Will the metaverse be built with blockchain technology? Will it be open and able to work with other worlds? It’s not known. The Open Metaverse Alliance is a group of crypto builders and companies that came together to help the people who made Web3 set standards for the engaging internet of the future (OMA3).
Today was the first day of OMA3, which was announced in July at the Web Summit in Lisbon. The association has two types of members: sponsors and creators. It also has working groups that create standards for metaverse platforms, legal protections for Web3, and more.
Batis Samadian, co-founder of metaverse commerce platform Space said “We share the same belief of the importance that the metaverse remains open and becomes truly user-owned—and that there are very fundamental things that need to be solved across multiple platforms and agreed upon to create this vision,”
OMA3 members include Animoca Brands, NBA Top Shot and Flow blockchain creator Dapper Labs, Yuga Labs, which made Bored Ape Yacht Club and Otherside, and the Web3 games The Sandbox, Decentraland, Alien Worlds, and Upland.
Users will be able to move interactive NFT assets like avatars, virtual land, and items from one Web3 metaverse platform to other thanks to the consortium’s working group on interoperability standards. It will also look at how intellectual property and other legal protections work in online worlds that don’t have a centralized authority.
Members who helped start OMA3 declared that the DAO-run organization has been in the works since 2021.
But OMA3 members also said that its recent way is a response to the Metaverse Standards Forum (MSF). The Metaverse Standards Forum (MSF) is an organization that was announced in June by 35 tech companies. It also agreed to build an open metaverse where users can use their assets on all future online platforms.
The MSF was set up by Web2, Meta, Microsoft, Epic Games, and Adobe. Many Web3 companies don’t think they will be able to build a user-owned metaverse in NFT assets can be freely moved between platforms. Sebastien Borget, who helped start The Sandbox, said that no OMA3 companies had been asked to join the MSF.
“Everything which touches blockchain, and everything which touches tokenization and smart contracts, we did not see represented in the MSF,”explained Dirk Lueth, co-founder and co-CEO of Web3 metaverse real estate game Upland. “They’re working on a different technology foundation.”
Metaverse war
Building in the metaverse has been a source of battle. Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands, said that Facebook and the Chinese company Tencent were “a threat” to an open metaverse. Siu said this because Facebook made clear its metaverse goals before last year’s big show and rebranding to Meta.
Jeff Zirlin, co-founder of Axie Infinity, called Meta’s demonstration of the metaverse a “battle for the future of the internet” in December 2021. He said that Facebook and other centralized giants were trying to “buy the soul of the internet” and control the metaverse phase of the internet.
The metaverse will be moved through by 3D avatars. Many people hope to meet new people, play games, work, and shop in the metaverse. Web3 supporters want an open metaverse where NFT clothing, items, artwork, and other things can be moved from one platform to another.
Meta has recently pushed for building in the open and letting users move their avatars and assets between platforms. It hasn’t said if it will use Web3 technology for anything else besides letting users share NFTs they own on Facebook and Instagram. Instead, it points to partnerships with Microsoft and others to support API plug-ins that let users take assets to platforms that support them.
Many people think that Meta’s role in the metaverse will be centered. Members of OMA3 like that the company is sending a message about open ecosystems. They think that Mark Zuckerberg and his team get it.
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