Are You Ready For The Metaverse and NFTs?
Metaverse, NFTs, the latest buzzwords that you can’t look anywhere on the internet and not run into them. But what are they? Why is there so much hype for them? Well, they’re the future, whether you’re ready for them or not. So let’s take a look at them together so we can try and wrap our heads around the Metaverse and NFTs.
What is an NFT?
First, let’s explain the easier of the two to understand NFTs. Yep, this crazy fad for digital images is easier to understand than Metaverse, but that is mostly because NFTs are out and a real thing we can deal with now. So what is an NFT? An NFT is a Non-fungible Token, a permanent line of code that will sit on the blockchain, unchanged, for as long as the blockchain exists, which looks like it will exist for a very very very long time. What this means for you is that this line of permanent code on the blockchain is your proof of ownership over a piece of art or some other digital commodity you have purchased. It is like your digital deed to it.
What do you do with an NFT?
Well if you’re an artist or a company, you’re going to use these NFT codes to help sell digital art to anyone that may be interested, and a lot of people are interested. Once you have an NFT you can take pride in your purchase knowing that piece of digital art is yours, and do what you like with it for the most part. You could even resell for a potentially greater return than you spent for it.
Companies have also started to get in on the NFT business. Some gaming companies have already started integrating NFTs into their games and making it possible for players to get NFTs by just playing the game! This dynamic has even started creating a whole new genre of games called “Play to Earn”, where players may earn money through the selling of NFTs they get for real-world money.
Are is the Metaverse?
The first thing to understand is that the Metaverse is not yet a real thing. Right now, it is just an idea of something that could be that is being pushed by several large tech companies like Facebook (now called Meta), Microsoft, Epic Games, and more. Each company has described a kind of digital community space that will always be online where people can log in and interact with each other, work, play, create new worlds and content, and much much more. In short, the Metaverse is like a massive VRChat to the power of a hundred or more. The concept of a metaverse was originally conceived in the book Snow Crash by Jean-François Podevin in 1992 and described a place that combined parts of many worlds into one. In a way, the Metaverse that we are hearing so much about is similar to this book version and could indeed become quite the magical place for people to enjoy.
So how will the Metaverse and NFTs work together?
It has been alluded to by various industry players and companies that the making and trading of NFTs may take place on the Metaverse more than anywhere else. This makes sense since if the Metaverse turns out to be amazing as it has been promised then we will be spending many untold hours on it. It will not only be a place for us to spend time with friends and play games but also a place to work and make things. Therefore it is a totally logical place to make and sell NFTs either as an individual artist or as a company, providing digital goods for its customers.
