![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/into-the-multiverse-of-the-metaverse.jpg\")
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EVE Online <\/article>\nBecoming Whoever Or Whatever You Want<\/h2>\n
Following the release of Snow Crash<\/em>, the word \u201cmetaverse\u201d was thrown around just as haphazardly as it is today. As it\u2019s defined in the novel, the Metaverse is a hyper-real digital world. So real that, for example, if your online avatar was hacked with a dangerous virus, you might experience actual brain damage. Companies like Makena Technologies and Immersion Corp. pitched their own ideas of that metaverse, with less brain damage, but technology in the \u201990s proved too primitive to bring it to life.<\/p>\n The idea subsided until innovations in the early 2000s, when games such as Second Life and PlayStation Home revitalized the discussion once again. By then, MMOs like World of Warcraft and EVE Online were in the hands of gamers and becoming more popular, and while metaverse discussion had calmed once more, the term \u201cmetaverse\u201d could have easily been swapped with \u201cMMO.\u201d Fast forward 19 years, and P\u00e9tursson is aware that the metaverse discussions of the \u201990s, and then the 2000s, are returning. And yet, he thinks we\u2019re still another 25 years off from the metaverse everyone pictures in their head.<\/p>\n While the term \u201cmetaverse\u201d remains almost as nebulous as it has in years past, its potential to transform the world, or at least gaming, is evident.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea of the metaverse is so attractive [because] it feels like something where you will have more agency, which is related to power,\u201d P\u00e9tursson says. \u201cWhy do people go and play games online? It\u2019s about the power fantasy. I cannot currently build a space empire [in real life].\u201d<\/p>\n In EVE Online, though, he can and millions of players do because at the heart of the game is agency, the same agency that might prop up the metaverse one day. If you want to build a space empire in EVE Online, the skeleton needed to do that is there. If it doesn\u2019t interest you, there\u2019s plenty else you can do.<\/p>\n However, discussions about the metaverse such as this carry with them a sense of irony. The metaverse is about agency and power fantasies, and doing what you didn\u2019t think possible. Because the metaverse isn\u2019t really a thing beyond a buzz word Silicon Valley especially loves right now, you can say \u201cthe metaverse is this\u201d or \u201cthe metaverse is that\u201d and you\u2019d be right, because it\u2019s whatever you want it to be. Considering video games have been providing us the stories and gameplay of people we wish we were (or weren\u2019t) for decades, the idea of the metaverse as it\u2019s largely viewed today makes us ask: is the only difference between video games we all know and love and the metaverse a cheesy cyberpunk-esque headpiece that puts us into virtual reality? The more companies like Meta input into the discourse, the more it certainly seems that way.<\/p>\n Andrew Eiche, the COO of Owlchemy Labs, the studio behind VR titles like Job Simulator, has a view similar to P\u00e9tursson\u2019s assessment of agency and why the idea of the metaverse is not just recurring, but powerful.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople want to feel connected, right?\u201d Eiche says. \u201cI think the pandemic has accelerated this in that we understand the stark limitations of video chat [better than ever]. FaceTime was good enough, but now that we\u2019ve really had to rely on it, we understand that there has to be something better, and I think the metaverse is a place right now where \u2026 we can find that connection.\u201d<\/p>\n But our grandmothers aren\u2019t going to log in to something like EVE Online to gain a better connection to us. They probably need a different kind of user interface to feel what EVE Online players feel when playing together \u2013 something that realizes Holotech Studios Inc. co-founder and CEO Dragos-Florin Stanculescu\u2019s view of the metaverse: life as we already know it, enhanced by new technologies.<\/p>\n Holotech\u2019s Animaze is an advanced overlay that people can use on video calls or streams. And these aren\u2019t just simple overlays \u2013 they blink, and track your eyes, facial movements, and arms too. Sure, there\u2019s an element of fun to it all, but at the heart of what Holotech is trying to do is a desire to help people be who they want to be.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that being able to overcome your anxiety by becoming somebody else is really important [in this digital age] and having a tool that enables people to do that is really important,\u201d Stanculescu says. \u201cThere\u2019s also the more philosophical side of things: what\u2019s real and what\u2019s better than real? We crave hyper-reality. It\u2019s why we prefer things with a brighter color. That\u2019s why we prefer sweet things. That\u2019s why we are so easily hooked on unnatural beauty standards that you do in Photoshop. These super-normal stimuli actually work very well in our brains and hyper-reality plucks those strings.\u201d<\/p>\n The metaverse so often veers into hyper-reality territory as a result of that stimuli, Stanculescu says. Animaze is there to meet people where that hyper-reality clicks for them. If they\u2019re more comfortable as a dragon in the metaverse, Animaze wants to have an avatar overlay ready for them.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, this is progress towards a better form of communication that we can\u2019t do in our human form,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The possibilities for what one person needs to obtain that connection versus another person are theoretically endless, and Eiche believes that\u2019s why there are 50 different \u201cmetaverses\u201d out there right now.