“I think we're influencing somehow.” From Web2 to Web3 “If you look closely at how Facebook/Meta has been communicating over the past year, the narrative is evolving,” Borget told Decrypt. They think the point is getting across to Mark Zuckerberg and company. But the fact that the company is putting more and more emphasis on open ecosystem messaging is good news in the eyes of OMA3 members. Whether Meta’s metaverse play will be centralized-which many assume it will be-remains an open question and key point of contention. ![]() But it has still yet to say whether it will use Web3 technology-beyond letting users share owned NFTs on Facebook and Instagram-and instead has pointed to partnerships with Microsoft and others to support API plug-ins that let users take such assets to supported platforms. In recent months, Meta has espoused a similar message of building in the open and letting users bring their avatars and assets between platforms. Web3 advocates envision an open metaverse in which NFT apparel, items, artwork, and more can be moved between platforms. Many believe that the metaverse will be used for various activities, whether it’s socializing, playing games, working, or shopping. The metaverse refers to an immersive version of the internet that will be navigated with 3D avatars. įollowing Meta’s metaverse demonstration, Axie Infinity co-founder Jeff Zirlin described in December 2021 what he saw ahead as a “battle for the future of the internet.” He said that Facebook and other centralized giants were trying to “buy the soul of the internet” and control its next phase, which many call the metaverse. As Facebook signaled its ambitions for the metaverse ahead of last year’s big showcase and company rebranding to Meta, Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu told Decrypt that Facebook and Chinese firm Tencent were “a threat” to an open metaverse. Tensions over how the metaverse should be built aren’t new. “They're working on a different technology foundation.” Battle for the metaverse “Everything which touches blockchain, and everything which touches tokenization and smart contracts, we did not see represented in the MSF,” explained Dirk Lueth, co-founder and co-CEO of Web3 metaverse real estate game Upland. None of the OMA3 member companies were invited to join the MSF, The Sandbox co-founder Sebastien Borget told Decrypt. But many in the Web3 space doubt that those firms plan to build a user-owned metaverse in which NFT assets can be freely carried between platforms. Meta, Microsoft, Epic Games, and Adobe are among the Web2 and tech giants that started the MSF. However, OMA3 members also described its current form as being a response to the Metaverse Standards Forum (MSF), an association that was announced in June by a group of 35 tech firms that have similarly committed to building an open metaverse in which users can bring their assets across various future online platforms. OMA3 founding members tell Decrypt that the association-which will be governed by a DAO, or decentralized autonomous organization-has been in the works since 2021. It will also explore intellectual property rights and other legal protections across decentralized online worlds. ![]() The consortium has launched a working group to devise interoperability standards, for example, which will let users move their interactive NFT assets-for things like avatars, virtual land, and items-between multiple Web3 metaverse platforms. OMA3 already includes a number of prominent members, including metaverse investor Animoca Brands, NBA Top Shot and Flow blockchain creator Dapper Labs, and the respective entities behind the Web3 games The Sandbox, Decentraland, Alien Worlds, and Upland. “We share the same belief of the importance that the metaverse remains open and becomes truly user-owned-and that there are very fundamental things that need to be solved across multiple platforms and agreed upon to create this vision,” Batis Samadian, co-founder of metaverse commerce platform Space, told Decrypt.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |