The Metaverse is one of those terms that is ubiquitous yet vague. We are told it’s here, but we are not sure what “it” is.
And we are not alone. Wired Magazine writer, Eric Ravenscraft, shares his frustration in his article, “What Is the Metaverse, Exactly?“
It’s been nearly six months since Facebook announced it was rebranding to Meta and would focus its future on the upcoming “metaverse.” In the time since, what that term means hasn’t gotten any clearer. Meta is building a VR social platform, Roblox is facilitating user-generated video games, and some companies are offering up little more than broken game worlds that happen to have NFTs attached.
What Is the Metaverse, Exactly?, Eric ravenscraft, Wired, April 25, 2022
While companies like Meta are fumbling around, smaller, privately held companies are hard at work building products, event spaces, games, and NFTs in the Metaverse.
It, therefore, had a calming effect on me when I spoke with one such company’s founder, David Cummings, Co-Founder of Metaskins, and Jessica Kalichman, Marketing Director at WowWee. Metaskins is a full-service Metaverse Design Studio. The Metaverse is not theoretical to them; it is the heart and soul of their business. Nor is it academic for toy company, WowWee. They are already producing toys that function in the physical and Metaverse worlds.
Metaskins can create a digital event space, pop-up shops, digital games, avatars, virtual clothing, and NFTs. That’s a lot to absorb, so let’s look at how WowWee worked with Metaskins to create their doll line, Avastars.
Avastars is a physical doll that you can customize with stickers and outfits. Avastars is also a creature of the Metaverse that you can digitally customize. Create your doll’s new look on your device, and then change your physical doll’s appearance to match. Or, if you like, do the reverse.
That is just one example of how a toy can be adapted or created for the Metaverse. The Metaverse is
The bottom line, the Metaverse is coming into being. If you want to be on the cutting edge, check out Metaskins to get a sense of what can be done and how you can do it.
