Metaverse Architects is a multi-faceted company that specializes in emerging technologies, particularly in the field of virtual worlds and metaverse development. They design and develop custom virtual worlds using cutting-edge technologies such as Msquared's Metaverse Markup Language (MML) and Decentralands SDK 7. The company collaborates with a diverse range of clients, including Fortune 500 brands, financial institutions, fashion brands, healthcare companies, iGaming and casinos, food and beverage brands, media agencies, and real estate companies. The company's achievements in 2022 include having a passionate team of 20+ employees, completing 22 projects, and engaging with over 44,652 active users. They offer various services, including virtual world design and development, generative AI applications using technologies like Open AI's GPT-4, web3 services, non-player character (NPC) development, custom 3D architecture, wearables and skins design, video game development, AI app development, and Dapp development utilizing blockchain technology. Metaverse Architects has worked on notable projects with companies like Roobet, L'Atelier Miami Fashion Week, Forever21, Airdrop.com, Quontic Bank, and others, helping them establish a presence and conduct business in the metaverse. They are also involved in educational initiatives, mental health clinics, and innovative concepts like the world's first metaverse ATM. Overall, Metaverse Architects is a forward-thinking company that leverages emerging technologies to create immersive virtual experiences and innovative solutions for various industries and clients.

Metaverse Architects

According to Oxford Dictionaries’ definition of meta, the term “verse” has become a common suffix in the technology field when used in conjunction with “meta” to describe something conscious of itself or its genre. According to tech giants, the future lies in the “metaverse,” which refers to an autonomous and self-contained digital universe. One of Facebook’s major investments in the construction of the metaverse has been to rename the firm “Meta,” the New York Times reports. Digital reality will be used to engage people from all around the world, according to the corporation. A person who doesn’t know much about computers might think the term is too vague and doesn’t make sense. An idea is known as “the metaverse” has already been flourishing and fast-developing long before Facebook changed its name to Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg talked extensively about it. The metaverse has arrived, and it is most likely here to stay. A lot of people don’t know what the metaverse is. How great of an impact does it have, or is it merely a fad that will fade away in the blink of an eye? The metaverse is a hot topic right now, but do you need to know everything there is to engage? Throughout this post, we’ll take a deep dive into what the metaverse is and how it’s evolved through time. Metaverse Is an Imaginary World The metaverse is a virtual reality, but not quite like the ones in science fiction movies. Although Meta’s conception of the metaverse is relatively recent, the concept itself precedes even Facebook. While looking at the web, you’re “within of it, not simply gazing at it,” Zuckerberg said. When it comes to Zuckerberg’s ambiguous description of the metaverse, the underlying meaning is equally as wide-ranging. Virtual reality allows people from all over the world to interact with one other and with the metaverse as a whole, but the metaverse goes far beyond that. A lot of the time, users can get things that stay theirs between sessions, or even land in the metaverse. To be sure, there are numerous interpretations of this idea, and it has undergone considerable development over time. Whether it’s a website, a game, or chat software, we’re continually communicating with something on the internet. It goes a step further in the metaverse, allowing users to be directly involved in the action themselves. A more immersive experience may be had by using this technology, which is not possible when browsing the internet or watching a movie. Metaverse and VR In the metaverse, both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) concepts exist, but they are different. The best way to think about them is to think of them as independent entities that complement each other, rather than as multiple versions of the same thing. A virtual environment can be created using VR and AR technology. An entirely new world is shown to us when we use virtual reality. Virtual reality (VR) lets you engage with the changing environment around you, whether it’s in the form of a game or a movie. This is different from augmented reality, which adds features to the real world and enables you to interact with them in a variety of different ways. The purpose makes a difference. At any given time, you can play a VR or AR game, but the cornerstone of the metaverse as envisioned by Meta and other firms is the interaction with other people. Finally, the metaverse is the playground for both of these activities – it is a method for individuals to collaborate and share a virtual universe, whether for business or education or exercise or simply for entertainment. Expanding the metaverse and making it feel like a real experience rather than a video game with additional steps can be achieved through the use of VR and AR capabilities. While virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) are important components of the metaverse, they are only a small part of it. Because of this, there is plenty of room for development. What Does The Metaverse Look Like? First, let’s clarify the difference between “the metaverse” and “a metaverse.” Even while they all make use of the internet to link their users to one another, there is no single metaverse that joins all of the other universes into a single unified whole. So, any universe in the metaverse can be unique. Everything about the appearance of a metaverse is determined by its developer. It doesn’t matter what you build in some metaverses, because there’s a lot of room for you to do so. Rather than relying on a single server, the entire planet is accessible to everyone. Depending on the setting, a metaverse might take on many different forms. Rules of the real world continue to apply in a metaverse. Aside from the sky, buildings, and the natural world, you’re almost certainly going to see other people. The metaverse influences the art style, which can be cartoony, realistic, or somewhere in the middle. The metaverse, on the other hand, does not suffer from the same limits as the real world does. It’s possible to travel to space with your complete family in the metaverse if the architects of