The metaverse — popularized in Ready Player One, TRON and The Matrix — is closer than we may think. A digital, fully immersive, environment that parallels the natural reality, designed by people to share their visions of worlds as varied as the imaginations that thought them up. Virtual cities and worlds already exist, where avatars interact and exchange goods and services. They are found primarily in video games, but also in spaces like Second Life and Habbo. Whether dedicated to gaming or social interactions, these environments demonstrate the first step towards a singular interactive space. So, why hasn’t the metaverse coalesced as a singular environment and what can be done to encourage it?
The image that often comes to mind when envisioning the metaverse is a person in a virtual reality visor and gadgets that allow them to interact with the environment. Though these tools are necessary to achieve the fully immersive feel of the imagined metaverse there are other aspects to tie together the existing environments.
When we examine these interactive environments, be it video games or social spaces, they all require at least two common components: an avatar (some representation of the self) and in-game objects (either weapons or equipment in games or items for trade in social spaces). Collectively, avatars and in-game objects are known as digital assets. To date, existing technological restrictions have limited digital assets to the environment where they originated. But, what if it were possible for avatars and objects to move between worlds and environments? Our vision of the Metaverse is one of unlimited worlds and spaces, created by just as many individuals, with avatars and objects moving between spaces seamlessly. To achieve this vision of a naturally flowing environment, it necessitates the movement of digital assets between independently developed environments.
The solution for massive multiplayer environments has required the centralization of data, where the characters and objects within those worlds are secured through proprietary technology and managed by the creators of the environment. This practice has restricted the ability to share data between worlds.
Recently, blockchain technology has provided an alternative decentralized model of data that is, potentially, even more secure than centralized servers, all while allowing information to be shared publicly. By creating protocols for the storage, update and retrieval of data from blockchains we offer assets that are both ownable by the player and useful to any game that incorporates it. We call these public blockchain enabled digital assets Smart Game Objects. Smart Game Objects foster the potential for the metaverse to evolve similar to the internet, open and freely, not reliant on a single entity for the content or access. (Our intro article to Smart Game Objects can be found here)
At 8 Circuit Studios we recognize that as transformative as blockchain is, it requires the adoption by players and developers to be realized for its potential. Our goal is to make using Smart Game Objects and the associated blockchain tech so easy, the player won’t even realize it’s being used.
We are planning to bring you our deep space PC and Console game, Project Genesis. Project Genesis will introduce the idea of your character that lives forever on the blockchain. More details to come on Project Genesis and how it moves us towards the Metaverse in the future.
At 8 Circuit Studios, we launched our first mobile product, Alien Arsenal: Battle for the Blockchain. A cooperative boss battling game where players collaborate to defeat invading bosses to win prizes and glory that will be our proof of concept for the features needed to get us to the Metaverse. Alien Arsenal is designed to make it easy and fun to play with blockchains without having to download wallets, plugins or navigate the often confusing world of cryptocurrencies.
Even if you’ve never used cryptocurrency before, we’d like your help to make sure we are hitting the mark of making Smart Game Objects, and blockchain easy and accessible with Alien Arsenal. Join our Discord channel or follow our social media (Twitter, Facebook) to hear when products are available. You’ll be one of the first people to own a Smart Game Object and your feedback will help us make sure the Metaverse is moving in the right direction.
