Censorship, Ownership, Relevance, and Stats: Interesting Facts About the Existing Metaverses
We've found a simple explanation for a metaverse: it's what will replace the internet. Work, communication, and digital property, all in VR, or at least in 3D and on the same platform.
There are a lot of questions about metaverses: censorship, digital ownership, demand, popularity, and adaptability to users’ wishes. There are yet to be any straightforward answers, but there are exciting facts about each topic.
Zuckerberg’s Metaverse: Hardware Censorship
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, argued that the demand for meta-universes is due to the popularization of remote work and that people miss socialization. Communicating in VR at the company level would help fix the problem and improve the workflow.
The project later evolved into Horizon Worlds, a VR game emphasizing communication and creating your worlds and visual programming mechanics. The screenshot below is from a promo about creating a VR shooter inside Horizon Worlds.
After the rebranding and announcement of the metaverses, Meta’s shares dropped by 70%. Horizon Worlds received 3 out of 5 stars from users. Players complain about awkward controls and empty worlds, but unfair bans are the main reason for the negative feedback.
Moderators can delete a player-created world, but that’s not the worst. To play Horizon Worlds, you need an Oculus Quest helmet and a Facebook account with actual user details. And, if moderators think the user is breaking community rules, they would not just restrict access to Horizon Worlds, but ban the $200 VR helmet itself and turn in into piece of plastic.
Protoworld: a Case of 3D NFTs
Protoworld is a metaverse on Tezos where users create worlds and fill them with NFTs.
Although Objkt.com has a built-in 3D model viewer, Protoworld can assemble an entire themed exhibition and push a visitor to buy what he liked in other worlds.
Protoworld is more like a metaverse than anything else, as this project could become an NFT marketplace and social platform in virtual space. Wandering worldwide and looking at sculptures is much more interesting than scrolling through a list with filters and prices.
The European Commission’s Metaverse: Five Users for $500,000
The EU Humanitarian Aid Commission spent $500,000 to develop a metaverse platform. It was to promote the Global Gateway initiative and educate young people about EU policies.
Still, the planned concert on the platform attracted only five visitors, one of whom was a journalist.
Decentraland: Incorrect Stats
In October, Ethereum users noticed that, according to Dappradar, the Decentraland metaverse has only 19 players per day, with a project valuation of $1 billion. The situation is no better now: only 56 unique addresses per day.
It turned out that one should not trust the on-chain data when evaluating metaverses. Dappradar only registered a user if they made a purchase in the game, i.e., interacted with a smart contract.
The team reported that Decentraland actually has 56,000 active players per month. It’s the same with other blockchain-powered metaverses: most users play, but they don’t buy anything daily.
Minecraft: Censorship-free Library
Reporters Without Borders, an organization that defends press freedom and fights censorship, has opened a free Uncensored Library on its own Minecraft server.
The Uncensored Library contains articles banned from publication in different countries or whose authors have been affected by state action. For example, the library has a COVID-19 room with articles on how states have used quarantines to tighten control in the information field.
Reporters Without Borders regularly update the library and add new pieces.
Although the Uncensored Library is designed to fight state censorship, it is not available in China. The Chinese version of Minecraft does not support renaming items or connecting to external servers, so players from China can’t access Uncensored Library so simple.
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