the virtual world allow it. A metaverse can appear like a classroom, a street, a dream forest, or the bottom of the ocean. But the most popular examples of it deliver something that’s a blend of all those qualities, all because of the freedom they give their users. Chances of a Metaverse Taking a breather, let’s recap where we are. We now have a virtual world where the only restrictions are in the hands of its developer. We have a virtual representation of ourselves. To participate in this shared universe, of course, we have an internet connection. What is our next step? It all depends on what you’re looking for. The metaverse should, in an ideal world, connect every user to every other user. You should have the ability to communicate with everyone else who is online when you join a public server. The fact is frequently quite different. As the popularity of certain metaverses grows, the servers that host them are unable to handle the demand. Users are effectively separated from one another by multiple levels that some developers design. This may be avoided in the future, but for the time being, the metaverse is often divided — not to mention that people use various platforms, effectively choosing their universe. Every business has a unique take on this technology, as previously mentioned. There are much smaller fish in this very large pond who are also getting in on the action, including Facebook, Nvidia, and others. Blockchain technology has its metaverse. It is now difficult to have a single huge metaverse, because these metaverses are disjointed, operate on multiple platforms, and have no common purposes or goals. People who make metaverses would have to work together to make it a big, shared virtual world, so they would have to work together. Getting there would necessitate collaboration between these companies and quick advancements in server technology. Server loads would be unbelievable for both the host and end-user if all these distinct metaverses were hosted on one platform. Before being able to connect to the shared reality, users will have to choose their universe before connecting to the metaverse. What You Can Do with Metaverse Technology? As a notion, it is difficult to define because it appears to be infinite. Individual users are also able to identify the overall objective of the product, not just the firm or group of people that created it. As a general rule, the metaverse’s goal is to link people through a shared virtual world. It doesn’t matter if it’s for employment, self-improvement, or just for fun, the metaverse exists to link people from across the world. In a virtual environment, a user’s avatar can interact with the world at large without being given any specific aims. On the idea that you can do everything you set out to do in the metaverse, Meta has crafted its big reveal. Consider a few of the more frequent activities you can do with this technology: Owning your property. Invest in property. Work and study. Communicate with the world. NFTs, Cryptocurrencies, and The Metaverse It’s hard to discuss the metaverse without mentioning cryptocurrency. The decentralized architecture of cryptocurrencies, the blockchain, is at the heart of many of the largest examples of this phenomenon. This means that the worlds that are built around cryptocurrencies are frequently decentralized. As a result, the currency, virtual land, or the entire metaverse is not held by a single entity and cannot be sold, pulled down, or otherwise destroyed at will. Contracts are sent to a network of users, and a majority vote is required for decentralization to take place. There’s a good chance the metaverse will remain available to everyone unless the majority of the network chooses to shut it down. NFTs can be as simple as an 8-pixel avatar or as complex as a work of art. NFTs are fundamentally a decentralized method of assigning ownership of virtual products. To claim ownership of an NFT, a user must have bitcoin and a contract that binds them to a certain user. This creates a whole new level of economics in the metaverse, allowing people to make (or lose) actual money through this imaginative concept. With bitcoin, users can buy virtual plots of land and avatars, as well as a hat for their metaverse avatar. When it comes to the cryptocurrency market and popular metaverses, it’s impossible not to draw parallels between the two. Whatever side of the fence you’re on, the end product can either be fantastic or disturbing. How It Will Evolve in The Future? The Meta team is aiming for a quick start with Horizon Worlds, but even Zuckerberg acknowledges that we’re not quite there yet. A decade or more will pass before the metaverse gains the kind of visibility and accessibility that its developers at Meta envision. Seeing this as a shared space where people from different continents can play, learn, exchange, and even collaborate is both idealistic and futuristic. It is possible to re-create bustling city streets with shops, parks, and people in the metaverse, but the technology to sustain it is currently beyond the reach of most people. As the metaverse experience becomes more realistic, public acceptance will follow. Using VR and AR in combination with a metaverse keyboard and mouse will make the experience more lifelike than ever before. The Meta team is aiming for a quick start with Horizon Worlds, but even Zuckerberg acknowledges that we’re not quite there yet. A decade or more will pass before the metaverse gains the kind of visibility and accessibility that its developers at Meta envision. Seeing the metaverse as a shared space where people from different continents can play, learn, exchange, and even collaborate is both idealistic and futuristic. It is possible to re-create bustling city streets with shops, parks, and people in the metaverse, but the technology to sustain it is currently beyond the reach of most people. As the metaverse experience becomes more realistic, public acceptance will follow. Using VR and AR in combination with a metaverse keyboard and mouse will make the experience more lifelike than ever before. Conclusion: The Future of The Metaverse When it comes to virtual reality, the metaverse is no longer a sci-fi fantasy that can only be imagined in the movies. A few years from now, we may see the metaverse used in ways we never imagined conceivable thanks to Facebook/addition Meta’s of fuel to an already burning flame. As the metaverse expands, it will continue to rumble across the globe. However, with its potential to revolutionize the world’s perspective of reality as well as how we interact with society and the Internet, it might likely become as widespread and vital as the Internet. Also published here Stay Connected!

