How To NFT 8: Metaverse

特邀专栏作者

2022-04-10 05:36

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The NFT basic book "How to NFT" is serialized.

MetaverseMetaverse"meta"Is the fusion of a virtual augmented physical reality and a physically persistent virtual space, allowing users to experience it as one. The term was first coined in 1992 in the science fiction novel Snow Crash, and is prefixed by"verse"(meaning beyond) and the root

(meaning universe) composition.

In simple terms, the Metaverse can be understood as a shared virtual space, similar to our experience of the physical world. For example, players can purchase virtual assets such as land and vehicles in the digital world, play with friends, participate in events, and more.

Given the limitations of current technology, the full potential of Metaspace is still unknown. However, non-blockchain metaverses have existed for many years.

Examples include open world/sandbox games like The Elder Scrolls Online and Minecraft. These games are similar to the combination of reality and virtual space, bringing players an experience that is somewhat different from reality. More recently, it has been suggested that the Metaverse would include social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook."Anyway, there is one clear difference between the old and new metaverses — the degree of decentralization. If the developers of a centralized digital world decide to cease operations, all players will lose their accounts, as well as any precious game progress and assets. In addition, a centralized non-blockchain platform usually gives administrators unlimited power to change data, making them the masters of the digital world."。

god"This type of VR is not permanent, which goes against the Metaverse's requirement to be able to provide object permanence. To solve this problem, developers have begun to combine VR games with blockchain, allowing players to access assets permanently recorded on the blockchain, providing them with the ability to own digital objects in virtual augmented reality."。

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Below, we learn more about the pioneers of the blockchain metaverse, namely Decentraland, The Sandbox, Cryptovoxels, and Somnium Space.

Decentraland

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Decentraland is a decentralized 3D virtual reality world powered by the Ethereum blockchain. It is overseen by the non-profit Decentraland Foundation and first launched to the public in February 2020."Decentraland was first created in 2015 by like-minded friends, aiming to"be opposed toCentralized VR games."In its early stages, the so-called"Stone Age

, Decentraland is only allocated to users in a simple grid form through the POW algorithm.In early 2017, Decentraland evolved into a 3D metaspace on the same blockchain.

Over time, the 3D virtual space has developed to integrate with the Ethereum ecosystem, utilizing Ethereum smart contracts, enabling application interaction, worldwide payments, and peer-to-peer communication in the Metaverse. Today, players can trade digital assets, socialize with friends, and even hold VR meetings while exploring this ever-expanding digital world.

Decentraland gives the community complete control over what it creates on the platform by presenting these digital lands as NFTs. For example, landowners will have full authority over what is built on their portion of the land, specified by a set of Cartesian coordinates (x,y).

Landowners can build a range of objects on their land, from static 3D objects to interactive systems like games and music players. Best of all, Decentraland is free to play, and no blockchain knowledge is required to get started.

It is recommended to prepare a wallet address to experience. Digital wallets like Fox Wallet will protect all your game assets and progress in the world, as long as you keep your private keys safe.play.decentraland.org, click Play to connect your digital wallet. After following the prompts from your digital wallet, you can start personalizing your avatar. Customize your avatar in multiple ways including body, head, tops, bottoms, shoes, accessories and collectibles to make your avatar unique. Enter a new username when you're done, and you're off to experience the world!

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The Sandbox

The Sandbox is a decentralized virtual world where you can create 3D objects, own digital assets in the form of NFTs, build and play in a vast metaverse, and earn money in game creation. The project aims to give artists, makers, and gamers the tools they need to express themselves through pixel art, an art form in which 3D models are created entirely from tiny 3D cubes called pixels.

Interestingly, Sandbox started as two centralized mobile games made by Pixowl, Sandbox (2012) and Sandbox Evolution (2016). Both games are 2D sandbox games that seem to be inspired by the game Terraria, but The Sandbox focuses more on user-generated content.

In early 2018, the team announced that it was acquired by Animoca Brands and revealed its plans to create a new blockchain-based, multiplayer, cross-platform 3D sandbox game. They aim to redefine the sandbox game industry and subvert major game developers such as Roblox and Minecraft with their NFT and P2E models.

Finally, Sandbox Game Maker allows players to build their 3D games for free, no coding experience required, as the program is designed to provide easy-to-understand visual scripting tools. Likewise art and scripts can be bundled together and uploaded and listed for sale as NFTs. In the end, all assets can be used as creative elements to contribute to a huge metaverse consisting of 166,464 regions or digital properties in the sandbox.

Cryptovoxels

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Cryptovoxels is an Ethereum-powered metaverse that utilizes The Sandbox-like pixel asset architecture, allowing players to buy land to build shops, museums, art galleries, and more. Ben Nolan, founder of Cryptovoxels, envisions a user-editable metaverse that doesn’t require users to have programming knowledge to realize the full potential of blockchain-based virtual worlds. Ben Nolan released Cryptovoxels to the public in mid-2018.

Cryptovoxels started out as a black and white metaverse. When developers start adding colors to the Metaverse, they need to use COLR tokens to add color blocks. In June 2020, the sale of COLR tokens was discontinued and replaced with free color blocks. Since then, the world of Cryptovoxels has become noticeably more diverse.

