The metaverse has been around for a long time. Long before Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, changed the company name to "meta" and announced that the metaverse would be one of its primary concerns.
Before Facebook/Meta made its big announcement, however, other companies had been interested in the metaverse. Quite unsurprising, to say the least. The sheer potential of the metaverse as a virtualized world or an alternate reality is staggering.
The metaverse can be thought of as a virtual world. A digitized environment running on a Blockchain. The metaverse utilizes technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to serve as the virtually immersive component of this new world.
With the metaverse, going to work, gaming, and even dating no longer have to be exclusively physical activities. This new technology has bridged the gaps in human interaction and is only beginning to scratch the surface.
Not many people understand the concept of NFTs. To some, NFTs are mere images of real-world objects that sometimes sell at insane prices for some reason. To these people, NFTs are no more and no less.
NFTs, however, are so much more than that. An NFT is a tokenized representation rather than a mere picture of a real-world object. NFTs are created, bought, and sold over the blockchain.
As with regular cryptocurrencies on the blockchain, it is impossible to clone, duplicate or create a fake NFT.
This precisely explains why the world is so interested in these digital gems. For one, NFTs put an end to theft and plagiarism, ensuring that creators have full control and receive full credit for their work. What's more, the creators of an NFT can pre-program conditions into their NFTs that pay them a certain percentage every single time their work is sold or resold.
Yet out of the numerous use cases of NFTs, one of the foremost is that of their use in the metaverse.
The word 'NFT' means 'non-fungible token'. Almost everyone knows this. But not everyone understands what the words "non-fungible" really mean.
A fungible token like bitcoin has certain properties that make it 'fungible'. The foremost is that one bitcoin will always be equal to another.
If Peter owns one bitcoin and Paul owns another, Peter and Paul will always have the same thing at any point in time.
This is not the case with non-fungible tokens. One NFT is never equal to another. This is the whole point of non-fungibility. This is because NFTs are digital representations of different objects. Meaning that Paul in this case, can own ten times whatever Peter owns, even if they both have NFTs from the same collection.
NFTs have numerous roles to play in the metaverse. Consider gaming ecosystems, for example.
Players can have fun playing while collecting special NFTs that can be used to level up, pay for in-game purchases or even be sold in the real world for a profit.
NFTs can be used in the metaverse for controlled access. Moderators and organizers can hold conferences, concerts and even seminars while controlling who gets access to these events. They can make attendance exclusive to only those who own NFTs in a particular collection.
There are many more use cases of NFTs in the metaverse.
NFTs can be used as deeds to virtual property like land, houses, and even vehicles. The short answer to "do NFTs play a role in the metaverse?" is a big YES.
The longer answer, however, is that NFTs are created using blockchain technology. This means that they are transparent and decentralized.
NFTs play a huge role in the metaverse and may even be one of the most important concepts in this new world.
It is certain that NFTs will continue to play their roles and even bigger ones as time goes on.