According to author and venture capitalist Matthew Ball, NFTs are the best technical solution for a more open metaverse.
in an interview with decrypt After the release of his book,The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize EverythingBall shared his thoughts on the definition of metaverseWho will rule it, will cryptocurrencies play a role, and how NFTThe unique blockchain token that represents asset ownership – may solve its biggest problem.
Ball is a former Amazon Studios executive who Mark Zuckerberg, Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney and Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong are seen as a leading thinker for all things Coinbase. They told decrypt That the metaverse is, at its core, a “parallel virtual plane of existence”.
He believes we are still in the early stages of creating and defining the metaverse, and its most important players will be names we’ve never heard of. So it won’t be Meta, or Twitter, or even crypto-centric brands like The Sandbox or Decentraland that rule the virtual realm.
Instead, companies that are “just overlooked” or don’t exist yet will become the heavy hitters of the metaverse.
“I hope we don’t know those companies,” he said, noting how every technological change or big wave of innovation has brought with it new and previously unheard brands.
a decentralized metaverse
When it comes to cryptocurrencies and the role of crypto in the metaverse environment, Ball sees a place for it, but thinks the public has not been properly educated. The lack of education has led to stigma, confusion, and eventual adoption.
“I don’t think the ecosystem on either side has done a good job of explaining why the average person should have it,” Ball said of crypto.
he argued that blockchain Technology may be necessary to power a metaverse that is preferable to individuals as opposed to corporations. Because blockchain is computing power Decentralisation And spread across multiple computers around the world, a blockchain-based metaverse would put more power in the hands of users and less power in the hands of a few large tech companies, allowing individuals to collectively “fight against a trillion-dollar balance sheet.” Meets.
an interoperable metaverse
In its current iterations, the metaverse overlaps with the video game world, where users engage in virtual environments and obtain virtual items. But what gamers really want, and why so many people hate NFT Too many?
“Gamers have long wanted some form of interactivity in actual ownership of their virtual goods. The challenge is that no one can figure out the systems they will use,” Ball explained. decrypt,
This desire for interoperability conflicts with technocratic business models, Ball said, creating a “reverse chicken-and-egg” situation, as no company wants to build the infrastructure for an interoperable metaverse, knowing that its competitors are financially vulnerable. For reasons I don’t want to use it. ,
Ball suggested that adding platform transfer fees would be one way for companies to benefit from interoperability.
That said, interoperability is still important, and he argued that it already exists at large in the global economy. While there may be some reluctance towards interoperability right now, “users want to breed solutions in the free market.”
A Metaverse with NFTs
what kind of solutions? Well, interoperability and digital asset ownership can be achieved through NFTs.
“There is clearly value there,” Ball said of NFTs, adding that as a technology, NFTs can scale with growing metaverses and are the most “viable solution” for virtual goods. [as] We have seen.”
He emphasized that virtual and digital collectibles have been popular for decades, even before blockchain and NFTs, so the real question is whether collectibles will benefit from decentralization.
In Ball’s view, NFTs have value, but their applications are not yet fully realized and – as is the case with crypto in general – the benefits to the general public are not adequately explained. .
Acknowledging the displeasure of many gamers with NFTs, Ball said, “Gamers have been overlooked for decades.” “They feel marginalized, they feel humiliated, and they are used to micro-transactions and ruin their game.”
NFTs, then, are a danger to gamers if presented as items that can “ruin” the game. But if publishers took a different approach, sentiment could change, Ball said.
“Unless game publishers debut products and experiences first — instead of press releases and new technology that would be better for monetization — we’re never going to resolve that animosity,” he said. “And it creates a vicious circle where no one wants to make a big bet on solving a problem because all their teammates have damaged it.”
Want to become a crypto expert? Get the best of Decrypt straight to your inbox.
Receive the biggest crypto news + weekly roundups and more!