Metaverse is a term we’re hearing more and more these days, not least since Facebook announced it was changing its name to Meta and transitioning into “a metaverse company.” A concept that refers to immersive virtual environments where users can socialize, play, shop, and even earn, the metaverse could represent the future of many industries, from gaming and e-commerce to social media.
The metaverse is an acronym that stands for meta (meaning beyond) or the universe. Technologists who are intrepid have begun to figure out what this space, as well as how it will work. Although it’s early days, signs are that wearable AR/VR devices (headsets, goggles) and blockchain-based digital assets will play major roles, with several projects already at an advanced building stage. DigiNation is a metaverse that has personal identity as its core, which is a notable example.
DigiNation: A Deep Dive
DigiNation, built on Ethereum blockchain, is an ecosystem that includes a vast virtual environment, playable characters (represented DigiAvatar NFTs), an 3D design studio named DigiMaker and a web gallery called NFT Live. It also features an OpenSea-esque integrated market known as DigiMarket.
Described as a “Web3 metaverse featuring NFT-based innovation,” the fast-growing venture is currently gearing up for its public mint on November 15, whereupon up to 950 unique DigiAvatar NFTs will be made available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Up to 950 unique DigiAvatar NFTs will also be made available to community members who helped the community grow in its early years. Another 74 will then go to them.
As in the famous RPGs, ‘players’ are represented by avatars – the aforementioned DigiAvatars, to be more specific. These NFTs represent the citizens of DigiNation. And these unique personas – which can be minted for 0.08 ETH plus gas – can be customized according to the player’s activities in the game.
DigiNation’s avatar NFTs allow you to equip your hologram with cool weapons or fetching hats. However, this feature does more than just provide you with an avatar that can be equipped with multiple items. Dynamic parametersEach player’s metaverse success will improve their Experience, Level, Contribution and Fame, as well as Fertility. Later, a user might elect to sell his advanced DigiAvatar on the DigiMarket – or trade it for a different NFT that is appealing in its own right.
DigiNation calls this identity-focused concept ‘MetaCreation’. The idea being that DigiAvatars represent players’ unique data, with everything from their behavior and credit information recorded and tokenized on-chain via an NFT, and updated via smart contracts.
The DigiNation team has stated interoperability as a goal. NFTs should be able access both the DigiNation Metaverse and other available blockchains. NFT Live also allows third-party NFTs to be imported. For example, it will be possible to import a 2D picture NFT such as a CryptoPunk – which DigiNation will convert into an animated 3D avatar for use in the game.
The DigiMarket, like the popular NFT market OpenSea provides an opportunity for players to showcase their assets and make trades, as well as those made with DigiMaker or imported via NFT Live.
DigiNation Gaming
It’s fair to say that DigiNation is swimming in NFTs; aside from characters, non-fungible tokens in the game include collectible items, properties, art, even songs that play when you traverse a certain pocket of land. DigiAvatars are also able compete in quests and missions for rewards.
Single and multiplayer games can be created by players using DigiMaker’s drag-and-drop toolkit or integrated into the metaverse by professional gaming studios.
The platform will launch a multi-player online tournament next month called Crypto Survivor. It is a combination of Squid Game and TV’s Survivor. While only whitelisted NFT holders will be eligible to participate, the showcase could serve as an interesting demonstration of DigiNation’s potential.
The team behind this particular metaverse project is at pains to point out that they don’t want to go it alone. Instead they envision a virtual community that can support NFTs traveling in a cooperative, collaborative world. between metaverses. The NFT Live program was established to enable other NFT projects and give these tokens more utility.
DigiNation could benefit from such openings: by allowing NFT holders access to their metaverse, they create the conditions for them to transact in DigiMarket, to mint new NFTs using DigiMaker, to play games or simply to explore what the rest of the world has to give.
For now, that’s all hypothetical: the only important date on the calendar is November 15, when the public mint sees hundreds of DigiAvatars make their way into the world. After that, it’s down to DigiNation to make their metaverse a rich tapestry that players can’t resist.