Designing the Metaverse: Location, Location, Location
When it comes to designing a metaverse map, it's more about flavor than functionality. From space modules to jungle islands to famous neighbors, users want to feel like they're somewhere special.
What are the considerations when designing a metaverse platform? Insiders say a key factor is that virtual worlds should be created with features familiar to their human users — even if such features, like beaches and nature reserves, offer no practical benefit in VR. Old habits die hard and people prefer spaces that are familiar and ideally near a celebrity like Snoop Dogg.
Alexis Christodoulou, a 3D architect who has been creating virtual spaces for 10 years and NFTs for two, recently landed the job of designer of 2117, a space-themed metaverse platform imagining the lens declared UAE to colonize Mars in the year. 2117.
"If someone had told me to just build a metaverse, I would have had a real nervous breakdown; starting with a space module was intuitive."
Outer space, like the metaverse itself, is an alien environment for humans. Looking 100 years into the future, it's easy to imagine a creepy, inhuman, alien-like ship without a lot of familiarity points. Instead, Christodoulou sought to shape the environment into one that feels comfortable, familiar, and inviting.
Noting that his first design seemed a bit cramped, "I started putting windows in the space capsule and realized it was more comfortable" - a concept that seems strange, given that it is indeed a video game, but somehow it is intuitive.
"We're still so human and base everything on the real world because we haven't spent enough time in the metaverse," he reasons, explaining that real-world bias is why people are likely to prefer secluded metaverse or island beaches instead of properties closer to infrastructure, such as portals. "We still have real values in the metaverse, but that could change in 10 years," predicts Christodoulou.
To begin the future virtual journey to Mars, users must purchase a "citizenship card", an NFT that gives users access to their pods. As with any fantasy work, there is an element of world-building that must be created whereby the designed space is made to follow a certain logic.
“How does the spacecraft work? What does it carry to facilitate its task of colonizing Mars? an ongoing and developing plot.
But are metaverse platforms really just video games? For Christodoulou, a video game is something that is primarily task-oriented, responding to the completion of defined quests where "community and social aspects are secondary" - for example, a shooter where an online guild can s train together to become better online snipers. "The metaverse is a place where you just want to exist - you can choose to do quests, but it's not required," he says, explaining that instead of just being a one-on-one challenge, it's about more of a collective journey through a developing story. /p>
It's a lot like life itself.
Sara Popov, creative director of metaverse platform Paxworld, agrees, explaining that the metverse is "more of an experience than a game," with the latter having clear goals, while the former is more a supportive environment f. ..
When it comes to designing a metaverse map, it's more about flavor than functionality. From space modules to jungle islands to famous neighbors, users want to feel like they're somewhere special.
What are the considerations when designing a metaverse platform? Insiders say a key factor is that virtual worlds should be created with features familiar to their human users — even if such features, like beaches and nature reserves, offer no practical benefit in VR. Old habits die hard and people prefer spaces that are familiar and ideally near a celebrity like Snoop Dogg.
Alexis Christodoulou, a 3D architect who has been creating virtual spaces for 10 years and NFTs for two, recently landed the job of designer of 2117, a space-themed metaverse platform imagining the lens declared UAE to colonize Mars in the year. 2117.
"If someone had told me to just build a metaverse, I would have had a real nervous breakdown; starting with a space module was intuitive."
Outer space, like the metaverse itself, is an alien environment for humans. Looking 100 years into the future, it's easy to imagine a creepy, inhuman, alien-like ship without a lot of familiarity points. Instead, Christodoulou sought to shape the environment into one that feels comfortable, familiar, and inviting.
Noting that his first design seemed a bit cramped, "I started putting windows in the space capsule and realized it was more comfortable" - a concept that seems strange, given that it is indeed a video game, but somehow it is intuitive.
"We're still so human and base everything on the real world because we haven't spent enough time in the metaverse," he reasons, explaining that real-world bias is why people are likely to prefer secluded metaverse or island beaches instead of properties closer to infrastructure, such as portals. "We still have real values in the metaverse, but that could change in 10 years," predicts Christodoulou.
To begin the future virtual journey to Mars, users must purchase a "citizenship card", an NFT that gives users access to their pods. As with any fantasy work, there is an element of world-building that must be created whereby the designed space is made to follow a certain logic.
“How does the spacecraft work? What does it carry to facilitate its task of colonizing Mars? an ongoing and developing plot.
But are metaverse platforms really just video games? For Christodoulou, a video game is something that is primarily task-oriented, responding to the completion of defined quests where "community and social aspects are secondary" - for example, a shooter where an online guild can s train together to become better online snipers. "The metaverse is a place where you just want to exist - you can choose to do quests, but it's not required," he says, explaining that instead of just being a one-on-one challenge, it's about more of a collective journey through a developing story. /p>
It's a lot like life itself.
Sara Popov, creative director of metaverse platform Paxworld, agrees, explaining that the metverse is "more of an experience than a game," with the latter having clear goals, while the former is more a supportive environment f. ..
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