The Metaverse Story: From GTA Vice City to the Sandbox

I started my digital journey in 2002 when a 5-year-old kid got a PC on his birthday. I didn’t know much about technology at the time but games and movies were always my favorite. And then one fine day, a friend gave me a DVD containing a whole new gaming experience. It was GTA Vice City and the moment I started playing, I become a fan forever.

But why, what was different about this game??

Why?

Video Game summers got me playing Mario, Contra, Roadrash, and many more, but they were all designed to be played in a deterministic storyline. I was always constrained in what minimal I can choose to do apart from a decided path. The “awe” moment for Vice City was that I could do whatever I wanted in a whole city apart from the storyline. I could snatch other NPC cars, buy guns, rampage on roads, drive a tank, and the possibilities seemed limitless.

Okay, What About Metaverse?

To understand the metaverse, just extrapolate the same videogame - “Vice City”. Although the possibilities seemed limitless, there was a lot you couldn’t do, like - Reselling an estate, entering all buildings, creating new graffiti, playing with friends, and all the unlimited imaginative tasks one can think of.

I visualize Vice City as the primitive metaverse, which Rockstar Games enhanced in their next-generation projects like GTA San Andreas, GTA V, GTA online, etc, but were still focused on the gaming community and their experience. The 3D world became more realistic and capable in features but was still built on the web2 native ideas.

So What is the Metaverse?

Simply stated Metaverse is the 3D extension of our digital life. Currently, we interact with our devices in a 2D space, scrolling for half a day on social media apps. Just think if you could actually enjoy the digital experience with a whole new understanding. With just a pair of VR headsets, one can visit his favorite destination, join the office team meet in 3D, enjoy a roller coaster, try on new Air Jordans, or even learn favorite subjects without leaving the comfort of a couch.

With the current crypto trend, people often confuse Metaverse with Blockchain Technology, but the truth is that we don’t know how this next-generation internet will turn out to be. Many Metaverse projects solve different problems with the help of new cutting-edge technologies like AI, IoT, Blockchain, and web3, but they certainly need not adopt crypto every time.

Enter Web3!!

Now to understand this bit, we need to understand blockchain. Coming back to the GTA Vice City, it didn’t have any concept of NFT or digital assets, was it not a metaverse? Do we even need blockchain to enjoy the metaverse?

To understand this we need to seek the benefits blockchain brings to the table. Starting with the concept of Bitcoin. It was created as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system without depending on any central intermediary, i.e. Decentralised. And almost a decade later thanks to the most popular altcoin in the space, Ethereum popularises the notion of smart contracts. With the help of these smart contracts, creators can now own and monetize their digital assets.

Digital data is easily replicated, whether it be music, photograph, digital art, or even a piece of code, and proving the origin of any such content is extremely difficult. But with the help of smart contracts, anyone can convert their digital creation into an NFT (Non-Fungible Token). Simply put, this will help creators own their digital content and benefit from its intellectual rights.

NFT + Metaverse

Again in simple terms, NFTs help determine the custody of digital assets, and to think about it, metaverse has tonnes of digital assets.

Leading projects like Decentraland and Sandbox offer these digital lands, estates, characters, and objects to their users, which can be accessed using crypto wallets. These assets can be transferred, sold, or rented using marketplaces like Opensea, Minatable, Magic Eden, etc.

Also, users can create their own digital assets and unleash their imagination on the most advanced blank canvas. This completes the important piece of the puzzle by bringing back the power in the hands of the user community, i.e. decentralization.

Future Of Internet

Just imagine how much user data is exploited by social media companies, and all because of some greedy people making decisions for us. This could be changed with the decentralization nature of blockchain integrated with Metaverse. Facebook realizing the potential of the metaverse, quickly changed its branding to “Meta”, but would it really bring good by trusting the same people entering into the new Internet era?

Or would it be better to have custody of your data and Assets?

Think about it, DYOR, and help make the Internet beautiful again!!