We have all heard about Web-3 and Metaverse and all the fascinating and immersive experiences they can bring to our everyday browsing. But how can we connect the metaverse to web3 or vice-versa? Or are they even related to each other?
We, the Notchup community, invited the CEO of MetaProps, Tobias Honey, to our Twitter spaces to get some clarity on web-3 and the metaverse. Here is an excerpt from the podcast.
To introduce the speaker, Tobias Honey is the CEO of MetaProps, a digital architecture NFT marketplace. As a practicing architect in the UK and now operating from Dubai, Tobias discovered the futuristic metaverse world in early 2021. This discovery led him to understand the loopholes and the significant gaps in the architectural side of the metaverse industry. While content catered to architecture in the metaverse, it was either inadequate or not quite up to the expected levels. That prompted Tobias to bring his expertise in architecture to the metaverse through MetaProps.io. The vision of MetaProps, according to Tobias, is to integrate real-life architectural ideas into the metaverse through 3D architectural designs.
So, with that excellent introduction in place, we asked Tobias three questions related to web-3 and metaverse.
Even if we are at the very beginning of our exploration into the metaverse, with many challenges ahead, the future looks bright for this new digital world. According to our speaker, we can call the metaverse a 3D internet, which links one platform to another with futuristic goals. One of the best examples is Sandbox.
That led us to our next question about how web-3 and the metaverse are connected.
Everyone today is speaking about Web-3 and its futuristic goals. So, it has to somehow connect to this 3D internet. Here, Tobias gave a clear insight on how the present digital platforms are all centralized and use web-2, the current form of our internet journey.
Although the platforms at present are web-2, they have entered web-3 by allowing people to own digital assets. However, the transfer of these digital assets still follows the web-2 principle. So, even though we have our digital assets and NFTs, they are still centralized.
Smart contracts between digital assets and the metaverse are very much a non-entity. The individual platforms own the asset and not the metaverse itself. That means that the web-three integration is still lacking in the present-day metaverses and digital assets.
According to Tobias, the future will see the integration of a digital asset into the asset owner's metaverse, or "land plot.' That way, the digital asset can be an NFT, individually owned by a single person, within the metaverse, with no central connections.
So, many components of the metaverse are still not completely integrated into the web-3 world. Since we are in an embryonic stage of the metaverse, it can take some time before the whole "centralized" concept is transferred into "decentralized" versions. That leads to our next question!
Tobias answered that question more about how digital assets, when on-chain and connected to digital wallets, follow web-3. However, the minute we try connecting the assets to a metaverse, they drop off the chain, making it a web-2 integration and not a web-3. The integration of assets into platforms is where the web-3 concept is still in its research phase.
Tobias further explained how there are platforms that still manage to use web-3 by having embedded marketplaces to integrate assets into metaverses directly.
However, there are still many grey areas connecting web-3 to the metaverse is still in the pipeline. Tobias gave examples of areas such as wearables, architecture, avatars, etc., created by one artist and sold on different platforms, thereby using the web-2 concept. Tobias suggested a platform where the creators can upload their digital assets, and that platform can use smart contracts to transfer the assets to different metaverses. Having one single platform to share digital assets can minimize the use of web-2 and use decentralized web-3 instead.
The next question was more about the acceptance of web-3 amongst the web-2 enthusiasts and owners.
Since we are talking about moving from one version of the World Wide Web to another, it becomes imperative to understand the general acceptance of the new web. Tobias feels that the shift is imminent, even if the web-2 platform owners are reluctant to make the change. Web-3 concepts ultimately lie in decentralization and self-ownership. Therefore, each person assumes ownership of the material, content, asset, or browsing history. So, bringing such freedom to the web will take some time and effort, what with so many people still varying about how it will change the internet.
Tobias further ventured into differentiating between open and closed metaverses.
An open metaverse, according to Tobias, is a digital environment broken into a series of plots of land and distributed to people with centralized ownership. The plots in an open metaverse are owned by individuals, with some restrictions on development. So, in an open metaverse, you can walk around, explore, and much more. Since the digital environment (or the big chunk of land) is owned by one platform, centralization comes into the picture.
In a closed metaverse, though, the platform owns the whole environment. There are no restrictions on the plot size. One can rent it out for shows, events, and many more. So, creating a significant event with immersive experiences, such as pools and water bodies, analyzing the reactions of others within the digital space, and so on.
Tobias concluded by thinking aloud that although even immersive experiences are minimal today, there may be more to them in the future. Concepts such as an avatar riding a vehicle or playing the guitar may not be far away in space. With many unexplored areas, the metaverse will create experiences that may be beyond our imaginations and comprehension.
