“The Metaverse has the potential to revolutionize almost every single industry on the planet.” “It will impact both how we work and how we play,” say Paul Dawalibi and Gregory Landegger, who are deep into Assouline’s new book deal with the topic. Metaverse Dream. “Over the course of our lives, we’re going to spend a decade or more in a metaverse.” But the most incredible part is that the metaverse will be an incredible balance. It will bring stunning experiences and social interaction to the masses.”
Assouline boldly suggests that “the Metaverse represents the future of travel”. That begs the question of where it should take you. “Today, travel is no longer limited to a physical, pre-existing destination,” says the editor. “With the Metaverse, the possibilities are endless as new worlds are created every day.”
Artwork inspired by the NFT character Bored Ape
(Credit: © Mininyx Doodle/Alamy Stock Vector. Courtesy of Assouline)
The possibilities of the metaverse have been explored by filmmakers, artists and fashion brands, from movies to everything blade runner And Ready, player one to fashion shows by Gucci and Nike and architecture by Marcel Duchamp, considering the potential of the metaphysical.
In Metaverse Dream, Dawalibi, and Landegger trace its development, beginning with its origins in fiction and gaming. “The first and still best example of metaverse is massively multiplayer games,” they say. “Gamers populated Metaverse for decades before anyone even coined the term.” Facebook’s renaming of the company as Meta was a pivotal moment in the development of the Metaverse, as it brought the idea into the mainstream.
“All of a sudden, everyone was talking about Metaverse, and inevitably, big investments and an explosion of popularity followed.” The idea of Metaverse brought gaming concepts and gamification to industries, sectors, and investors that would otherwise have dismissed gaming as “kids’ stuff.” In recent years, the idea of a metaverse has been fueled by the development of digital assets and the development of Web3. “We believe the metaverse needs to have some economics, it doesn’t need to be cryptographically secure.”
True Damage Qiyana Prestige, a skin designed by Nicolas Ghesquière, Artistic Director of Women’s Collections at Louis Vuitton, in collaboration with League of Legends
(Credit: © Louis Vuitton Malletier/Riot Games. Courtesy of Assouline)
Dawalibi and Landegger emphasize the reach of the metaverse, citing examples from the worlds of art, fashion, gaming and technology, as well as key moments in the history of the movement, while highlighting its potential beyond brand activations. “One thing that continues to surprise us is that many designers view the metaverse as nothing more than a replica of the real world.” But the metaverse is not, and should not be, constrained by the limits of our physical reality.
“There are so many opportunities for designers to go beyond and imagine new realities that would be impossible in the real world.” The biggest challenge is the lack of education from brands. They spend money on Metaverse activations without understanding what drives people into these virtual worlds and, more importantly, what keeps them coming back. “A deep gaming experience is critical to success in the metaverse, and unfortunately many companies (and) consultants are taking advantage of the hype to sell empty experiences in even emptier metaverses.”
We may not book our Metaverse break just yet.
Metaverse Dream by Paul Dawalibi and Gregory Landegger is published by Assouline
Scene from Steven Spielberg’s Ready, player one (2018), based on the novel of the same name by Ernest Cline
(Credit: © Warner Bros/Village Roadshow Pictures/TCD/ Prod.DB/Alamy Stock Photo. Courtesy Assouline)