What’s it like to really live in a virtual world?
There are, in fact, several metaverses out there. These are virtual worlds such as Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, and The Sandbox. Accessed through VR (virtual reality) headsets, these platforms are made not only for exploring but for spending money and making a living.
Rowell discovered the NFT (non-fungible tokens or unique digital artefacts verified by blockchain technology) art scene early this year and was soon putting her work on platforms like Open Sea, which she says is great for beginners, and Foundation, which is invite-only.
Rowell submitted a piece of art to imnotArt, a gallery that also has space in both Cryptovoxels and real-world Chicago.
Visit
This writer paid a visit to the imnotArt gallery on Cryptovoxels. It’s located in the popular Vibes neighbourhood on the corner of Popular Avenue and Ideal Close. A good place to invest? Only if you have a bulging digital wallet. No 3 Truthful Gardens, for example, is prime real estate but it will set you back 5.5 Ethereum or $18,336.62.
“To understand the economics of the metaverse you need to begin by understanding why people would want to spend their time in these virtual spaces. The Celts didn’t arrive in Ireland and think ‘we’d love an art gallery here’. It’s better to figure out what would make people enjoy being in these worlds and build an economy around that,” reflects Dowling.
But one needs to be cautious of a money-first mindset: ...
“If you visit the Decentraland homepage the first thing you see is messaging all about their currency, Manna. But when you visit, say, the tourist website for Barbados the selling point isn’t ‘come for our currency, the Barbados dollar’.”
Metaverse
He suspects that Gen Z will be more willing to spend time and money in the metaverse given that they are growing up with Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite, all of which The Sandbox has elements. Investing in these items and experiences in these worlds might seem like a frippery to many adults but not to a younger generation.
“Our vision is that we deliver the types of spaces needed for specific tasks rather than pushing people towards spending all their time in VR spaces,” he adds.
“I don’t think we should get caught up too much in the concept of the metaverse and what it means for the future. We’re more concerned with what value our tech can offer right now, today,” says Cosgrove.
See the full story here: https://www.irishtimes.com/business/innovation/what-s-it-like-to-really-live-in-a-virtual-world-1.4660958
