The end goal of the metaverse is to enable people to do many, if not most, of the things in the virtual world that they do in the real world. This requires that the metaverse provide enough immersion and realism. However, realism is not satisfied simply by physical experience, the medium, or advanced rendering technology. What’s more important is that people feel a virtual world is worthy of their wholehearted participation, and as a result are willing to put into it things as important as time, energy, money, and social resources.
What is the actual difference between the metaverse and traditional video games? We believe it is a decentralized civil order and a trustworthy economic layer.
Throughout the development of human civilization, societal order is built upon the rule of law in the real world. But in a metaverse, civilization cannot be built upon man-made law.
The first reason is that there is no existing law that applies well to a metaverse. Most laws designed for the real world are inappropriate in a digital world, such as whether killing another being in combat should constitute a crime.
The second reason is that no organization is fit for upholding such a law. If the operator of a metaverse is also its law enforcement, then it is probable that the operator will interpret the law in a way that benefits itself. This is an issue endemic to many centralized video games today, where the operators of the games (the publishers and developers) interpret and enforce rules to their benefit.
To a degree, the operators and the metaverse’s citizens are rivals, and centralized governance is harmful to the long-term sustainability of the metaverse.
The manifestation of civil order in a metaverse should be based on the debate and approval of a decentralized organization consisting of the citizens of the metaverse. The modality should be decentralized software code that maintains order so that certain rules and stipulations are agreed upon by the citizens and must be abided by all.
On top of this, a metaverse without limits to its resources cannot have fair distribution and long-term sustainability. Only if it's based on realistic and limited resources and a trustworthy economic foundation can healthy development be maintained.
There need to be limited resources and a trustworthy economic foundation so that citizens have the motivation to put effort into production, to allow a metaverse to create real value, and allow that value to accumulate and persist. Such decentralization can only be achieved using blockchain technology, which guarantees resource limits as well as permanence.