What Does The Metaverse Look Like?

You’ve seen the ads. We’ve all seen the ads. Facebook became Meta, and they let us know all about the new digital revolution called the metaverse with a series of fast-paced cuts that left some of us intrigued, some of us cold, and some of us skeptical. But Facebook/Meta isn’t the only player in the metaverse. Big companies like Microsoft, Disney, and Epic have already become involved and invested. Other software companies are getting excited, hustling to position themselves as architects of the metaverse. Everyone’s got their finger on the pulse. The question arises, for those of us in the peripherals of all this — what will the metaverse mean for me? How is it going to change what I do this year? And what about the future to come? The answer is, it’s up to you. But here are some of the things I’m getting ready for this year: ways to work and live in 2022. Investing in Tools and Tech Put on your VR headsets and your Google Glass frames — the world of virtual and augmented reality isn’t just a possibility, it’s already here. While most view VR headsets as primarily for gamers, there are already plenty of to give the headset a try. To be honest, I don’t think that immersive VR is going to change how we live and work this year. But in non-immersive applications, it’s already made a difference to how we view and purchase products, and even how we communicate — just look at the rise of communications platforms like Zoom, and it gives you a glimpse of the near future. non-game experiences Augmented and mixed reality has already been put in place throughout some popular internet sites — think the Shop tab on Pinterest, or shoppable posts on Instagram and other social media platforms. This is a clear example of how simple the change to the metaverse can happen, and how it can have an impact on day-to-day activities — even without us realizing it. The Virtual Hang The metaverse concept, according to Facebook, is specifically about fostering connections with people, and I can see this impacting how we interact even this year. (In fact, if you’re already a Meta user, it’s having an impact on you right now.) We spend time on social media, on Zoom, reflecting ourselves in our most authentic digital form. I, for one, am getting pretty tired of Zoom. This isn’t a revolutionary opinion, and I’m not alone. But if the metaverse is all about connecting virtually, doesn’t that mean that we’re doomed to a lifetime of unsociable black squares and colleagues forgetting to turn the sound off when they head for the restroom? Not necessarily. Just look at the advent of , such as the birthday parties in online gaming spheres, and a clearer picture of the possibilities begins to emerge. Imagine the convenience of a Zoom work meeting but everyone is represented by avatars. The PowerPoints are shared directly to your account. Even physical objects, such as prototypes, can be experienced as though they are really there. events that are held in virtual spaces The only thing you have to provide for yourself is the coffee. The ability to interact virtually with anyone, anywhere, anytime, can be hugely beneficial. And being able to share virtual objects and experiences puts us in the same world, virtually speaking, no matter where we are. I see this becoming a norm for business communications and bringing us closer to our friends in faraway places. In a world coming off of two years of social distancing and pandemic isolation, I see the connectivity and availability skyrocketing with the advent of the metaverse. Pitching to the Fraternal Twins As a serial entrepreneur who has developed and owns a variety of brands such as logo generators, SaaS products, etc. I have some perspective on developing creative business strategies for the future. But in this case, it isn’t just about planning for a niche market or figuring out what your target audience needs next. This time, it’s about developing for the metaverse. This requires a whole different set of strategizing skills because we can’t just think about pitching the product. We have to think about the entire presentation of the product and interaction with the client — all done virtually. The extra challenge with this, however, is that it isn’t a one-to-one correspondence between our real-world selves and our virtual selves. The metaverse is a gigantic opportunity to explore — not just the virtual world, but the possibilities that lie within ourselves. It’s our chance to choose not only our surroundings but also details about ourselves. More than just choosing our avatar, we can see what our lives would look like if we had different preferences, different environments, different circumstances, different everything. The more we think about the possibilities, the more exciting it gets. From a business perspective, it requires rethinking the approach to the consumer based on the assumption that they will be more open to exploring outside their comfort zone. That’s what the metaverse is all about — getting rid of the comfort zone. As we move forward with creatively crafting products and brands for the metaverse, the entire foundation of market research and demographic-based assumptions will shift. We’ll be pitching to the other versions of our customers, the fraternal twins who may look the same but won’t necessarily respond the way we expect. Getting Ready to Dream Big This brings me to my fourth and final way in which I’m preparing to let the metaverse change my life, starting this year: adding scope to my horizons and extra dimensions to my dreams. A virtual universe has long been the stuff of science fiction. The term “metaverse” was even coined by back in 1992), in his novel Snow Crash. The concept has existed far longer than that, but as we move ahead with the next iteration of the internet, it’s no longer just the stuff that dreams are made of. The metaverse will impact how you work, how you communicate, how you make purchasing decisions, and gradually many other aspects of your life — and it’s all starting now. sci-fi author Neal Stephenson So, how will the metaverse change the way you work and live in 2022? Photo credit: istock.com/ photoman

How Will the Metaverse Change the Way You Live and Work in 2022?

