events are decentralized. In a decentralized launch, NFTs are launched without a prior underlying project. Its community will then hover around its items in its bag- the Loot bag.

With this type of platform that uses decentralization and the creativity of users, one can easily switch between the models of NFT businesses.

Loot: Dungeons and Degens

There have been several NFTs dropping over the months but Loot NFTs stood out from them due to two obvious distinctions. One of which was that it did not have pictures like other NFTs; The Loot NFT only had text! So, instead of the regular penguin and chimps, you will only be seeing texts instead.

Another obvious distinction with the Loot NFT was the free NFTs it offered users. Although users were to claim their NFTs with an Ethereum gas fee, minting the NFT was free.

Despite all of these, the Loot NFT sold massively. It started with about tens of thousands of dollars and sold more than 220M from then till now.

Loot NFT Community Platform

Several times, users are excited about new NFTs' arrival. However, this excitement is not tied to what NFTs are but what they can be.

Just like other NFTs, Loot NFTs were released into the market for the users’ muse. The aim was to leave people with varying interpretations of its NFTs.

An expert linked Loot NFT to 52 wild cards where each card with its picture has its interpretation. That is most probably why it had been used as the foundation for several games and pokers.

Loot has imprinted its name in the hearts of many by creating thousands of games without really creating a game. Whatever developers want to do with the experiment is up to them.

Limitations and Future

Kinda like every shiny object, there's an off-side to it. Sadly. In the case of Loot, the first thing observed is there is currently no guarantee that any substantial utility or a real game gets built on Loot. 

Owning a loot bag is more or less a big bet on future utility, and only IF the community chooses to make it worth that much. 

Another point where it's hard to connect the dots will be the cost of entry. To many, it doesn't make any sense. Game developers build games to fit the masses, but Loot has a different slant to it. A large number of gamers are left out due to the high cost of owning a loot bag.

But does this mean that the vast majority of gamers will be priced out for life? Of course not. Do we have all the answers? Not yet - but close. 

As it stands, there are possibilities to incorporate loot without segmenting the market. A perfect example is the Axie Infinity and Yield Guild games. 

At a point the game got too pricey for the majority of gamers, thus a lenders market emerged which enabled gamers to borrow the NFTS needed to play the game in exchange for a portion of the winnings.

Wrapping up

While a good number of questions remain unanswered, this start is very impressive, and the Ethernet ecosystem is right on the verge of something massive and promising. We can safely say it is the early stages of a completely new project that beats the conventional game development model. 

And being backed up by an organic, thriving community, committed with the responsibility to build real games and utilities with all that Blockchain technology has to offer. 

The suspense around Loot's future makes it even more interesting and worth monitoring over time.

Also read OpenSea: A walk to NFT Marketplace