Kelly here! I love to tell people that I have a job in the metaverse. No, no, not that, though I do create and develop metaverse experiences for clients across XR and online platforms. I’m talking about my job as a hairstylist in Avakin Life.
Ever since the word, “Metaverse” started popping up and being used almost verb-like to explain things that are happening in new, unfiltered worlds; we have seen something of a schism in the world of commerce between those who truly believe that the metaverse can bring something incredible to the world of work, and those who believe that this is just a passing fad, a philosophy, that it isn't real and that it doesn't exist. Trust me on this, these people are really boring. Stay away from these people. But do hang out with people who are looking at creative opportunities to be able to pivot and innovate. I've said in previous articles that as humans, if we are creative - pivoting out of what it is that we do - to try and change the status quo is one of the things that makes us so creative in our space. However, I want to look at the types of industries that might really benefit from being able to go into the metaverse from the perspective of not just platform-based experiences but also by utilising everything that XR (Extended Reality) has to offer. That includes those 20-minute only VR headsets, AR devices that will help you trip directly into the path of oncoming traffic and the poor cousin Mixed Reality, which only super works if you're a surgeon currently (or someone who works at Microsoft).
I’ve lived and worked in this space for the last three years, six years in blockchain, NFT and de-fi (and in the games industry for 30 years), and I’ve concluded that there are no verticals that are a limit to Metaverse entry. But can we work in it? And if so, how?
Flying through the smoke screen of impossibility.
Avionics. The science of the skies: it’s a huge industry which was impacted greatly by the pandemic. I talked about travelling without moving in a previous article, but from the perspective of air travel, some of the things that the metaverse can really help with are actually not the things that you instantly think of when going away on your holidays or to your super-fantastic-futuristic holodeck when we we completely stop using planes to move from country to country. For now, let's look at what the metaverse can do for the world of air travel, and air product manufacture.
Training is a great opportunity for the metaverse to run with. Training presents interesting possibilities using a variety of applications across the pantheon of metaverse platforms and worlds. There are already a heck of a lot of VR trainers, but wouldn't it be great if - and bear in mind we live in a remote world now, period - we can work remotely with our colleagues in all four far flung corners of the world. We can develop not only solidified training opportunities, but also explore remote camaraderie as we do it. There is nothing more social than the metaverse, so this is a really great place to get started.
Digital twins are high on the agenda in this space too, because they provide the macro and micro in us getting up close and personal with components that enhance avionics and manufacture well. From simulation to, er, samples: if you have a Trent 500 sample part that you need to send between Chengdu, China and say, Rolls-Royce in Derby, then perhaps you want to start digitally. If you’re archiving components and pieces for planes past and present from the L-1049 Super Constellation to the Gulfstream IV (like a G6 but not quite) this is a great use case. Using CT technology within digital twins especially, the scan reproduces every flaw and design element, lump and bump and scratch. There's a company in Switzerland called SO REAL who base their entire business model on the ability to present authentic digital twins.
Luxury is the ease of a t-shirt in a very expensive dress.
Next up is fashion. I always talk about fashion. You know that I'm really passionate about it. But I will say this and it's really short. We can do anything in the fashion industry within the auspices of the metaverse. It’s true! We do not have to fly over to Dubai Fashion Week, or do all of the fashion weeks in Europe, Asia and the Americas when we can simply go to fashion week in Decentraland, or Avakin Life. We can interact with fashion in a really interesting way, in real time, without boundaries and without the snobbery of fashion. Why? Because the metaverse is completely social, that’s why! So if you design events, or clothing, the metaverse is your new workplace.
The real problem here is the fashion industry. There you go, I said it. No one is prepared to break the cycle of boring e-commerce systems by using the metaverse as a sole driver of how we should buy items, objects and general stuff in the future. E-commerce right now is a desert on the internet: dry, lifeless and cold at night. It involves ridiculous photos of the same thing in different colours. How do I know that this will suit me by just looking at an image? Can’t I dress my avatar? Will it fit my body shape? How can I know all of this stuff from a pic? It's wasteful. It's useless, and it's completely stupid. So get that e-commerce store in the metaverse. Shopify will show you how and you will become one of the world’s greatest online magnates because you bypassed the crazy and went straight to your audience. Well done you!
Paradise is a state of being, more than just the name of a suburb or a home.
I'm really one foot in and one foot out real estate. I can see the purpose of why we have fantastic real estate opportunities within the metaverse from land purchasing virtually, to actually spending time with the local [insert your brand here] realtor to have a look at our next physical in-real-life purchase of actual real estate but how about everything else?
Architecture and the great discipline of draughtsmanship: in the metaverse we already are architects and builders, we can apply or save our plans and draughts. Where’s the rest of ya? Are you joining us? The more we create and build, perhaps the less we have to physically construct.
For real estate, off-plan purchasing can really take off in the metaverse. If we want to buy real estate and we want to do it off plan, we now have great opportunities to interact with 3D designs of houses, restaurants, hotels, schools and offices; to really understand what that entire process is with regards to living in an existing or new community that we've created.
As I'm also on the side of buying real estate inside the metaverse, because after all, as a game developer, I have been creating opportunities for people to live inside of various game worlds so that they don't have to leave. They don't have to go home and they don't have to go away and try something new.
Real estate has, therefore, a real occasion to study every square metre of property, regardless of our geographic location. We can also develop ideas and ideals in both real life and in the virtual world allowing all of us to truly own a property, whether it's digital, physical or phygital, and that can only be a good thing.
… And the eye-in-the-sky is watching us all.
In the world of casinos the land casino has always been king. The bricks and mortar of tangible assets provide a gateway to consistent and persistent entertainment. Gaming, gambling and casinos is an entertainment business. Some of the most beautiful buildings in European, American, South African and Asian cities, provide us with the fortuity to be part of a huge adult playground. But what if we were to take away the land based casinos and start to focus and operate our businesses in more of a Metaverse or in a virtual online environment? Well, that gives us a really good connector to do a number of things: from looking after our staff and being able to employ more freely by using remote opportunities.
We have some great things going on in casinos of the future. If you take a look at ICE poker, for example. Here you can play poker in a decentralised world, and decentralised means that it's open, transparent, and collaborative. If it's using private Blockchain it has also the potential to be incredibly safe. But the thing that excites me the most is the opportunities that lie in the approaches towards ensuring the safeguarding of people, players and operators inside this space using web3 tools, frameworks and systems. Controversial possibly, but from AML and KYC to human trafficking and adoption of better working practices for everybody in this space. Additionally, working with being able to mentor, support and create responsible gaming, by virtue of using virtual platforms is a really unexplored possibility.
Ultimately, the metaverse isn't going anywhere. We've got some really good participation that we can fully harness and utilise in this space. We also have great chances to change the way that we operate and conduct ourselves in this space - that means working practices too - and what it gives us is much more of an up-close-and-personal exposure which gets us closer to the action of everything that it is we create within the metaverse and all of its properties. Whether playing to earn, or exploring the possibilities of connecting the dots of working from its practices and protocols to the science and experimentation we can apply to it: This is our future. So let’s go to work!