The social hub is the place where players will start their experience with your brand. It’s similar to your brand’s homepage in the web 2.0 sense, or your brand’s Facebook / Instagram page. Here’s our process to designing and building amazing social hubs in The Sandbox. Steps Ask questions to help guide the design Get inspired Create concept drawings Create custom assets Build and iterate Start with Questions Asking questions helps us start with the end in mind. Here are ones that we ask our clients. This might be the most important question, because emotions will help a brand to retain in a person’s mind. Here’s an example of two brands and how I feel about them: How do you want players to feel when they explore the social hub? Apple — makes me feel productive, because it has great design. It removes all clutter and allows me to focus on the task at hand Honda — make me feel confident, that it will get me from point A to point B 99.9999% of the time. Medieval, modern, futuristic, playful, Asian-inspired, etc. If you don’t have a theme in mind, think about how you would like the brand to be perceived. Do you have a theme in mind? Is the brand about being fun? Is so, then almost certainly the social hub needs to have bright colors. Is the brand about being in the future? For example, pretty much everything in crypto is about forward-looking. In this case, the social hub needs to be sort of modern / futuristic theme. What would the brand be telling players if the social hub was an antique medieval castle? These 2–3 things are going to be the main focal points of the social hub. Is there going to be a huge castle? How about a giant sakura tree? Is there going to be a high-speed rail? What are the 2–3 main features of the social hub? 1x1, 2x2, or more? Are you planning to build up or spread out? This has to be decided up front right now. For example, if you created the social hub on a 1x1 LAND, but then decide later to import it into a (because you’ve expanded), you cannot just copy and paste it. There is no feature that allows you to do that at the moment. That 1x1 area would need to be completely re-built on the 3x3. How much LAND will be devoted to just the social hub? 1x1 section of a 3x3 LAND Can that location fit 50, 100 players? Let’s say for example the big meeting area is inside a building. To make it not feel cramped, it’s likely going to need super high ceilings. Something like 15–20 blocks tall will probably suffice. What’s the area that the players will meet for social gatherings? This feature is not implemented yet but we all expect it to be available, especially because Decentraland already has this. How it would work is that certain areas of the map would gate players based on what NFT they have. For a particular NFT collection, the map could restrict certain areas to collectors who hold 10+ NFTs, or ones who spent the most, etc. Will there be an an exclusive VIP area? Get Inspired In this step, we try to get inspired by pulling as many images we can find on a particular theme. We like to use Minecraft images because they are voxel in nature so it gives an accurate sense of what the build will look like. And there are a LOT of structures that have been created in the 10+ years it’s been around. Minecraft builds are great because they’re not limited by physics, like in the real world. So you can very unique experiences. And we should all think like this, as metaverse natives rather than real-world architects building something in the metaverse. We also like to pull reference images that are very different, so we can narrow down what our clients absolutely don’t like. For now, let’s get inspired by looking at some a few really awesome Minecraft builds. Create Concept Drawings We found this step absolutely necessary for anything bigger than a 1x1 or if we have to build the interiors. With interiors, we have to be much more accurate with our planning because there’s more detail to be worked out. Our team uses a software called . Having a concept drawing is like having a schematic and it makes it really easy for our builder to create it block by block. MagicaVoxel Below is how it works for us in a build. Identify and Create Custom Assets There are indeed a good number of default, free assets available to use in the GameMaker software. But we’ve found that every build will need custom assets. Custom assets are identified by both the creative director and the builder on our team. Early on, when our team pulls reference images, we can see what things would look cool to put in a build. In the image above, we could see what we would want in the beach social hub. There’s the string of lights, a tiki hut bar, lots of lounge chairs / beds, drinks everywhere, and of course palm trees. Having 5–6 different reference images allowed our team to quickly capture what assets we’ll need to create. We use the to find assets we could potentially use. Sometimes, it’s easier to just buy the asset. But many times, we’ll need to create our own. Sandbox marketplace We find that these are roughly the number of custom assets we’ll need per size of LAND: 1x1: ~20 assets 2x2: ~50 assets 3x3: 90–100 assets Build And Iterate Creating a social hub in the metaverse is a lot like building software. Sometimes, we can have something that looks good on paper but look so-so when it’s implemented. Because of this, we leave room to add in those final details during the build phase not addressed by the concept drawing. The concept drawing / schematic gets us 90% of the way. The final 10% we leave to the builder. The builder should have some amount of freedom to alter the guidelines in order to make things fit. Since we treat this process more like building software, we use a modified approach. Every week, we’ll use these questions to guide the build process. SCRUM What did we accomplished last week? What are we looking to accomplish this week? Are there any blockers? This is our process to designing and building a social hub in The Sandbox. Frankly, the process would be very similar for Decentraland, Minecraft or other metaverses. That’s it! I hope this guide has been useful for you in creating your own social hub. This article was first published on the . Tentango blog | | Website Twitter Discord We are inspiring the next generation of creators to build even greater things. As a metaverse creative studio, we partner with brands to create immersive experiences in The Sandbox and other metaverses to drive engagement. About Us.

