My eyes are closed. I’m singing with all the light in my soul. I can feel the beat of other hearts finding their courage and joining me.
“A whole new wooorld. A new fantastic point of view. No one to tell us “No”, or where to go, or say we’re only dreaming~”
Until I opened my eyes, I had forgotten that I was in a virtual reality karaoke room with an eclectic collection of animal-people, robots, and other pop culture avatars. My chest was filled with a feeling of agape. Agape is Greek for God’s unconditional love. The love for a stranger. And it was real.
Emotion Controls the Human
During that first experience in the metaverse, I discovered a world of possibilities.
The most important aspect of being human is the feeling of emotion. I had a surreal deja vu moment in that virtual karaoke room. The emotion I experienced then was the same one I had felt while standing in a crowd in front of Porter Robinson playing his Worlds set for the first time. While watching Porter Robinson, I was also surrounded by people dressed up as animals and cosplaying their favorite anime characters. The emotion of that moment tied in all five of my senses into a lifelong memory that was brought back by a device that offers four.
Virtual reality offers a fully immersive experience that includes: sight, sound, touch, and… smell?
That’s right. It’s the smell of money.
The company formerly known as Facebook has been in the news recently for its name change to Meta. After acquiring the Oculus company in 2014, Meta is finally publicizing their vision for a new virtual world being dubbed the “metaverse”. It’s no secret that Facebook has collected a lot data about us. Basic marketing teaches you to identify what causes people pain and then offer a solution. Meta is analyzing this data and targeting the next generation by solving a desperate need for connection.
As an elder millennial, I know the very real sensation of social anxiety and conversational awkwardness. I always felt out of place and contemplated whether my mind came from another planet. Nobody understands me, I used to tell myself. There is a voice in all of us that’s always crying out to be heard, to be understood. In real life, our hearts want one thing, yet our minds do another. It can become a vicious cycle of self-sabotage. But there’s hope.
Ready Player You
"This is the Oasis. It's the place where the limits of reality are your own imagination. You can do anything, go anywhere.
People come to the Oasis for all the things they can do, but they stay because of all the things they can be.
Tall, beautiful, scary, a different sex, a different species, live-action, cartoon.
It's all your call."
The VR game closest to realizing Steven Spielberg’s vision of Ready Player One’s Oasis is VRChat.
Several hours before I discovered the karaoke world in VRChat, I had to overcome my first VR challenge: deciding who I wanted to be. This form of expression is a signature rite of passage in gaming culture. I decided to start with one of the publicly available avatars.
I got bit by the VR bug after getting lost in and emerging from multiple worlds, witnessing other player’s avatars, and connecting with people as strange as myself. The experience left me with a sudden desire to create my own avatar.
I quickly became overwhelmed by the sheer number of tabs open on my Brave browser. There was so much information. I found websites that featured free downloads with clothing, accessories, magic spells, fan art, and so much more. There were a collection of game design applications specifically used to create VRChat avatars. I discovered people that created entire worlds, random activities, experiences, and games that can be uploaded to VRChat. There is even a whole subculture of “Vtubers” that are essentially virtual Youtubers that use their 3D avatar to host their videos. I learned it provides a new method of connecting for people who may feel their on-camera charisma is lacking or perhaps their avatar captures their true essence. With sheer willpower and a days time, I successfully made my first one using VRoid studio and Unity. This experience gave me a clue about the direction of this new market and where to position yourself.
The Roadmap to Metaverse Millions
Everyone wants to be different and stand out. This is true both in real life and virtual reality. My research uncovers that for a custom one-of-a-kind avatar, you can expect to pay a minimum of $1,000 all the way $5,000+ to commission one.
People will always want more. Every desire that is not attainable in real life is suddenly possible in-game. The substitution of status symbols like homes, sunglasses, purses, and cars can seamlessly transition to VR. It seems Meta may be on to something. They’re bringing an enormous wave of tech companies behind them that are furiously competing to be the first in the next big idea.
VR adoption is increasing as evidenced by the exponential growth of VR headset shipments from 5 million headsets in 2020 to about 10 million headsets in 2021. Projections expect about 15 million this year and almost 20 million headsets by 2023. This will create a huge demand for unique 3D avatars that can cross virtual worlds.
The next big trend is the ability to purchase NFT 3D Avatars that you can use in multiple VR games. After experiencing VRChat and the importance of avatars, I see this as the most lucrative use case for the quiet NFT market. One of the greatest challenges of the NFT market is the problem of enabling owners to display their collection. What’s the point of spending a ton of money on something if you can’t show it off? Virtual reality now offers an environment where people can openly display their status symbols in 3D form representing their NFT purchase. This opens up an opportunity for a tech-savvy generation of VR enthusiasts to tap into their inner 3D model designer and take a piece of this huge potential market share.
Be The Change You Want to See
"I'm a dreamer. I build worlds."
The VR industry is giving the world the keys to the kingdom. This kingdom is in its infancy and we’ve been given all the tools needed to create anything we want. This is a rare opportunity to shape the future of virtual reality and maybe make enough to live comfortably for the rest of our lives. I can’t wait to finish writing this post so I can return to learning more about creating avatars. This excitement is rare in life and when you feel it, it’s best to lose yourself in it.
My vision is to bring positive vibes to the virtual space and teach people how to interact in meaningful ways. I want to start by creating beautiful 3D avatars. Then I will move on to creating worlds for people to enjoy. I have no experience in this field and the odds are stacked against me. But I am not concerned because I have faith in this vision and it’s a worthy ambition. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this my whole life and I am determined not to miss it. I hope you all will come along and share the joys and hardships of this journey into the metaverse. I’ll be sure to continue writing and sharing my first-hand experiences with you and the VR community. Just do it. Let’s build a new world together.
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