<\/p>\n Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer sees metaverses as varying from one person to the next, too, although he\u2019s not quite sure a metaverse is anything more than the virtual spaces we\u2019ve been playing in for decades.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely see [the metaverse] as an extension of what gaming has been doing,\u201d Spencer told The New York Times<\/em><\/a> in a recent interview. \u201cI think as we look at the workplace going online [and] hybrid work environments, where we might have some of our coworkers together in one place [and] others that are on the other end of a call, we look at these virtual spaces and [apply] some of the things that we\u2019ve learned in video games of people coming together \u2026 to achieve tasks.\u201d<\/p>\n Spencer said that at Microsoft, the thinking on the metaverse is very much about taking what the company has already learned about online interaction and applying it to what the next evolution of, say, Microsoft Teams, might be. The Xbox head also believes that it\u2019s important to acknowledge that for many growing up today, video games are the place to seek and find social connection. Instead of playing on a playground after school, friends might meet up in an online game.<\/p>\n For the generation growing up with games, Spencer believes the metaverse will be a much easier concept to grasp. Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick would agree with Spencer\u2019s belief that video games already exist as metaverses.<\/p>\n \u201cI would argue we\u2019re [Take-Two Interactive] probably the biggest metaverse company on Earth if you look in terms of revenue and profits because we\u2019re in Grand Theft Auto Online, which really, I think, defines the metaverse today,\u201d Zelnick told CNBC<\/em><\/a> last November.<\/p>\n The Take-Two CEO is on board with video games existing as metaverses, but he\u2019s cautious of tech companies like Meta entering the space. He said he doesn\u2019t believe Meta\u2019s vision of the metaverse is what consumers want, adding that he\u2019s skeptical people want to conduct all of their usual daily tasks digitally.<\/p>\n Zelnick joins many others in the tech industry who are wary of where metaverse discussions are going, especially regarding Meta\u2019s vision of it. Even PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi can\u2019t get behind the idea of a metaverse as it\u2019s envisioned by many today.<\/p>\n \u201cYou would rather be a polished avatar instead of your real self?\u201d Kutaragi\u00a0told Bloomberg<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>in January. \u201cThat\u2019s essentially no different from anonymous message board sites. Headsets would isolate you from the real world, and I can\u2019t agree with that. Headsets are simply annoying.\u201d<\/p>\n While Kutaragi finds headsets like PSVR or the Meta Quest 2 annoying, others find some of their favorite video game experiences in them, like Owlchemy\u2019s Job Simulator. But just because someone enjoys a few hours in a VR video game doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re ready to strap on that same headset all day to complete tasks like, \u201ctake the virtual dog out for a walk,\u201d \u201cgrab virtual coffee at the virtual coffee shop down the virtual street,\u201d or even the ever-so-exciting \u201ccomplete work in a virtual office that work says is better than your home office.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, Eiche points to Roblox as an example of where the idea of a metaverse is today.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I look at the metaverse, I look at it as a set of different kinds of things and existences and environments, or at least places where you could live,\u201d Eiche says. \u201cFortnite is an example of a space with a lot of different things, and Roblox too. You can even start to map some of the parallels between [what\u2019s] real and Roblox. If you ask me, is [the metaverse] the office? Eventually, it will be, but the thing that you think will be the office is just not going to work out because you\u2019re starting by bounding yourself. You\u2019re building a literal cubicle with walls around what you can do.\u201d<\/p>\n For Sandbox co-founder and COO Sebastien Borget, who runs PIXOWL INC, the metaverse is supposedly a sandbox where NFTs and blockchain-minted items can pass boundlessly from one thing to the next. The Sandbox is an MMO that readily uses the word \u201cmetaverse\u201d to describe itself. It resembles Minecraft and The Touryst in graphics, but is decidedly built around multiplayer interaction and relies heavily on the idea of NFTs and owning digital land, with receipts kept on the blockchain.<\/p>\n It\u2019s received millions in funding and has a sizeable player base, growing significantly in 2021 to reach more than 500,000. It has branding partners in Snoop Dogg, The Walking Dead<\/em>, Atari, and over 100 more. Despite its lesser-known popularity in traditional gaming circles, it\u2019s a powerhouse in the world of NFT games.<\/p>\n Borget says The Sandbox is positioned as an open metaverse that enables users to \u201ctruly own\u201d their digital assets and the creations they make.<\/p>\n \u201cTo us, the metaverse \u2026 is essentially a digital parallel universe where users, human beings, will be engaging with more social, more immersive experiences through an avatar or 3D character that will be a representation of itself,\u201d Borget says. \u201cThey will use that same avatar across multiple experiences, and to go a bit further, the metaverse is not a single company. In our opinion, it is not Meta. It\u2019s not Facebook. It\u2019s not Roblox. It\u2019s not Fortnite. It\u2019s a myriad of online virtual worlds. It\u2019s the plurality of them and this is the idea: users can transfer their identity, their digital assets, their virtual belongings, their currency \u2026 to different worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n As many have pointed out before, this doesn\u2019t consider developers, which are the most important aspect of this idea of the metaverse. In order for your favorite weapon skin from Valorant to work in Fortnite, as pushers of NFTs have envisioned, both Riot Games and Epic Games would need to communicate and work out the technicalities of bringing a skin designed for one game\u2019s weapon over to a completely different game. Not to mention, said skin would need to be turned into an NFT first, which is something it seems many developers would be opposed to doing on principle anyway. In short, this isn\u2019t a reality.