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Do not index
Do not index
GM.
The metaverse is hot. It’s definitely the talk of the town in the tech sphere right now. Interestingly enough, folks far removed from the tech scene seem indifferent to it. The realization is that for most people, they’ll enter the metaverse when there is more than just novelty. Whether this new digital experience is a better means of entertainment or social interaction is more important than all the bells and whistles.
Which brings us to centralized vs decentralized. Everyone has different ideas about what this immersive cyberspace would look like. Companies like Meta, Roblox, Microsoft are developing their centralized versions of the metaverse. Others like Decentraland and the Sandbox are trying to build a more decentralized iteration of this shared virtual reality.
It might be interesting to get a deeper look at who’s building what, and who’s making the right moves. A handy piece is this one by CB Insights on the potential trillion dollar opportunity for tech.
One thing for certain though, having seen consumer behaviour throughout the digital era, people don’t care what’s under the hood. A Ferrari could be powered by magical elves, or real horses instead of its legendary engine. To the end user, if it drives like a Ferrari, then it is a Ferrari. People won’t care if they are logging into Meta’s centralized version of the digital world if that’s what delivers the best experience. Decentralization and the benefits of it aren’t part of the selection criteria for the majority.
So the big task at hand for those building decentralized worlds is really to be able to deliver an experience on par with their centralized counterparts who are behemoths with massive war chests. Anything less and these decentralized worlds will be just tech Twitter ported to another virtual dimension.
This is going to be the true test for blockchain’s capabilities and use case. Can a decentralized world deliver a superior experience than a centralized one?
On that note, it’s worth bringing up a very interesting set of ideas from a podcast by Naavik. The idea that we could create perpetual digital realms, something that centralization might struggle to achieve.
To paraphrase Justin Glibert from the episode…
This is because a smart contract blockchain like Ethereum is basically a giant decentralized computer. This property of decentralization ensures that the network will last forever, or as long as the last Ethereum node runs. The same cannot be said about centralized computational services provided by the likes of Amazon and Microsoft. Secondly, blockchain networks like Ethereum are the most open and fair (neutral) computers on the planet. Anybody can access the network with just an internet connection.
Let’s break down why these two factors are important for building a metaverse that the entire world will potentially use. First off, if we’re going to move significant economic value onto a digital platform, we would like that platform to last for a very long time, or at least have the prospects to do so. Also, it should be obvious that it’s in the best interest of the users (inhabitants) of the metaverse to ensure that the platform they are inhabiting is not controlled by any bad actor. Both of these objectives can be achieved by employing blockchain technology as a foundational layer of a metaverse.
You might say that how can a blockchain support a metaverse that will be used by billions? Aren't blockchain networks slow and expensive as hell? Don’t worry, it all starts as a game.
Earlier this week, a group of MIT researchers figured out how to create a truly on-chain game by leveraging zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptographic technique. The game is called "Dark Forest." It’s the first fully autonomous game. What does that mean exactly? It means that, as it runs completely on top of the blockchain and doesn't have an admin function, it cannot be stopped by any external entity.
But why does this game matter, you might ask? Well, it’s the fact that it’s possible to build a truly autonomous reality using blockchain. Whether Dark Forest remains just a demonstrative experiment or a path for developers to consider is to be seen.
We’d highly recommend giving the episode a listen.
Metaverse Reading Material
5 Principles to Guide Design in the Metaverse (Guest post by a Roblox metaverse designer on CoinDesk)
The metaverse could be tech’s next trillion-dollar opportunity: These are the companies making it a reality (CB Insights)
7 Essential Ingredients of a Metaverse (Future - a16z)
The Metaverse Primer (Matthew Ball)
Conclusion
We’ve skipped through news for the week in order to give more time to ponder upon some of the content we’ve shared. Sometimes, getting far from the madding crowd is needed in order to really see what’s in front of you.
We do this every once in a while at Tegro - on our Discord and Twitter. From game nights, to just hanging out with the community through our onboarding calls. We’d love to get to know you, so hop on board.
That’s it for this week. Have a good one.
WAGMI 🚀