Start Your Sandbox Metaverse Experience by Designing and Building a Social Hub

I don't understand . It seems like a lot of excitement for an idea that big brands can't seem to pin down. Moreover, when they do define it, looks like nothing I haven't heard of before. The Metaverse The Metaverse It's just that this time around, tech giants have taken notice. As a gamer who's been wishing for a VR Renaissance for over a decade, I'm excited. As a tech-creative, I'm baffled it took this long. real As an artist? I'm immediately skeptical and for good reason. What is the Metaverse, exactly? Well, nobody can say. Except they can, because it's old. The first wave of , but it wasn't until the 1980s that computer scientist coined the term "metaverse" to describe a future virtual reality-based universe of avatars and spaces. Suffice to say, the term itself is as old as the modern internet. But it wasn't until the 2000s that the technology finally caught up. VR happened in the 1960s Jaron Lanier —a game every ancient very-online nerd should know of—came out in 2003. It positioned itself as a cyber-life primed on wish-fulfillment, and it was. Second Life People redefined themselves with custom avatars. They sold 3D objects, clothes and art. They even had long-distance relationships in virtual worlds 😱. It was a cyberspace hot-spot, one that I was just a too young to play. It was, and still is, an early incarnation of little The Metaverse. When I think of the Metaverse, I think of the —Microsoft's abandoned (lovely) piece of hardware—which could've ushered in the days of 10 years early. I think of MMORPGs, especially the early ones that were simple to make private servers for, because it meant you could customize . Kinect VRChat anything I waited eagerly after the Kinect's release for full-body mo-cap, easy 3D animation tools and customizable MMORPGs. As this concept failed to launch when it could've, my interest faded. Finally, it seems like Tech Giants have caught on. Facebook—newly dubbed Meta—is obviously on board, VTubers are all the rage, and Microsoft Mesh is aiming to make meetings less Zoom and more VRChat. I should be excited, and on one hand, I am. What's so great about the Metaverse? Artistically? It's the stuff of dreams. The last few years have brought about a flurry of breakthroughs. We're finally at widespread VR adoption. Oculus is already on its second headset—the —which was designed for advanced VR experiences with 360-degree tracking. This means it's easier than ever before for nerds like me to breakdance-fight in cyberspace. It's Quest 2 exciting. Not only that, but the company has their own for creating VR experiences, while Google opened up the to allow developers to bring VR to web browsers. I'm hopeful that, with every "new" stride, we'll get closer to artist-focused 3D pipelines. Lord knows current endeavors aren't built for hobbyist-artists like me. Animation suite WebVR API Lastly, Epic Games released its which allows designers to build virtual worlds using the same tools they use in the real world. Using these cutting-edge technologies, companies like and others aim to deliver VR to more people than ever before. Unreal Studio toolset HTC As an artist trying to cobble together an , a new VR Renaissance means I get to dabble in something that wasn't accessible for a long time. I'm hype. anime-inspired multimedia science fiction property obviously With who's calling the shots, skepticism turns my grin into a grimace. Big tech will undoubtedly shirk safety for "move fast, break stuff" and position profit above creativity and community. It's inevitable. In fact, it's already happening. What's so bad about the Metaverse? Virtual world-building is excellent—but only in the right hands. When I think about the Metaverse, fun, games, community and art-making all come to mind. I'd argue that's what most people are looking for. We're looking for experiences, not a new way to drain our wallets. Sadly, "experiences" aren't what big tech sells. Artists aren't at the forefront of this conversation, neither are the . It's the big brands and reckless NFT enthusiasts that get to shape this not-really-new frontier of cyberspace. tech ethicists That spells trouble for tech that first lived in the land of gaming. On December 25th, 2021, a 13-year old received an Oculus Quest 2 for Christmas. to the headset and was admitted to the hospital. His parents claim the warnings for allergens weren't prominently displayed. Not only that, but and over complaints of allergic reactions. He had an allergic reaction Oculus has a very recent history of recalls 5000 To address this, Oculus added a separate silicon protector. That doesn't tackle the Quest 2's unsafe lining: It's merely a Band-Aid. Which is what big brands are known for when their products don't pass the sniff test. They're also known for wringing out what little joy can be found in creative spaces and turning them into profit engines. Just the other day, , and NFT collector Gabe Sierra, introduced the first ‘MetaReal’ mansion that includes a real-world home and a virtual Metaverse counterpart. ONE Sotheby’s International Realty Voxel Architects , We've gone from 3D lands built by excited nerds, to real estate titans vying to dominate yet another plot of land. This time, it's that's under threat, which truly isn't as dire as real-life land colonization. cyberspace But for people like me...this was meant to be playground. our We create art and make friends with technology. Many of us wish every day that tech moved towards social good. We're the Star Trek idealists looking for a Holodeck. Always at odds with Silicon Valley—though they say they're with us. They aren't. real It's not unlike watching a lush digital tree get pumped full of intrusive Walmart ads the minute it bears its AI-generated fruit. It's sad, honestly. We need to make sure the future of Virtual Reality puts people first If we don't, we're heading for a digital world of trouble The metaverse isn't new, but it will soon be more accessible than ever before. As tech catches up with the ideas of yesteryear, we may finally see a thriving that outpaces all of our wildest dreams. VR Renaissance One thing I hope tech keeps in mind is that occupy virtual spaces. Real people, with real dreams, real creativity and a real desire to expand beyond the physical. real people Virtual Reality open up new landscapes for disabled people, for example. It can give them the ability to experience new things, or re-experience what they used to love doing, but can't anymore (like rollercoaster rides). can . It already has Virtual Reality can open up new landscapes for telehealth and mental health, as well. It can be the bridge between countries, cultures, people and dreams. Virtual Reality can set artists free in brilliant collaborative ways. I believe that. truly Only time will tell what this "new" Metaverse incarnation holds. I, for one, hope it's less NFT MetaMansions and more Transhumanism 1.0. What do you think? K. Leigh is a bi trans guy, , gamer, , and artist. Score for some swag sci-fi eBooks, check out , or for business stuff. TTYS, nerds author of LGBTQ+ stories anime nerd sometimes-freelancer CONSTELIS VOSS cool cyberpunk gear connect on LinkedIn 😘

