10 Questions about the “Metaverse”

The term metaverse is one that’s been popping up increasingly often on the Internet. More and more people know about it – but those who don’t sometimes have a bit of a hard time finding solid info on it. Well, E1337 is here to help! We’ve collected and answered some of the most pressing questions about the metaverse.

Often called the next version of the Internet, the metaverse is a more immersive and expansive shared online space that’s always active. There is no ‘complete’ one yet – that would mean that users are always in it, without needing to log in, with online content available everywhere and anywhere.

Most people, when they talk about the metaverse, mean something that one day aims to reach that stage, but for now is simply a particularly expansive and in-depth online space. Some people think that a ‘true’ metaverse is an inevitability… and naturally, just about everyone wants to be the pioneer responsible for it. So far, all we have access to are imitations of it – but there are some pretty solid forays towards a real metaverse.

What does ‘Metaverse’ mean?

To get started learning about the metaverse, you first need to know what the word itself means. Metaverse is a combination of the -verse we know from universe, and the word meta, which means ‘beyond’. Combined, the two make ‘metaverse’, which describes the concept of a completely separate reality featuring certain characteristics.

There is some debate on what these characteristics specifically are – however, there is also a fair amount of common ground. The description used by popular platform Roblox is pretty spot on. A metaverse needs to be immersive, persistent, vast, diverse, social, seamless, and it needs to have an economy, ‘laws’ and rules, as well as core identity that players keep across experiences.

That may sound like a lot, so we’ll break it down a little.

• Immersive: This one is fairly obvious – a metaverse needs to be complex enough, to give players a feeling of immersion when they play.
• Persistent: The real world is, well, permanent. A metaverse also needs to be accessible 24/7, and it needs to be cross-platform, allowing users to use computers, phones, tablets and more to access it. You won’t find a platform exclusive metaverse out there!
• Vast, Seamless & Diverse: One of the main characteristics of a metaverse is that it needs to be big! Any metaverse will offer a whole range of activities and different individual environments and so on for players to enjoy. These activities need to be connected, meaning that the user can swap environments, etc, without leaving the metaverse altogether. Think of it like going from the bathroom to the bedroom – in most cases you won’t need to leave your actual house to make that trip!
• Social: Naturally, a metaverse that is shared between different users needs to allow them to interact with each other!
• Economy/Rules: This is also a given – a metaverse isn’t just some lawless place where anything goes. Just like in the real world, players need to stick to a set of behavioural rules, such as no bullying and the like.
• Player identity: Any metaverse will allow users to define their identity in some way. Usually, this means cosmetic items and decisions in some form, such as picking hairstyles, unique usernames and so on. Usually, a metaverse will also feature an inventory system that allows users to own unique items, and to buy, sell, or trade them in some way, and to take their resources to the different locations/games in the metaverse.

How to use a Metaverse?

Well, how you use a metaverse is entirely up to you – that’s the beauty of it. Whatever your favourite activity may be, you can take part whenever you want. Maybe it’s a digital movie theatre, a simple chat room, or something else entirely – once you’ve joined, you can make your metaverse experience whatever you want it to be.

That said, there will be some differences and limitations based on what metaverse you are part of. There are multiple different metaverses after all – and they all focus on or around different things. Some will have more activities for kids, others are aimed at adults and so on. Picking the right one for your interests will mean that you’ll have the best experience possible.

Is Fortnite a Metaverse?

Yes and no. As mentioned, there is no true metaverse, however a lot of groups and people want to be the first to complete it and achieve a ‘true’ metaverse through their work. Fortnite’s creators Epic Games are among them – they have long since tried to establish Fortnite as more than ‘just’ a game. Already, Fortnite has crossed into and out of multiple other franchises and IPs, such as Batman, Borderlands, Avengers and more. It has even hosted a live concert before… and more importantly, these things aren’t separate from each other within Fortnite either.

You want to walk around a DC Comics world wearing an Avengers costume while chatting to your friend from another continent who is wearing licensed Nike Gear and a John Wick costume, talking about who your favourite musician is? No problem! That kind of freedom is an essential feature in any kind of future metaverse.

Of course, there are still years if not decades between Fortnite’s current state and a possible true metaverse… and Epic aren’t the only people pursuing it either. In fact, it’s far from the only game that has these aspirations. Looking at services like Facebook with their Oculus VR service, it’s pretty obvious that Fortnite has their work cut out for them. Oculus ticks many of the boxes a metaverse needs to cover – it offers varying activities, allows users to swap between them, to have a unique identity, and it incorporates a lot of social features as well. Between that and Facebook’s popularity, with almost 3 billion accounts on the planet, it’s not too surprising that the company (intentionally or unintentionally) already ticks many of the boxes of a metaverse.

Is the Metaverse a Multiverse?

At the moment, most metaverse hopefuls could instead be considered multiverses. That’s a name for games that expand past gameplay and also become mainstream hubs that offer social interactions, other forms of entertainment, and more types of contact, even trading.

