Here's an epic new white paper on the Metaverse-as-a-Service platform from Lamina1, co-founded by literal Neal Stephenson (who I interviewed about it here).
The paper itself is co-authored by Lamina1 CPO Tony Parisi, who's pretty much been striving to build the Metaverse ever since Snow Crash was published in the 90s, starting with the web-based VRML.
Sample section on how Lamina1 will offer a blockchain-based payment solution to current metaverse platforms:
Specialized metachains allow for the creation of blockchain-based applications and experiences in ways that overcome the limitations of today’s monolithic chains.
Additionally, they allow for a much wider variety of businesses and use cases than today’s metaverse “walled gardens,” empowering the users and the market –– rather than a centralized, risk-averse entity focused on specific business models –– to decide on the value of things that get made...
All of this could one day lead to a world where metaverse experiences are actually interoperable, are accessible and usable, and are able to persistently scale, adapt, and grow – no matter the size or scale of the endeavor. Which brings us full circle back to the mission of Metaverse-as-a-Service: To provide builders and creators with a usable, flexible, and decentralized framework to create the next generation of online worlds.
I love the idea of empowering users and creators for sure, but whether blockchain and other web3 concepts are the solution there remains very much in doubt -- read this incisive guest post on that very topic by virtual world pioneer Richard Bartle.
As for "walled gardens" -- i.e. Roblox, Fortnite, Second Life, etc. -- this brings up a question on my mind for years: Consumers actually seem to prefer them, especially when it comes to metaverse platforms.
Here's how I put that point to Tony -- and his response:
Tim Sweeney: Set Aside NFT & VR Hype, Metaverse Platforms Already Have 600 Million Users Now, "Billions" by This Decade
In case you missed it, Tim Sweeney laid out his vision for the Metaverse last week after his company Epic unleashed a number of metaverse platform-related announcements -- watch above at around 1 hour in:
Hard agree on the hype around NFTs and VR goggles (looking at you, Meta), while I'd quibble around the "billions" target -- 1 billion is more realistic. Fortnite, for example, has seen some slippage in its monthly active user numbers (though of course remains quite large).
Sweeney also got into his vision for the open metaverse:
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Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 01:41 PM in Comment of the Week, Making the Metaverse | Permalink | Comments (2)
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