As the virtual world expanded and attracted more and more users, many asked about the intention of metaverse: who owns metaverse? Is it the creative CEO of Meta? Or are there more stories? Metaverse has become a big buzzword since the first Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, shared his dream of meta with the world. Zuckerberg presented his plans for a virtual world with an immersive experience and 3D avatars. In his view, metaverse is going to attract a large number of users to spend almost all aspects of their daily lives while they will create a virtual version of themselves and their world. To fulfill his dream, Zuckerberg even renamed it Meta.
What is metaverse? It was first coined by Neal Stephenson in his science fiction novel Snow Crash in 1992. Since then, the term metaverse has been seen in other novels and used in some games such as Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite. Thanks to the development of digital technology, metaverse found more use cases in the digital world and virtual concerts and meetings have become more common.
If you also wonder about the valid owner of metaverse, keep reading the article to finally find an answer to this ambiguous question. To do so, first ,we need to light up the whole content of metaverse.
Who really owns metaverse?!
Metaverse has been around since 2003 when Linden Lab launched the first virtual world, Second Life. However, metaverse became truly popular in 2020 and has highly promoted during the recent years. Right now, popular metaverses, such as Decentraland and Roblox, are amusing their users. Yet, many argue that a full-fledged metaverse is still on the way.
To fully answer the question “who owns metaverse?”, we provide a very common example, the Internet. You might have already searched a name to own the Internet. However, in a legal sense, there is no company or individual to claim ownership of the Internet. But in practice, some names and giant technology companies seem to have undeniable influence on the access, content and development of the Internet.
World’s top metavrese companies
As mentioned earlier, metaverse is the next evolution of the Internet, and there are also questions about its owner or owners! Like the Internet, powerful technology companies could be tracked in the development of metaverse. Tech companies, like Meta and Microsoft, are investing in technology to make it accessible to everyone and fully immersive.
Other tech companies such as Roblox and Minecraft have already tested the opportunities the virtual world could bring with its shared 3D spaces and experiences. Some of the most critical changes metaverse can get to the digital world are to virtually interact with others and establish an economy as well as a virtual market for digital goods.
Other giant businesses like Amazon also declare their plans to explore metaverse and build their own digital ones.
As the number of big tech companies that invest in metaverse increases, there are more arguments about whether individuals or companies could or should own metaverse. Also, we need to consider if such ownership could dominate the virtual space, the virtual technology or the people building and using metaverse. Others may also challenge the ownership on what can be done in metaverse, whether individuals and companies are to own how users work, play, etc.
Since metaverse is still young in its notion and not fully developed, all metaverse enthusiasts and investors are still waiting to see what the future brings.
Can metaverse be owned by communities?
In answer to “who owns metaverse?”, we should know about it’s relationship with communities. Metaverse is trying its best to improve the interaction level among its users. It aims to provide a virtual world where people can create their own communities and communicate about whatever they wish more excitingly and fascinatingly. Therefore, communities are considered to be served by metaverse.
Metaverse has been shown to focus on the “community first” rather than “corporation first.” Metaverse communities are decentralized and community-governed, meaning that designs can be put to the vote, and the highest number of votes from the community are ultimately accepted to make the final decisions in a metaverse.
To fulfill its goal, metaverse has created Decentralized Autonomous Organization, or DAO, as a legal structure to prove no central governing body for its activities. DAO members share a common goal to act in favor of the interests of a metaverse. DAOs rely on smart contracts that are dedicated to decision-making based on underlying activity on a blockchain. Therefore, DAO members can vote for various activities in a metaverse, including increasing the circulating supply, burning a certain amount of reserve tokens or actions regarding existing token holders.
Metaverses use DAOs to increase the participation of their token holders and players in publicity. This would allow them to encourage their clients to form communities and build a new universe to interact and feel a sense of belonging. Decentraland is a good example of the metaverses that are run on DAOs and community ownership. That could clarify the acceptance and success of some metaverses and the failure of others.
Does metaverse need owners?
The digital world is full of examples of new technologies, from the Internet to smartphones and social media, and their various effects on human life. Whenever people widely accept a new technology, experts always express their concerns about their possible negative impact on societies.
But who owns metaverse? Both tech companies and metaverse users need to wait a bit more to see how the population reacts to metaverse experience and achievements.
Metaverse is no exception among all other modern technologies. Many believe there should be a leader in the virtual world to eliminate the concerns or turn them into motivation to improve it. Others, though, mention the nature of metaverse and declare that metaverse has a creative and shared nature that gives its users the opportunity to create their own dream world and should not be restricted in any way.
Who owns metaverse data in future?
Metaverse is designed to be open in its basic designs. Metaverse is meant to be decentralized so that no single individual, company or government can govern it. Therefore, metaverse composes value for its users, not the platform itself.
Decentralization, as a core feature of metaverse, requires the right for users to own their digital assets and secure the data regarding that. If it still does not sound familiar to you, the requirements fully describe non-fungible tokens or NFTs. We already know that all digital assets available in metaverse, including cryptocurrencies and NFTs, are living on a blockchain and, as a result, the data of the assets and their owners cannot be changed due to unique features provided in blockchain technology. Therefore, metaverse users can own their identities to interact with the virtual world without restrictions or centralized data collection.
Considering the possibility of community ownership in metaverse, which was discussed above, it seems that data ownership is also decentralized, which can motivate metaverse users to invest in a metaverse and help their assets grow faster.
How would ownership influence the future of metaverse?
The Internet is present all around the world because no one owned it! The basic protocols in the Internet are designed to be open for anyone, and allow different companies to successfully use it and provide services that not only respond to the requirement of the users but also generate billions of dollars for them.
But who owns metaverse? Metaverse seems to be quite similar to the Internet in this regard. The largest technology companies are widely investing in metaverse, as a part of earning substantial returns on their investments. They consider the feature of decentralization of metaverse to engage more users with an open, productive, entertaining and ultimately satisfying experience, which in turn allows them to make more money from the services they offer to metaverse clients.
Therefore, it sounds like metaverse is doing great with decentralization and DAO communities to keep the platform innovative and, as a result, stay for a long time, if not forever, in human life.
FAQs about who owns metaverse
What company and who owns metaverse?
Well, no single company can own and manage the huge world of metaverse. Companies such as Meta, can only be a part to metaverse not the owner.
Who created metaverse?
Neal Stephenson first coined the term metaverse. Though, metaverse came alive later in some of the early metaverse games.
What are the biggest metaverses?
Some of the biggest metaverse are NFT worlds, Decentraland, Roblox among all others.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: All content provided on this website, any hyperlinked sites, social media accounts and other platforms is for general information only and has been procured from third party sources. We make no warranties of any kind regarding this content. None of the content should be interpreted as financial, legal, or other advice meant to be relied on for any purpose. Any use or reliance on this content is done at your own risk and discretion. It is your responsibility to conduct research, review, analyze, and verify the content before relying on it.
