Have we Met(A) Before?

Recently, we’ve been using the term metaverse to imply a new idea. Truthfully, people have been spending time in virtual places for years. Gaming, especially, has allowed us these types of escapes — from the Sims to Grand Theft Auto. The only difference is that now we are seeing extensions of this general idea as creators take advantage of all the technology we have today. Companies and developers are making gaming realities interoperableto create an immersive, digital shared space that exists on and across blockchains.

Leading me to the question: havewe already met in the metaverse?

Today, I’d like to highlight some blockchains and tokens related to the metaverse: a network of virtual spaces where users, builders, and AI can interact. This can include virtual and augmented reality — and can serve as a venue for gaming, socializing, and earning.

It might help to set some guardrails with a quick vocab lesson fromVentureBeat:

”Virtual reality (VR) is an immersive and interactive simulated environment that is experienced in the first person and provides a strong sense of presence to the user.

Augmented reality (AR) is an immersive and interactive environment in which virtual content is spatially registered to the real world and experienced in the first person, providing a strong sense of presence in a combined real/virtual space…

Extended reality (XR) emerged to describe the full spectrum of VR and AR capabilities and has become a convenient catch-all for many forms of immersive media.”

It’s with excitement that I write about these innovations because I’ve been trying to increase my exposure to the metaverse through as decentralized avenues as possible. With that said, I’m going to give the same disclosure I usually give: I currently own or have owned some of these tokens or related products. This is not financial advice and as always, DYOR.

Avalanche (AVAX)

AVAX is the native token of the Avalanche platform, an open-source blockchain that operates with smart contracts as a DeFi haven of sorts. They are on the more decentralized end of the spectrum and brand themselves as “blazingly fast, low cost, & eco-friendly”.  They offer staking opportunities (PoS) to process transfers and help keep the platform secure.

Polygon ($MATIC)

Polygon is a PoS multi-chain scaling platform built by and for Web3 developers. This means it provides infrastructure solutions compatible with Ethereum and other blockchains — benefitting from the network effects of Ethereum and helping dApps improve performance. Their primary aim is to solve for issues like high gas fees and slow speeds. $MATIC is the name of their token.

Decentral Games (ICE)

Games, games, baby! Decentral Games is a sizzling hot spot for play-to-earn (P2E) gaming — and the opportunities afforded by its in-game currency (ICE) spark global excitement. ICE poker is one of the games that allows individuals to earn liquidity and participate in their NFT wearable collection. It requires an NFT wearable to play — which can be purchased, traded, or borrowed. Individuals can vote in the Decentral Games DAO with its governance token (DG) to make changes and issue fees, and gilds allow built-in delegation to structure the community.

It’s all about allowing gamers and creators to earn and advocate for their own skills…and this metaverse has allowed communities around the world to earn in new, surprising ways.

Decentraland (MANA)

Decentraland is a virtual reality platform that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform uses tokens called MANA, which individuals can use to purchase plots of land to sell/trade or build upon (or to buy other virtual goods). At the time of writing this post, Decentraland currently ranks #30 on CoinMarketCap.

Corporate & Celebrity Adoption

It’s nearly impossible to avoid the topic of the metaverse in crypto spheres lately. Institutional adoption has seen a rise within the gaming economy and virtual reality — as in the case of Microsoft buying Activision for $69 billion or the Facebook/Meta rebrand and their Oculus products.

With celebrities like Eva Longoria and Paris Hilton unfolding their own NFT-driven metaverse projects, we’re also seeing tech spaces for women blossom with a little nudge from celeb endorsers. Women-run NFT collections like World of Women and Crypto Chicks (peep the blue!) are forging connections as they prime their communities for XR launches and concepts. In some cases, like with Nifty’s Matrix NFTs, this even includes 3D avatars.

We’ll have to wait and see whether the rest of 2022 brings more metaverse enthusiasm or if all that end-of-year buzz was mostly a result of corporate buy-in. I am hopeful that the more decentralized projects in this space — ones that hold respect for the ethos of gaming and our spirited crypto community — will lead to building safe, fun, and accessible experiences for all players (where we can meet again and again).

Disclosure: At the time of writing this piece, I own Matrix NFTs, Crypto Chick NFT, and invest in a few of the currencies/projects mentioned. Though some of these games and metaverses offer potential liquidity and staking opportunities, all investments come with risk. This article is not financial advice and you should do your own research and/or consult a financial professional before making any investment decisions.