The Metaverse isn't New - So Why is Big Tech Acting Like it is?

The term was coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 sci-fi novel . It has since been adopted to describe a certain vision of the future of computing and our relationship with technology. The metaverse is now often viewed as a profit-making asset in industries such as and . Stephenson has an advisory role in Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin aerospace company and a position as “Chief Futurist” for Magic Leap, a company that specializes in producing technology for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications (together known as XR or “extended reality”). predicted widespread XR adoption by the 2010s, but, despite Stephenson’s technological optimism, the 2022 metaverse craze is already dissipating. The metaverse failed to be widely adopted, and now the bubble is about to burst. metaverse Snow Crash Web3 Industry 4.0 Snow Crash Luis Bravo Martins and Samantha G. Wolfe intend as “a #responsible #business-oriented book for the #metaverse.” Martins is a chief marketing officer at UK start-up , which is in the business of “worker augmentation” and calls itself “an industrial AR solution to enhance workers on the manufacturing shop floor.” Wolfe is an adjunct professor at NYU and the Founder of PitchFWD, “a boutique strategic advisory firm focused on the emerging technologies ecosystem.” Together, they want to sell you something. In a previous self-published work entitled , written with Cathy Hackl under the “The Marketing Futurists,” Wolfe endorsed a vision of the metaverse that makes it seem more like a dystopian advertising hellscape. The foreword by Lisa Buyer ends: “The journey is just beginning, and you are here. Let’s immerse in the future of marketing today. Namaste.” Metaversed KIT-AR identified on LinkedIn as Marketing New Realities nom de plume —the use of technology to increase worker efficiency—is not a new concept. One example is the introduction of onboard computers in the trucking industry, which—as any trucker will tell you—was never primarily intended to increase the drivers’ safety and comfort but to ensure compliance and increase productivity at all costs. The book, then, is designed for bosses, not workers. Worker augmentation Metaversed Since 2022, the prophecies of a consumer-driven metaverse have given way to efforts to rebrand it as a business tool for collaborative productivity. This is because consumers have rejected the services and products offered by the metaverse for obvious reasons: they entail hardware more expensive than the latest iPhone for an experience worse than the one provided twenty years ago. And in addition, the reputation of the Web 2.0 brands that offer these products has been tainted. Despite the employee-first philosophy many of them once touted, they have been . Conditions of work at the tech giants are beginning to seem much less attractive just as those companies are trying to get us all to slip into their avatars—not for entertainment purposes but as part of a gruesome Second Life hemorrhaging employees officeverse. Martins’ and Wolfe’s book has arrived late to this party, and much of its thrust seems to be based on now outmoded early-2022 consumer optimism. The book predicts that XR will become bigger than the internet, connecting every object, place, and person on the planet, and will have significant effects on various industries that require new roles and skills. They also believe that it will alter the nature of human interactions and dramatically impact society since it will change how we define what we consider to be . (Amid these lofty but vague ambitions, they never explain how we currently define what is .) Even metaverse enthusiast Matthew Ball that this imaginary future offers little that might persuade people to trade in their smartphones for the more costly and cumbersome equipment that is not that different from just being online. But that hasn’t stopped diehard defenders of the metaverse from claiming that they will be able to sell us an alternative reality. real real agrees the metaverse requires to facilitate a user experience For Wolfe and Martins, one of the main selling points of the —especially the officeverse—is that the use of avatars can promote diversity and inclusion since they mask some of the user’s real-life characteristics, such as gender, age, race, and religion. Realistically, however, a culture in which people are known only by their avatars is unlikely to emerge in the current social climate. The widespread adoption of pronouns in bios and email signatures—primarily by people to whom pronoun misattribution is less likely—and the annual corporate scramble to proclaim support for LGBT initiatives during Pride Month suggests that people are more likely to voluntarily try to make these aspects of themselves more salient, rather than concealing them. metaverse don’t ask, don’t tell If employees are forced to exchange material reality for a digital environment, they are going to want some part in the reality-creation process. And at a time of what Guy Rundle as “the rise of the knowledge class,” companies are scrambling to adopt the “new progressivist” values of workers. has described Employers could use these new values to incentivize employees in a metaverse workplace. Moral authority to change workplace conditions could be delegated to individual workers as a reward for productivity. Plus, the ability to choose your own avatar could be presented as a perk: digital self-actualization could be an employment benefit—the metaverse could become a kind of corporate version of the pay-to-play games many of us already have on our phones. Major companies may soon be competing to be the most furry-friendly workplace in the metaverse. Achieve these goals for the firm, and you can join the metaverse on your own terms. But whether we are speaking of individual consumers or company workspaces, there must be widespread adoption of metaverse-related technologies to make it worth investing in such technologies in the first place. That puts those who are selling the technology today—like Wolfe and Martin—in the difficult position of pitching a thing that simultaneously offers to be a marketing paradise with a captive audience and a collective voluntary endeavor: an impossible repeat of the Facebook formula, dependent on hardware that has not yet been adopted. The tech simply does not—and may never—sell itself, regardless of the engineering achievements that it represents. The history of the fax machine provides a cautionary tale here. Although faxes existed for over a century, the technology failed to gain ground in the commercial marketplace until it had reached the very end of its usefulness, despite technological improvements and decreasing costs. Predictions that the metaverse is likely to be adopted by Gen Z, based on their use of platforms like Roblox that include an XR element, feel like a marketing Hail Mary. Setting aside the question of , the use of Roblox is only as indicative of the metaverse’s future as the incessant virtual feeding demanded by Tamagotchis in the 1990s has been predictive of today’s so-called trend. Roblox’s exploitative labor practices quiet quitting As was the case during the dotcom bubble, many companies outside Silicon Valley today are heavily invested in as yet unproven tech. ’s publisher, John Wiley & Sons, is one example. It surpassed $2 billion in revenue in 2022 while it was trying to expand from being merely an educational publisher to providing “tech-enabled” educational services. CEO Brian Napack has stated that his plan for Wiley is to “bridge the widening talent gap with career-connected education products and education services” (i.e., he wants to break into the market). If they want to succeed in that, Wiley would be well advised to maintain its integrity as a scientific publisher. In the past, both Wiley and its subsidiary Hindawi have a number of scientific publications retracted. These were the result of Chinese (organizations selling research paper authorship), aided by collusion rings and tools like SCIgen. Metaversed augmented work paper mills The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), which has collaborated with Wiley since 2001, is also plagued by such problems. The 2022 IEEE Conference on Metaverse in Haikou, China, was funded by various sponsors connected to the Chinese state. That conference featured multiple keynote speakers whose contributions to the IEEE conference seem to have been later retracted on ethical grounds (as a search indicates). Before purchasing Hindawi in 2021, Wiley acquired IT educational service provider, mthree, in 2020, rebranding it as “Wiley Edge” and promising that it would be “future proof” and that clients’ onboarding costs would be minimized. Wiley is, therefore, intimately connected with the kind of worker augmentation the book advocates—so much so that it may sort out its research publishing issues in order to ensure that the growth of its “tech-enabled” solutions continues unimpeded. here In August 2022, the Biden administration acted on an Obama-era , that all federally-funded publications and research be made open access by the end of 2025. The White House has also and has promised more reforms to come. Perhaps Wiley has made its recent retractions in preparation for exploring alternative sources of funding, such as those acquired by the IEEE in Haikou. There are certainly incentives for Wiley to explore augmented work realities that allow new forms of outsourcing (i.e., worker exploitation). Brian Napack, Wiley’s president and CEO since 2017, also serves on the board of Burning Glass, a labor market analysis company. He likes to envision an “ ”—a buzzy manner of describing a labor market trapped in permanent precarity by the lack of open access to professional educational tools. memorandum mandating declared 2023 the Year of Open Science opportunity hyperloop If the by IT and related managerial positions, this could provide the captive audience for Wiley’s educational services, leaving the company ideally placed to lead the predicted —aka . In fact, Wiley-IEEE has just published a Chinese edition of their book . However, it is hard to imagine that the metaverse will really catch on—especially when compared to its recent competitor, AI. It is becoming increasingly clear that the concept of the metaverse signals little more than the hopes of multinational corporations who want to manipulate labor markets in order to generate profit for investors. metaverse were adopted fourth industrial revolution Industry 4.0 Industry 4.1 (edited by Zheng Fangtian) Systems theorist and Silicon Valley idol Buckminster Fuller once said, “We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.” Ironically, author Robert Kiyosaki and others have borrowed this idea from Fuller’s 1981 book to justify their endorsement of cryptocurrency (in reality, Fuller something more akin to Universal Basic Income). Even if the metaverse is more than just a novelty that today’s tech giants are using to try to stay relevant, it is unlikely that you or I would want to experience the “reality” that Wolfe, Martins, Wiley, and Meta want us to buy. It’s just too obvious that this is about profits, not about people. And that is probably the biggest obstacle to its widespread voluntary adoption by consumers. Though perhaps businesses may be able to force it upon their employees. Rich Dad Poor Dad Critical Path was proposing Also published . here

