(soft launched on 2 Jun 2022)
1. Introduction – What is the Metaverse?
The metaverse is the seamless convergence of our physical and digital lives, creating a unified, virtual community experience where everyone can work, play, transact, and socialize. There is no single virtual world but many worlds, which are being enabled and shaped today with Web 3.0 technologies, allowing people to deepen and extend our social interactions digitally.
The metaverse marks a technological milestone in the way the world is developing and deploying new technologies, adding an immersive, three-dimensional layer to web 2.0, and creating more authentic and natural experiences. The ideal metaverse strives to go beyond simply being a digital twin of the offline world, but rather, allows us to add to our lives a fully immersive, seamless digital experience.
There are many ways in which we can enter the metaverse, and differential levels in which we can immerse ourselves into it – through existing platforms which provide a “universes” that we can interact with other users of that platform, or by using, participating, or transacting with various tools and tokens that interact with one component of the metaverse or other.
The metaverse is constantly evolving as we imagine our way into a new Web 3.0, as we innovate new products and services, and as we find unique ways to interact with each other and express ourselves digitally.
2. What is the Metaversality Index?
The Metaversality Index 2022 (MVI 2022) measures the strength of a metaverse ecosystem. It is designed as a framework that provides a scalable, score-able map of how we are beginning to make sense of the various components of the metaverse, and all the various products which work to form the metaverse.
From platforms, people, places, payments, and purchases – the MVI 2022 provides a guide that takes a snapshot of how metaverse-compatible they are, highlighting the aspects they excel in, identifying their inherent limitations, and where further attention to improvements could be focused.
We have designed the MVI 2022 as a conceptual framework for discussion, and we would love to hear your opinions on how to add different dimensions to deepen the discourse as we co-create the metaverse together.
3. What are the attributes comprising the Metaversality Index?
The metaverse is characterized by seven attributes:
- Entering and Presence
- Identity, Representation, and Avatars
- Home, Travel, and Discovery
- Interoperability and Standards
- Data Protection, Privacy, and Safety
- Virtual Media/Artefacts, Markets, and Transactions
- Interactivity and Interfaces
The MVI provides specific questions which break down these attributes further and provide a scoring mechanism based on how well the product being examined is able to fulfil the full potential of that attribute.
- For example, a product such as a first-person shooter (FPS) game which allows a user to enter may score high on “Entering and Presence” as it does allow for such an entry. However, this “universe” could have been designed to be played in a linear function, and therefore it may score low on “Home, Travel, and Discovery” as users cannot search for new locations to go to within the world, much less with other “worlds” – which would also mean it would score low on “Interoperability and Standards”.
- Another example would be a cryptocurrency. It may score low on “Entering and Presence” as there would be no way to “enter” into a cryptocurrency “universe”, but it would score very highly on “Interoperability and Standards” as you can transact with it in any digital world, and it would also score well on “Virtual Media/Artefacts, Markets, and Transactions” as it would be a primary mode of payments and transactions.
4. Attributes and Scoring for the Metaversality Index 2022
The metaversality of a product depends on a number of key characteristics, which we have outlined and described in seven attributes [link to be provided only to workshop participants on 2 Jun 2022 during the sneak preview.
What’s that? You haven’t signed up? Look no further than this click here – register now! The discussion is on 2 Jun 2022 4-5pm Singapore time, 9-10am London/UK time.]