<\/p>\n However, Borget believes The Sandbox is already on its way to doing that. And it is, but only within the confines of The Sandbox and cryptowallets.<\/p>\n \u201cHow those [NFT] contents are then represented in any application \u2026 is up to a developer,\u201d Borget says.<\/p>\n \u201cUp to a developer\u201d is key, though, and it\u2019s why the cross-platform nature of NFTs and blockchain gaming usually doesn\u2019t get far. It also prompts the question: what developers are willing, and have the time, to open up a game\u2019s walls to allow content from this<\/em> game or that<\/em> into it? That\u2019s a question The Sandbox and other companies diving into NFTs like EA, Ubisoft, Konami, and Square Enix will need to address. And then they\u2019ll need to answer the environmental aspect of NFTs and explain how their NFT moves aren\u2019t just a new form of microtransactions with a particularly sinister spin in the form of play-to-earn in some cases.<\/p>\n Despite Borget\u2019s positive outlook on this idea of the metaverse, there\u2019s the inherently negative aspect of all this. Blockchain games and NFTs have drawn heavy criticism in the industry thus far due to their part in ongoing environmental damage. Plus, many view NFTs as scams, or at least scam-like in nature.<\/p>\n PIXOWL released a 2021 blog post<\/a> last summer\u00a0that said after switching to Polygon\u2019s Layer 2, the game was able to reduce its carbon footprint of NFTs by up to 99-percent. As many have pointed out before, if a carbon footprint was already 200 times greater than what we as a society already create, decreasing said footprint by 100-fold doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s good for the Earth \u2013 it\u2019s just not as bad for it as it used to be. And even if an NFT transaction is now green, there are still other concerns surrounding NFTs in general like true ownership, whether the content was stolen before it was minted, and more.<\/p>\n Eiche and many others are critical of the NFT-powered idea of the metaverse. There are two reasons why the metaverse persists decade after decade, according to Eiche, and the first is the idea of striving for a better connection. The second, though, is more cynical.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an avenue for money, and it\u2019s the next big battleground for yours,\u201d Eiche says. \u201cA company might say, \u2018Oh crap, we may not have won social media\u2019 or maybe you are a company that did win social media [Facebook\/Meta] and you\u2019re like, \u2018Wow, we can\u2019t lose the next one,\u2019 right? That\u2019s the cynical answer.\u201d<\/p>\n Eiche homes in on something that every person Game Informer<\/em> spoke to touched on: like it or hate it, the metaverse is going to happen. What it looks like is still unknown, and when it actually arrives is too, but as P\u00e9tursson points out, it\u2019s going to keep coming around.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s likely to have a different definition each time. Like in the \u201990s and the 2000s that preceded it, the metaverse grows in concept alongside the expansion of the internet and gaming as we know it. Before we could tangibly enter virtual reality worlds, the metaverse was all about VR. Now that VR is here, the metaverse needs to be more. Who\u2019s to say that when we finally achieve the metaverse the \u201990s always hypothesized that it won\u2019t just as quickly grow stale, leaving users wanting more, much in the same way MMOs, websites, and social media platforms do today? The metaverse is a destination many are after, but as it stands today, it\u2019s nothing more than an endless chase. Which company crosses the finish line first will depend on whose definition of the metaverse we, the eventual userbase, agree upon.<\/p>\n This article originally appeared in Issue 344<\/a> of Game Informer.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/into-the-multiverse-of-the-metaverse-2.jpg\")
Depending on who you ask, CCP Games\u2019 EVE Online could be seen as a metaverse and at the heart of that idea is the agency the game provides its players <\/article>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/into-the-multiverse-of-the-metaverse-3.jpg\")
Job Simulator\u2019s virtual office, built as a game, looks somewhat similar to Meta\u2019s idea of a metaverse but is significantly more fun and appealing <\/article>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/into-the-multiverse-of-the-metaverse-4.jpg\")
Holotech\u2019s Animaze isn\u2019t a metaverse, per se, but its overlay products are designed to make whatever the metaverse ends up being more welcoming <\/article>\nWhose Metaverse Is It Anyway?<\/h2>\n
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The Sandbox <\/article>\nDigital Real Estate<\/h2>\n
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PIXOWL INC. refers to The Sandbox as a metaverse and it\u2019s heavily reliant on the blockchain and non-fungible tokens <\/article>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/into-the-multiverse-of-the-metaverse-8.jpg\")
In The Sandbox, players can purchase virtual plots of land and freely sell them to other players using cryptocurrency <\/article>\n
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