Straight from the table on Christmas Day, I share my optimistic view of the metaverse.
Direct from the desk of Dane Williams.
There I was minding my own business at the table on Christmas Day, just trying to stuff my face with prawns.
I knew it was coming, but why did it have to come at that moment?
Shell off, seafood sauce on, getting that whiff of salt as I bring that beautiful crustacean up closer to my mouth…
Then it came from the opposite side of the table.
“Hey Dane, you’re into crypto.”
In my head I’m thinking, why yes mate, I am…
…and I’m still going to be after lunch.
But being the crypto degen that I am, you know I’m putting this prawn down and going down the rabbit hole as soon as you spit out the buzz question of 2021 that I know is coming.
Sorry, not sorry.
“What the heck is the metaverse?”
Ah there it is
It’s a question any of you crypto geeks were no doubt asked at least once over Christmas and an opportunity to preach our impending decentralised future.
I read a lot of negativity around the concept.
Something that I honestly don’t get and am actually happy to passionately pitch.
Totally unlike my somewhat pessimistic self, when it comes to the metaverse and associated topic of an overall more decentralised internet, I'm actually much more positive than most.
Go figure!
So remember the metaverse is ALL of the virtual worlds, associated communities and economies that power them.
Just because 1 company or blockchain says that they’re building the metaverse, they’re actually not.
What they’re actually building is a part of the metaverse.
I like to think of it in terms of the current international online landscape.
Just like the Chinas/NKs/Irans of the world have a closed, heavily censored internet, corporations will also create closed, heavily censored virtual worlds.
Yes, I’m comparing Facebook to the CCP in this analogy.
Because essentially that’s what they are.
Once you limit people’s freedom, ownership and ability to transact, is there really any difference?
Nope.
But in the same way that the rest of the free world can access more of the internet, there is a network of open, decentralised and interoperable virtual worlds being built.
This is the real metaverse.
Both types of virtual worlds can, and will, run parallel to one another.
And while the centralised worlds are going to win in the short term, because quite frankly money from the likes of Facebook will ensure they work better, they will be eclipsed by the decentralised.
I can’t see any other way.
You just can’t deny that an open, free, interconnected series of virtual worlds and experiences is the far superior outcome for everyone.
For me, there is no outcome where closed companies and authoritarian regimes continue to hold any sort of power in the digital world.
And with crypto ensuring the entire economy shifts toward a decentralised future, the so called real world too.
But that’s the thing.
There is no difference between the metaverse and the real world.
The metaverse is just an extension of the real world and a lifestyle that if you’re reading this on LeoFinance, you’re already living.
It’s here, so get around it!
After making my passionate case for the decentralised future of the metaverse, I look up and see my poor relo with that look of regret for asking.
And the same expression that says man, I just want to eat my prawns.
Ah I feel ya mate.
I feel ya.
I’ll see you inside the metaverse in a decade, sourcing the best prawns for family Christmas 2031.
Best of probabilities to you.
PS. Yep, you know the prawns were worth the wait - This is fuck’n straya mate!
PPS. Get around our guide to Decentraland (MANA) and The Sandbox (SAND), talking you through two of the best crypto metaverse plays.