Facebook recently announced that it is launching its version of a metaverse with the goal of creating a platform that functions as a holistic, virtual ecosystem in an immersive digital world. It’s less of an online casino or a social networking site and more of a virtual realm where you interact, experience new encounters and skills and step out of the real world into a digital universe.
For esports gamers and fans, the question is, will these two entities co-exist? How? Will our gaming be redefined? Grande Vegas casino promo codes Casino has begun to explore this question which promises to become more relevant in the coming months and years.
Metaverse
A number of companies have been working on the concept of a universally standardized virtual landscape – the metaverse. The metaverse is envisioned to offer visitors the ability to experience apps as more robust virtual digital experiences. As the metaverse expands users will be able to more fully integrate the entirety of their digital lives – entertainment, social media, commerce and entertainment – as visual experiences.
Metaverse and the Gaming World
For gamers, the question involves the way that gaming will become part of this new metaverse. Gaming has grown tremendously these past few years as pandemic lock-downs and social distancing have driven people to explore entertainment options that they can experience from home.
The ways that people interact with gaming has also changed as live streaming has made both gaming participation and viewing more accessible to more people. There’s no longer a need for professionals to broadcast and comment on games – everything is at everyone’s fingertips thanks to streaming technology.
In many ways, those streams, where audiences view, comment and chat with the gamer and with each other have paved the way for the introduction of the metaverse. The gaming world is responsible for the growth of platforms like Twitch and Discord which have led the way in showing how the gaming community interacts in ways that may shape the future of other digital human connections.
In addition to attracting users, the metaverse can signal brands on where to invest. Through experiences that users live out through their avatars, users build their alter-egos in order to be seen in the way that they want others to view them so that they can better direct their experiences in the gameworld.
Gucci is one of the first brands to take advantage of this phenomena through a partnership with Roblox in which they integrated Guccu products into Roblox games and sold virtual Gucci items to players who wanted them for their in-game avatars. Some of the add-ons were simple and free but others were exclusive and quite pricy – a purse resold in the game’s marketplace for $3,400. Burberry, Balaciaga and Louis Vuitton have also collaborated on virtual collections inside video games.
Roblox sponsored a virtual Lil Nas X concert that drew 33 million views. “Our developers were impressed with the concert venue and were excited about the resources they’ll be able to use in their own games,” Jon Vlassopulos, Global Head of Music for Roblox commented to VENN. “We believe we now have a blueprint for future music events on the Roblox platform.”
The Fortnite game has been one of the most proactive in leveraging the metaverse for commercial gain. Fortnite started out as an online-based video game but has now advanced to a space where gamers enter private codes to meet in customer worlds and spread out.
Completing tasks is no longer the only objective of Fortnite – in a metaverse experience, the game has begun to hold concerts where players experience musical performances from top artists such as Travis Scott as part of in-game interactive experiences. Other branded experiences within Fortnight promote other brands including Ariana Grande and Marvel superheros.
Interactive experiences “March Through Time” (TIME) introduced players to historical events such as the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King.
Edge Founder and CEO Adam Whyte who wrote, “Fortnite is the closest thing we have got to the metaverse. This means that brands can be a core part of the gaming experience since simulated reality can be full of commercially interesting and viable events that improve the gamer/ consumer experience – just like the real world.”
Metaverse and Esports
Esports is redefining the entire gaming landscape. Not only is the field driving participation and engagement through gamification but esports competitors are now considered athletes in every sense of the word. Regardless of your body type or your physical capacilities you can compete and even become a star.
That mentality of participation, engagement and accessibility is one of the underlying themes of the metaverse. esports is leading the way thanks to is delineation as a tribal community or clanship. It’s those kind of micro-communities which were created by the gaming industry that will thrive in the digital metaverse.
Gaming is not only becoming a part of the metaverse – the way that small gaming evolve into a larger and far more complex organism which continues to adapt as the cycle continuously starts anew is what the metaverse is all about.
eSports Future
eSport leaders are well aware of how easy it would be to keep fans, brand partners and support organizations under one roof. Today there are “mini esports metaverses” which are working on building such communities. Some metaverse/esports initiatives include:
EspoWorld
EspoWorld was developed with the goal of creating friendly competition while raising funds and awareness of esports teams. EspoWorld is made up of esports team “districts.” Team HQs are built on virtual plots of land within these districts. Non-fungible tickets (NFTs) can be bought, customized and sold while wins within the mini-games that are located within the districts “upgrade” the district. EspoWorld has launched with six teams participating.
DeahRoad
In the DeathRoad online racing game/metaverse, users rent or buy cars using a BEP-20 token called $DRACE that the user can trade within the Binance ecosystem. Users vote on developmental decisions in a city hall with the most weightage for the votes of users who have more cars. Users race their cars and those who complete races earn more $DRACE. .
NAVINATION
The NAVINATION blockchain platform was created by DMarket and Natus Vincere (NAVI), a Ukranian esports organization to enable NAVI fans to participate in leaderboards, buy, sell and craft digital items and receive gifts and prizes from the team and its partners.
Building an esports metaverse isn’t going to be a smooth process but if the industry can unify brands and centralize currency, a metaverse for esports may become a reality sooner rather than later.
