Around the Metaverse by DrFran Babcock 

INTRODUCTION 

I spend a lot of time in several virtual worlds, reading about other virtual worlds, and building in other worlds. The content I will post here is mostly curated by me, and sourced by me, and reflects completely my perspective. I do want to say that I believe that the Metaverse is and will be a collection of worlds and experiences. As Tony Parisi says: There is only one Metaverse (https://medium.com/meta-verses/the-seven-rules-of-the-metaverse-7d4e06fa864c). The glorious and beautiful Sansar is but one of many worlds in the Metaverse. It is the best world in the Metaverse, but, as I said, this is my perspective. 

WHAT’S HAPPENING? 

Gamers vs. Crypto Bros 

As the hype cycle for Metaverse continues to grow, there are signs of sides being drawn. Perhaps the biggest rift is that between those who see games and virtual worlds as places to live, fully formed, with the opportunity to make money in marketplaces and the like vs. The individuals who believe that the new world of Metaverse is about cryptocurrency, NFTs, and land purchased on the blockchain. The debate between them is often contentious, and rarely seeks to understand the other perspective. At this point, there is no way to predict how this will turn out. One thing it will do is evolve, and that evolution will contain aspects of the entire spectrum of ways to run a world. The best way to know about this is to explore for yourself. The inestimable Ryan Schultz has a table of many virtual worlds you can visit to see how they handle things that might be important to you: https://ryanschultz.com/list-of-social-vr-virtual-worlds/ 

Choosing your Home(s) 

To make it simpler, let me explain how I chose the worlds in which I spend time and create content: 

1. Does it have an active and friendly community? Sansar is well-known to have a helpful and loving community. Second Life (one of the earliest virtual worlds) allows one to find like-minded people but is big enough to make this a daunting challenge. The same goes for VRChat, AltSpace, and the gaming worlds of Roblox and RecRoom. 

2. Is it Web-based or on a Viewer? Many people look to the mystical Web 3.0 as the doorway to the Metaverse. In my opinion, it’s a step backward, even when using a VR headset, because the graphics are mostly flat, and sacrifice looks for accessibility. If access is important, these might be for you. Web-based worlds also tend to be blockchain/NFT based. 

3. Embodiment – What do avatars look like? Can I customize my avatar? Again, Sansar allows for a humanoid avatar that is customizable, but not a finished product. Second LIfe has the greatest variety of customizable avatars anywhere in the Metaverse. Meta Horizon Worlds, RecRoom, AltSpace, and Roblox sacrifice complexity of avatars to allow for lower end user compatibility. In my opinion, embodiment is particularly important, and how I can present as an avatar is important to me. It may not be important to you. 

4. Open source/closed source? At this point, most worlds (Web-based worlds and Viewer-supported) are either run by huge corporations such as Meta, MIcrosoft, Epic, etc. There are small groups of people all over the world trying to create worlds that are open-sourced, which means they are not owned by anyone, and can be modded for your own use. Vircadia and Overte are two examples of these, both being forks of the old Philip Rosedale created High Fidelity, which is now defunct. Sansar is a closed world. While I could make many worlds for free, if I wanted to take them from Sansar and put them elsewhere, I could not do that. The models I created are mine, but anything I bought in Sansar, or anything Sansar provided (Platform, baking, etc.) would stay behind) 

5. Is there a way to make money? This is especially important for many people, not so for me. However, a working marketplace with a large inventory of items is a definite plus. In addition, a good platform supports events, music performances and allows people to stream and perform as DJs. Second Life and Sansar both have excellent internal Marketplaces and event tools. VRChat does not have a Marketplace, but there is a thriving external market for avatars, and in-world Patreon kiosks to facilitate “tipping” creators for their builds. For me, NFTs, Crypto, blockchain is not necessary, but I know many people for whom this is the number one condition for the Metaverse participation. 

6. Is there a way to create content/build worlds? This is number one for most people, and after community, my number two factor in choosing where to spend my time. Most worlds do not allow for sophisticated in-world building, although a lot of the creations I have seen on Horizon Worlds (all built in world) are getting more sophisticated, and Second Life has always had a system for non-mesh, in world building that is second to none. Most worlds allow you to import 3D models you have created, or world created using the building platforms of Unity or Unreal Engine. 

This list is very subjective and leaves out many aspects of the Metaverse. I implore you to explore and let me know what you think about my thoughts on the Metaverse.  Meanwhile, you can find me mostly in Sansar, Overte, and checking out other worlds.