The land or plots of the metaverse are bought and sold on the OpenSea NFT market using Ethereum. As with The Sandbox, landowners can place pixel-built objects on the land they own to decorate their land, turning it into a shop and art gallery. Likewise, players who don't own any land can also enjoy the building experience by using free space or building on existing sandbox plots. Note that something built on public land is not permanent as anyone can modify it.

Another exciting aspect of Cryptovoxels is their wearable devices. The wearables are virtual NFT clothing that users can use to customize their avatars. Cryptovoxels wearables come in all shapes and sizes, and they function similarly to digital clothing in other games. It is also possible to design your unique wearables out of pixel blocks and turn them into NFT assets. You can also choose to sell your creations on the NFT platform and earn cryptocurrency.

Somnium Space

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Somnium Space is a blockchain-based VR-centric metaverse founded by Artur Sychov in 2017 with a bold vision to build a permanent economy and virtual currency for the world. Today Somnium Space is an open-source, decentralized VR metaverse where worlds are created entirely by its users. The technical realization of this digital world is the same as the metaverse we introduced before. Players can own digital land, build houses, buy equipment and other NFT activities.

Somnium Space is based on Ethereum, powering its in-app token, Somnium Cubes (CUBE). CUBE is an important part of the blockchain-based economy, allowing players to trade with each other and providing users with permanent ownership of NFT assets, from virtual land to avatars, goods, buildings and more.

Somnium Space is different from other blockchain metaverses in that it aims to combine VR technology to provide users with a fully immersive VR experience. It has enabled full-body tracking technology that tracks and detects body and finger movements. In October 2021, Somnium Space made strategic investments in VRgineers and Teslasuit. VRgineers is a leading manufacturer of the new generation of high-resolution VR headset XTAL, while Teslasuit is a company that produces full-body haptic suits for physical VR experiences. Somnium Space also announced research and development of its own standalone Somnium Space VR headset.

More importantly, Somnium Space announced in October 2021 that it is integrating the Solana network as part of its eventual plan to create a multi-chain metaverse with efficient interoperability. From December 2021, users of the Solana ecosystem will be allowed to leverage their Solana-based NFTs within the Somnium Space client to build NFT galleries and more.

The Somnium Space client is available for download on Steam and can be accessed from any VR device.

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Invest in virtual land and real estate

Just like in the real world, there are many aspects to consider when buying a virtual property. Buyers have to consider various factors like its proximity to amenities, location, price per lot, and more.

As of November 2021, the floor price of a piece of land in Decentraland is about 1.2 ETH, or about $5,200. MANA tokens have a market capitalization of approximately $3.54 billion In the most expensive land sale in Decentraland history, 259 parcels of land were sold for approximately $913,228 in MANA tokens. Why are there so many people frying?

It is often believed that the Metaverse will greatly affect our daily lives in the future. The Metaverse has the potential to act as a digital nation or civilization, bridging the real and virtual worlds.

Metaverse already enables users to buy land to build properties, and organize virtual parties and concerts. Investing in decentralized metaverses may seem like a niche market, but retail investors aren't the only ones pouring money into these virtual realities.

For example, renowned auction house Sotheby’s has established an art gallery in Decentraland, an almost replica of its London headquarters on New Bond Street. Sotheby's gallery is located in a prime location in Decentraland's Voltaire art district, and the five exhibition spaces on the ground floor are all used to display its art collection.

Several celebrities have expressed their interest in participating in the Metaverse. For example, Snoop Dogg has replicated his mansion within The Sandbox metaspace and offered fans VIP seats to his virtual parties. In addition, Paris Hilton, Deadmau5, Alabaster dePlume and 3LAU have already participated in Decentraland's music festival in October 2021.Metaverse can even be used for remote work, home study, and travel. Nestled in the Tomonoya Casino in the Vegas City district of Decentraland, players can test their luck at a variety of casino games.

To make the onboarding experience smoother for newcomers, casinos even employ real people as casino greeters, bringing a level of human touch to the virtual space to facilitate a more authentic experience.This is just one of many examples of real-life employment opportunities within the Metaverse.

The concept of working from home will also become a reality as companies explore setting up virtual offices in the Metaverse, similar to what KuCoin is doing.

Cyber

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Cyber is an immersive 3D metaverse where artists and collectors can display their NFTs. In addition to Metaverse's realistic graphic setup, collectors can easily connect their Ethereum wallets to the platform, import their NFT assets, and display them in their personalized space. Cyber also collaborates with some of the best artists in the industry to build creative spaces.

Lunacia(Axie Infinity)

in conclusion

The Metaverse is one of the hottest topics in tech, with companies investing billions of dollars in the near future. Many big tech companies like Facebook, Microsoft, and Tencent are also betting on the potential of the Metaverse.In late 2021, Facebook announced plans to hire 10,000 people in the European Union over the next five years to help develop the Metaverse. Shortly after the announcement, the company rebranded its parent company, Facebook Inc., to Meta Platforms Inc. to focus fully on developing the Metaverse.

According to Forbes, Meta's Metaverse project will cost at least $10 billion in 2021 alone.

Similar to our reliance on social media accounts, it is expected that in the future, many people will choose at least one metaverse as their second life and form connections within the platform.

A centralized metaverse may have its own benefits, but in a decentralized blockchain infrastructure, individual networks can govern themselves under a decentralized protocol. This prevents one organization from monopolizing power over the field of online interaction.

Published by: CoinGecko

Decentraland

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Cryptovoxels

Somnium Space

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worth noting

Cyber

Isotile

in conclusion

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