Multiverses are a necessary in-between step towards the metaverse – it’s a little like an additional evolutionary step. If this sounds silly to you, look at Facebook. The company owns Instagram, Oculus, and WhatsApp. They’re all connected… and many millions of people couldn’t go more than a few hours without using at least one if not several of their services.

Similarly, Roblox with its variable online worlds, Minecraft with its incredible mods and player creations and Epic Games with, well, Fortnite, are also positioning themselves to take steps in the direction of the multiverse… and thus the metaverse!

What is the difference between the Metaverse and Internet?

Everyone knows what the Internet is – when a metaverse is successfully completed and established, the Internet will, de-facto, become obsolete. Where in order to use the Internet, we need a point of access like a computer, a metaverse would be everywhere.

Imagine walking down the street, thinking you’d like to order some takeout… and next to you pops up a virtual assistant to take your order. The money is deducted directly from your account once you confirm the order, your location shared with the delivery driver, and by the time you come home, a steaming hot portion of Pad Thai is waiting for you at the door. Such is the power of a potential metaverse, though for now mostly just in sci-fi novels.

What is a popular Metaverse example?

As mentioned, no completed metaverse exists yet, although several services tick multiple boxes that a metaverse also needs to fulfil. In addition to already well-known franchises like Facebook and Epic Games working in this direction, there are also some dedicated blockchain-based services that also work towards that goal.

One of them is Cryptovoxels – a popular platform where users buy virtual ‘land’ and then build their content on it, such as stores, galleries, and even museums for others to visit and explore. The stores work, too – you can shop around in 3D and Virtual Reality, and, of course, make purchases. The whole thing is built on the Ethereum platform – one of the most trusted cryptocurrency platforms out there.

Two other very popular platforms that work in similar ways are MetaMask and Decentraland 2.0. Of course there are many more, but these are some of the most popular ones out there at the moment.

How to create a metaverse persona?

That will depend entirely on the metaverse in question. In any case, you’ll need a unique identifier. Much like your driver’s license or passport in the real world, this will be needed to make a persona that’s really ‘yours’. Whether it’s tied to an identifiable real-world identity or something more anonymous like a cryptocurrency wallet, with something that makes your persona yours, you’re free to do just about anything.

Habits, selected appearance and more would obviously all factor into your persona. Whether it’s buying something to customise your persona or using your time and resources to make something for yourself, your persona is as much up to you as your real-world appearance is.

How to buy property / assets in the metaverse?

This will require some form of initial investment with ‘real’ money. Buying whatever currency is used (such as ETH on an Ethereum-based service) will allow you to then buy, sell, trade or farm for more of whatever you are after.

Games like CryptoKitties give players a starter pet with a low value – if players want to breed them or trade up, they have to invest their own time and money in order to gain more value, while supply and demand controls the value of the kitties themselves – just like how real estate works in the real world. The more interest and demand there is, the higher the suppliers can raise the prices – and with limited supply to avoid extreme in- and deflation, a metaverse economy functions much like what we are used to… with one exception.

The smart contract. Current blockchain games and similar services are all built on their own unique and public smart contract. This outlines exactly how the game works, who owns what, and who can affect and do what. In other words, the creators sign over most of their power to the players, who, in the example of CryptoKitties, end up owning their cats (and corresponding values). These contracts also make scams fairly obvious. An example of a ‘bad’ contract would be Etheremon. Similar to CryptoKitties, the game drew plenty of criticism when it launched in 2017, because clever minds immediately spotted that in the contract, developers had put a clause that allowed them to take back whatever the players put into/got out of the game.

Imagine buying groceries, only for the cashier to later climb into your house and take the food back – bizarre, right? Well, smart contracts exist to make this obvious and prevent it wherever possible. In CryptoKitties, the creators absolutely cannot do this – they can only suspend the contract (thus ‘freezing’ assets) and affect the breeding algorithm between the kitties. There is some room for improvement there too, but it’s a much more effective use of the smart contract – and a safer option for potential players.

This kind of smart contract will be absolutely essential in a metaverse that allows users to buy, sell, produce or trade, as it will be one of the main safety features that people can rely on in a world that is no longer all-physical, and also part-anonymous.

What is the relation between E1337 and the metaverse?

We at E1337 absolutely love the idea of a metaverse, and we’re eager to be part of it when it comes out… and until then, we’re actively participating in pseudo-metaverse services! In addition to our ‘real’ products, we offer loyalty tokens and even a Metaverse Store. It’s based on the Cryptovoxels platform, and you can explore it and shop around just like you would in a real store.

Even better is that customers who buy some of our apparel are also entitled to a virtual version – in other words, once you’ve bought a hoodie, for example, you can then go and claim a Cryptovoxels copy as well, plus a unique NFT authenticity token that proves that your E1337 gear is legit.

We combine several different metaverse-hopefuls – for example, in order to access your NFT loyalty token, you’ll need to access your Ethereum wallet – which you can do right in your browser by using the MetaMask extension. It’s all connected – just like E1337 and the metaverse.