The Metaverse is Now Corporate and Depressing

Ishan Pandey: Hi, Bartek Lechowski, welcome to our series “Behind the Startup.” Please, tell us about your journey and the motivation behind ? Alóki Bartek Lechowski: Hi, Ishan, and hello to our dear readers! For me, it really was a journey that has led me to this point. I have always been interested in technology, especially the aspects of how it influences people and their behaviour. This has led me to focus first on digital , which I led globally for Danone and then move into experience design in many industries, including IKEA, where I served on the board as Chief Experience Officer. marketing We all change over the years and start thinking about what we want to achieve in life and our legacy. Having quite a strong career in the corporate world, for quite some time, I wanted to do something that would be more my own and would bring some benefit to the world. I have met with my long-term friend, who had a similar approach and deep love for the environment, yet he comes from a finance background and together we created a concept of Alóki on a whiteboard by the swimming pool in Costa Rica to make a positive change to the environment using blockchain and reconnect people to nature. Ishan Pandey: I heard you even bought 750 acres in Costa Rica to create the Alóki Sanctuary. Could you tell me more about this place? How do you aim to encourage your users to move towards sustainable development and make them aware of climate change? (Please cover Alóki sanctuary and other points in this question). Bartek Lechowski: This is the best place on Earth, seriously. I and my co-founder and I travelled across the world, and he found this amazing place. Now, these 750 acres in the middle of the jungle have become a home for Alóki. There are lots of waterfalls, other natural drinking water sources, and many wild animals that inhabit these jungles. Tell me that it’s not fascinating to discuss nature while discussing blockchain and metaverses. Our team includes eco-farmers, designers, , architects, and blockchain developers. And together, we will erase the boundary between the real world and our metaverse, even if the latter is “only” 550 football fields put together. In my opinion, this is the real power of Web3. game developers We all love nature and want to take care of it. When I say “we” here, I mean all those responsible to the best of their abilities. People who are opting for smart consumption, , PoS instead of PoW, garbage sorting, and renewable energy. electric cars Some people have never even been outside big cities, or have seldom gone outdoors, and many more have never been in a real jungle. Our goal is to give them the opportunity to discover untouched places, starting with a gaming experience, a visit to the metaverse, and then a personal trip to the sanctuary itself. The first contact can be for free, and if users like what they see, we will allow them to stay. I think places like such sanctuaries should be made more accessible and relatable to people, as this is the only way to promote respect for our planet truly. Ishan Pandey: Speaking about the Metaverse, what is Alóki’s Play-to-On gaming concept and how does it play out in the Metaverse? Bartek Lechowski: The Alóki Metaverse is based on an intricate relationship with the 750 acres of jungle in Costa Rica we own. You will have the opportunity to acquire some of our lands, and by building a house in the metaverse, you will then be able to build a real one in the jungles of Costa Rica. You can plant real trees in the jungle, get a free ride to our location, and stay here. And all of this will be possible by means of the Alóki Metaverse. This is a really interesting concept. I recommend everyone read the detailed description outlined in the Project’s White Paper, which can be found on our website. Ishan Pandey: What are your views on the future of Metaverse and the current global economy? Bartek Lechowski: Metaverses should connect the real world with the digital space. Projects that have no connection to reality are doomed to failure. I expect that the metaverses have a strong potential to contribute to the growth of the global economy. This is an important point of note, but at Alóki, we are focusing on other things that can be summed up by the prevalence of the significance of nature over financial matters. But this is no reason to refrain from money, sell off shares and fade into the jungle. Unless, of course, you are tired of it all and are not entirely certain of what would make you happy. I want to think that it is possible to ensure economic growth while upping the degree of responsibility for our planet. Ishan Pandey: Do you think there is a requirement to regulate e-Gaming, if yes, how would regulations help the industry? Bartek Lechowski: That’s a tough one! The legislation in different jurisdictions regarding games must certainly evolve. I like that many countries are introducing solutions that protect the players, which will probably continue for the market to grow. Our team has some strong people from the gaming industry who were involved in the development of AAA-tier projects, and we will pay considerable attention to regulatory standards. The industry needs to learn from the PC gaming industry since many viable solutions have come a long way. If I were to take an example from the top of my head, I like how Steam changed the situation with early access products. Games that are not yet ready for release and are at the Alpha or Beta testing stage are not only mandatorily marked with a disclaimer but also placed in a separate category outside the main store display. This is a good decision aimed at protecting players. blockchain gaming Blockchain gaming will benefit greatly if similar solutions are introduced in the industry, as at this moment, the number of rug pools and other scams is one of the key things stopping us from mass adoption. It’s tough to balance this and a vision of decentralized blockchain, but the situation where people are losing money so often is not helping the whole industry. Ishan Pandey: What new major trends are we going to see in the blockchain industry? Bartek Lechowski: I would like to think that the environmental trend will develop, considering the Ethereum Merge. Outside of the ecology and nature topics, we should expect the development of metaverses, but I can’t say what will act as a new stimulus for the growth of the cryptocurrency market and drive its capitalization as DeFi and NFT had done before. Everything will depend on the regulators since the technological basis for further development is already present. Last but not least, the market does need to evolve with more simple solutions that will allow us to onboard new groups of players. Without that, it would be a pity for web3 to be associated only with high-risk investments and expensive profile pictures – there is so much potential in this space. Don’t forget to like and share the story! Image credits: . Shubham's Web3

Building a Gaming Metaverse on 750 Acres of Land in Costa Rica

Defining The Metaverse with Charles Read: The New Internet Experience Built By Gamers

Definición del metaverso con Charles Read: la nueva experiencia de Internet creada por los jugadores

Définir le métaverse avec Charles Read : la nouvelle expérience Internet créée par les joueurs

चार्ल्स के साथ मेटावर्स को परिभाषित करना पढ़ें: गेमर्स द्वारा निर्मित नया इंटरनेट अनुभव

Charles Read によるメタバースの定義: ゲーマーが構築した新しいインターネット体験

Definindo o metaverso com Charles Read: a nova experiência na Internet criada pelos jogadores

Định nghĩa Metaverse với Charles Đọc: Trải nghiệm Internet mới do game thủ xây dựng

