In the latest episode of Naavik’s Cryptocorner, Niko Vuori welcomes Yonatan Raz-Fridman (CEO of SuperSocial and creator of “Into the metaverse”) to talk about Metaverse and the future it will bring.
Read our notes below to learn more.
Metaverse Overview
Metaverse receives a ton of hype.
No shortage of companies trying to build it.
Huge tech giants like Meta forces essentially their way to metaverse play.
Metaverse targets consumer segments like Roblox does.
New start-ups like Decentraland and Sandbox.
Yonatan Raz-Fridman Introduction
Started his own company in 2012 called Kano-computing, where kids can build and code themselves.
He is quite familiar with all the other platforms and software services and applications that existed anywhere from games like Clash of Clans, Roblox, and Minecraft.
He had a front-row seat over the last decade when it comes to the evolving virtual worlds.
Insights about Virtual worlds
Virtual worlds are going to be much more than just games, they’re going to be the almost next modality of the internet after websites and after iPhone apps.
Virtual worlds in 3D could potentially become the main user interface of the consumer internet and the enterprise internet that's why he started a metaverse company in early 2020.
What’s exciting about virtual worlds is that we’re building an organization that is empowered by both people with experience and new people who grew up in this.
Definition of Metaverse
Network of virtual worlds that are interoperable that is synchronous and persistent where people can also carry their digital assets and identities with them from one place to another.
Needs a whole new protocol layer and internet built into the existing internet to actually enable real-time interoperability where you and I can actually jump from one virtual world to another in 3D.
Not only a gateway into a persistent, synchronous, expansive hypersocial virtual world in 3D to emerge, he thinks that the metaverse is meaningful if there is a connection between the real and the unreal world.
He envisions the V1 of the metaverse will be the collection of platforms that are not necessarily interoperable between themselves but among them will enable some metaverse experiences and interactions.
Protocol layer for Metaverse
You cannot contain the power of the internet into one website.
A whole new infrastructure needs to be built to experience 3D interactions.
Interoperability starts with the development and the creative side of things.
Vision for Metaverse
It needs a collaborative development environment, where assets in Roblox can be used in other metaverse games. (Shared ecosystem).
Companies and platforms that will not take steps to be more open and collaborative ultimately will not be the winners of this category.
Closed platforms do not win.
Companies are going to obsessively focus on themselves while they talked about the “Open metaverse”.
Is an Open Metaverse Possible?
Dream minus reality equals happiness. The dream is a completely open, interoperable internet in 3D.
Although he is a dreamer, he’s also a relatively pragmatic entrepreneur.
Don’t see how that happens in the next 10,15,20 years, too many complexities.
In 15 to 20 years there is a collection of websites and platforms that represents the ideal of a metaverse within their enclave.
They're going to be probably 3 major platforms that will have a certain metaverse-like identity that enables interoperability and carrying identity. (China is excluded since they have their own world).
Q: Do we need blockchain for Metaverse?
One thing important to highlight in web 2 in the year of social media in the last 15-20 years, the companies took the decentralized internet of Web 1 and created applications that made it very simple to adopt the internet.
We are the product, we are being monetized in Web 2.
No, I don’t see how blockchain in and of itself is a technology that is critical for the metaverse, and here is the reason why a lot of the proponents of the blockchain want to use a blockchain because it is the answer to all the internet landlords who are closing the internet.
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Thoughts of user-owned internet
Yonatan thinks a revolution is the internet, the World Wide Web.
The majority of people are not going to buy and flip NFTs.
Doesn’t think gaming is going to become play to earn.
It is more important to focus on the NOW and how to make it better.
Are There Alternatives to Blockchain For Digital Ownership?
I am not against the blockchain.
If a decentralized metaverse emerges, blockchain will play a role, there’s no doubt about that.
There is nothing bigger than the innovation concept of Bitcoin for the last 15 years.
Blockchain, Bitcoin, and NFTs are different things.
The evolution of 2D to 3D and the evolution of centralized to decentralized are happening in parallel. It needs to be married to each other to accomplish the biggest vision we have.
How Could a Metaverse Economy Work?
What might happen is that we are creating a decentralized marketplace where everyone is making money.
It is likely what mostly will happen, is that leading companies will always find and seek the way to make money.
Lower the barrier of creation and increase the amount of money that creators want to make to expand the pool.
This is not Altruism, this is just smart business thinking about what the ecosystem looks like so that everyone can make money.
We’ll still have companies who make money selling technology like Nvidia.
Thoughts on Roblox
Roblox is obviously stunning, one of the best in business.
They made an environment and you keep alluding to it and you keep on building blocks.
Creating incentives that bring in developers and users at the same time.
Importance of Gaming and Interactive Content in the Metaverse
Thinks the metaverse is fundamentally going to be a generational thing.
If you are below 25 years old, you already experienced the metaverse in the past 10 years if you are playing Roblox and Minecraft.
The metaverse will continually largely focus in interactive entertainment games for the next 5-7 years.
Video games, e-commerce, and social media will be a triangle.
The big leap forward is going to be when there is a big population of this metaverse generation that is now 30-40 years old which will happen over the next 15 years.
When the users now become an adult, they worked. That is the first metaverse generational shift.
Second Life Vs. Roblox
Second life was an MVP (to be considered as the first-generation Metaverse).
Second life users are mostly not kids so their identity is not shaped as kids who are interacting mostly as 3D avatars. That is fundamental.
Second life started at the beginning of the internet, there is a very small group of users on the internet, now it is billions.
70% of the 60 million daily active users on Roblox are on mobile and tablets.
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Navigating the waters of crypto is risky; even the biggest CEXs & stable coins can have huge risks…
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