Want to make sure the Metaverse delivers what it promises? To do that, you need to listen to and learn from your community, unleash your imagination, and let what has worked and what hasn't guide us as we develop new, immersive experiences.
While the term metaverse is used in different ways and has different meanings, for us at Roblox (which has been called "the next and most far-reaching vision of the metaverse"), it's about people sharing experiences - people sharing experiences in immersive 3D spaces.
Morgan Tucker is Head of Product, Music, Brands & Education at Roblox. This post is part of CoinDesk's Metaverse Week.
Two key factors are critical. These experiences are social. You have them with other people, not alone. And they are immersive. That doesn't mean you have to buy expensive hardware or fancy headsets, but you're in the experience with your mind's eye. You feel like you're immersed, like you're really there.
Instead of passively reading textbooks or watching videos about ancient Rome, you're actively immersed in a 3D recreation, exploring the city and its culture with your friends. Or instead of picking out a new pair of Vans on a website, go to a virtual Vans skatepark, quickly fit your new virtual sneakers, put them on, and then have fun practicing skateboarding tricks with your friends and other like-minded skateboarders.
After creating a variety of experiences, from concerts to webby-award-winning conceptual fashion exhibitions attended by millions, we've figured out the best practices to follow. In the Metaverse, we can not only democratize people's favorite real-life experiences and extend their reach to a global audience, but also enhance those experiences thanks to the power of collective creativity.
If you're embarking on a new metaverse project, here are five basic principles for designing memorable and truly immersive experiences:
The metaverse starts with the best parts of reality
....Then we expand it by creating things we've never seen before. When imagining a new experience, it's best to start with reality as a foundation, and then immediately see the possibilities that arise when the constraints of space and time are removed.
For example, when we develop concepts for a concert, we pause and think of great moments that create excitement in the real world. Think of the feeling that comes when the Jumbotron shows you in the audience, even if it's just for a moment. We could recreate that digitally, but why stop there? Why not bring the audience on stage to join the performers, see them play their instruments, or even join in by showing their dance moves? Instead of changing the visuals or putting pieces on stage, we can put the audience in a whole new world where the laws of gravity are turned upside down and create surprise and delight. It's not enough to just recreate reality, we need to use the full potential of the Metaverse to create a truly unique moment.
Give metaverse users agency and autonomyThe fastest
way to create surprising, unique experiences is to give the audience power and control. As designers, we're often looking for ways to design the "perfect" experience, but that can sometimes feel a bit soulless and inauthentic. Influence, don't control the audience. This ensures that each experience is unique to the individual.
Don't treat attendees as passive observers; instead, empower them to really engage in the experience. For example, at an IRL concert, people cheering creates an energy that can definitely affect the outcome of a performance. With the Lil Nas X concert, we looked at the audience as part of the canvas from the beginning. In these multisensory experiences, people can participate in new ways, so take advantage of that.
Show, don't tellHumans are
visual creatures by nature. Plus, oral and written communication can be a barrier when you're dealing with a global audience in the metaverse. Visual experiences allow people to interact with each other without using words.
For example, encourage people to use their avatars as a means of self-expression. Gestures allow people to have emotional experiences with each other. For this reason, we are developing tools for musical experiences that allow users to wave at each other, show dance moves, and express themselves in meaningful ways. The concert becomes a lively, expressive environment compared to a room full of still avatars.
Optimize emotional impactEmotions burn
indelibly into our consciousness
.When done well, digital experiences can evoke such strong emotions that the brain remembers them as reality. Ultimately, shared experiences in digital spaces are about creating memorable experiences. This is one of the great opportunities offered by the metaverse.
We think of virtual events as life experiences that are comparable to the real world. Choosing the emotional impact of the things you design is critical. But a word of caution: this is also the most complex part of developing Metaverse experiences. How do you identify an emotion and implement it digitally?
When planning the 21 Pilots concert, we thought about key moments in the songs and how to make the audience really feel the music by focusing on the right things at the right time. The stage sent ripples through the floor and into the crowd when the drummer hit the drums. And when all the musicians gave their all in a big moment in a song, the environment disintegrated and sent a frenzied energy through the set.
Strong visions defy technical adversityWe
breaknew ground
every
day, and sometimes we just don't know if the ideas in our heads are technically feasible. But that's okay. If you're leading a project with a clear creative vision, you'll find ways to communicate the most important aspects of your experience, regardless of the technical limitations. It's easy to get bogged down in the details when using a multisensory canvas, but if you focus on your vision - how is this better than reality, how do we let the user control the outcome, have we left out unnecessary words, and do people really feel something - we can create something new and inspiring.
As architects of the metaverse, we are responsible for the broad strokes. Our digital citizens are the ones who will fill in the details and design their own narrative. By challenging the status quo and empowering users, we ensure that each experience can be as unique as the people who visit it. Can't wait to see what you'll create!
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Rather than allowing players to port weapons or powers between games, non-fungible tokens will serve as building blocks for new games and virtual worlds
. The Metaverse Will Make Gamers of Us All Essentially,the "Metaverse" is a game - but one with real-world consequences and possibilities
. What can you do in the Metaverse in 2022?The future possibilities of the Metaverse are probably limitless, but is there anything you can do in the Metaverse right now?