与 Charles Read 一起定义元宇宙：游戏玩家打造的全新互联网体验

The Metaverse is becoming a reality faster than ever before, and soon enough, it will be a place for all of us to and earn money as well! Billions of dollars worth of investments are being poured into various different Metaverse projects, with almost every company trying to come up with their Metaverse. There are a whole bunch of potential job opportunities that are gonna pop up in the Metaverse, and in this article, I’ll be taking a look at some of the most exciting ones.  So, let’s take a look at some of the top possible future jobs in the Metaverse! work own What is the Metaverse? Before I move on to what sort of jobs you can have in the Metaverse, it’s important to understand what the Metaverse really even is. The Metaverse is considered the next big evolution that the internet will go through. Some also refer to it as Web3, while others consider that to be a different thing. Regardless, ‘The Metaverse’ is going to be the most immersive internet experience ever. According to the Coin Market Cap, Metaverse is going to be a $13 Trillion market by 2030 with over 5 billion users. Instead of having web pages, applications, and other things like that, there are going to be “spaces”. You can be virtually present inside these spaces and feel like you’re there with the help of VR and AR technologies. Another thing about these spaces is that you’ll be able to them in the form of NFTs. These NFTs can represent virtual lands, houses, clothes, items, and pretty much any sort of thing within the Metaverse. You could own your own house, live in it, sell it for a profit, and do so much more. It’s sort of like a recreation of real life on the internet. own Now, there are a lot of different you can have in the Metaverse as well, let’s take a look at what some of those are: jobs 1. Real Estate Jobs Real estate is one of the most obvious ways that you can make money in the Metaverse. If you take Decentraland, one of the most popular Metaverse platforms out there right now, as an example, you’ll know exactly why. Decentraland is an entire world with a limited number of land plots people can buy in the form of NFTs. On these plots, users can build almost anything they want, whether it’s a house, park, concert venue, billboard, or anything that you could possibly think of. Now, every single NFT holds value, and they can be to other people. As more and more people buy up plots in Decentraland, the higher the value of each individual plot is going to be because of its limited number. On top of that, all of the “cooler” plots with actual construction on them are going to be worth a lot more than just empty plots. This has paved the way for a real estate industry that works in almost the exact same way as it does in the real world. A lot of people could earn a lot of money from just buying and selling Metaverse properties, and on top of that, there could even be real estate agents within this world, opening up job opportunities for so many people. transferred Recently a plot of land was sold at $2.4 million, which is pretty much as expensive as real life. So, the sooner you get into this, you can make a lot of money, and you can make a career. For example, you can become a real estate agent, open your own agency in the metaverse and buy and sell lands and properties just like you do in real life. I know it is kind of unreal, but the future is all about virtual worlds and the metaverse. 2. Fashion Industry Jobs The fashion industry in the Metaverse is also going to be . Think about it, everyone in the Metaverse is going to have their own avatar who is going to represent them. That avatar is going to wear clothes and accessories, all of which will be NFTs. There are going to be a lot of different brands you could potentially buy outfits from. massive There are already certain brands that are present in the Metaverse, such as Nike, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci. These brands have opened up their own virtual Metaverse stores, where people can go and shop for virtual items. You’re probably wondering — why are people spending money on items that are completely cosmetic? Well, it isn’t anything new. Just take a look at any free-to-play game out there like Fortnite or Apex Legends. virtual In both of these games, you have the ability to buy cosmetic items like skins that bring no change to your gameplay, and you actually have to pay real money to do so. The Metaverse will be similar, but you could even these items yourself. Even on Snapchat, you can customize your avatar using designs from famous fashion brands like Ralph Lauren and Nike. sell Metaverse is going to have fashion designers and event planners. retail workers, stylists, and so many other jobs that are directly related to the fashion industry itself. The global fashion industry is already worth of dollars, and its launch into the Metaverse is just something that will definitely become more active. trillions 3. Influencers and Celebrities Another thing about Metaverse avatars is that some of them are going to be more popular than others. This can and eventually lead to the creation of Metaverse celebrities and influencers. Fans following fictional or virtual characters are nothing new at all, and it’s only a matter of time before it happens in the Metaverse as well. will It’s likely that Metaverse influencers will be directly tied to the fashion industry as well, and they’re always going to be the “trendsetters”, wearing all the latest trends and influencing fashion across platforms. Of course, just like in the real world, these influencers will be able to monetize their fame as well. They could do brand deals, advertisements, paid events, and so much more. It’s difficult to predict what it’s going to actually be like for Metaverse influencers, but it’s almost certain that they going to be a thing. are 4. Event Management Another thing about the Metaverse is that it’s going to have a lot of . As I mentioned, certain Metaverse influencers will hold events to meet up with their fans, just like influencers will do in the real world. There are going to be virtual performances, expos, and so many other things. Imagine the Dubai Expo taking place in the Metaverse! Something like that going to be a possibility very soon. In fact, certain celebrities like Snoop Dogg have already held virtual concerts inside the Metaverse. All of the attendees actually had to to attend this concert, and guess what? It got . There’s a very clear market for this, and it’s all backed by money. events is pay sold out real Because of this, there will also be the need for Metaverse event planners. Just like in the real world, there, event planners and managers will be needed for every event that is held there. There will eventually even come a time when companies like Apple announce their newest devices in the Metaverse, other events like E3 and Comic-Con might also move to the Metaverse, and all of the jobs that these events usually create are going to move to the Metaverse. Virtual jobs are already a thing, and the Metaverse is going to enhance their capabilities and scope. also 5. Architecture and Design This is another “industry” that is going to be directly related to the fact that you can own assets in the Metaverse. If you’re going to make a building or any sort on the piece of land that you virtually own, you can’t just do it all by yourself. Just like in the real world, you’re going to require the help of architects and designers. These jobs are going to play an important role in making the Metaverse actually look good. There’s no doubt that a lot of companies would be willing to pay some big bucks to architects and designers to make their buildings look better than anyone else. extremely There are even more jobs, such as interior designers, that will be required in the Metaverse once it becomes more mature in age. It’s not likely that these jobs are going to be “big” in the Metaverse early on, but those of us who can the market is probably gonna be set for . capture life 6. Advertising What’s the one thing that makes the internet more money than anything else in the world? Advertising. You might know Google as a search engine, the owner of Gmail, and YouTube, but Google is primarily an company. That’s the reason why it’s valued at almost a dollars. The Metaverse is pretty much for advertisement. There are going to be jobs in the Metaverse to not only create advertisements, but also to manage them, display them, and so much more. advertising trillion primed Eventually, there will be entire companies entirely the Metaverse where the sole purpose will be to create ads and earn money. These companies are going to bring a lot of jobs with them, just like how Google employs thousands of people around the world. Once again, the exact scale of this can’t be predicted, but it’s something that happen. within will Other Jobs There will also probably be a lot of other jobs in the Metaverse beyond some of the big ones I mentioned in this article. For example, there will likely be a lot of tech-related jobs, finance-related jobs, aviation, tourism, and other kinds of jobs in the Metaverse as well, along with some basic jobs that we do every day in the real world. At the end of the day, the Metaverse will become a reality sooner or later, and we don’t fully know all the kinds of jobs that Metaverse will create, but it’s going to be exciting to see it turn into a reality. new Do you think the average person will be making a lot of money in the Metaverse? Let me know in the comments below! Stay informed by visiting my YouTube Channel https://bit.ly/3720zFW

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metaverse-architects.com

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Since 2020

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EVERGREEN INDEX #6602

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