[8] Let's hangout at the (Metaverse) Mall

Dear Readers,

Hope you had a great weekend! Today we start diving into the Metaverse and particularly looking at how we’ve already engaged with the digital world and how our migration to the Metaverse is just a function of time. ⌚️⏱ 👀

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Remember the good ole’ days when we used to hang out at the mall? Going to the mall with your friends was a whole experience.

The mall had everything! 

(What felt like) An endless amount of stores to shop from. There was the food court. The smell of pretzels. Running into someone you know.  Hanging out just because you had nothing to do. For many of us, gathering at the mall was a big part of our teenage years. The mall was the go-to hub of socialization. 

But over the years, as we developed digitally native habits, we started spending more time in digital worlds and less time in the physical world. And of course, the pandemic accelerated these digitally native habits and now it feels like everything we do is digital, online and behind a screen.

There is, of course, something that is charming about meeting in person… but can online experiences recreate the magic that comes from running into a friend or hanging out in “real life” places like the Mall? 

To some it sounds crazy that we can do everything in a digital world but for others we are already doing just about everything digitally. Spending most of our lives in a digital reality is already the status quo for many of us.

Let’s look at some examples.

Meet me at the (digital) concert

A concert in real life is well a concert in real life. It’s what you would expect, a lot of people coming together physically to listen to music and party.

But concerts in real life aren’t the only types of concerts. You can also have a concert in a digital world. 🤯 🤔

Okay but, seriously, a concert in the digital world?

Yes… it already happened.

When rapper Travis Scott hosted a virtual concert through Fortnite (a popular free-to-play battle game), the event drew an in-game record of 12.3 million players. Users logged on to Fortnite and partied with Travis Scott and fellow users all in a digital world. The year before, EDM artist Marshmello hosted a virtual concert through Fortnite that drew in the previous record of 10.7 million players.

And it doesn’t stop there…

Roblox, the online gaming platform that also allows its users to create their own worlds and games has 47 million active daily users (up from 14M users in 2016) with nearly 10 million developers who continue to generate new experiences at breakneck speed. Yes, almost 10 million people are building “experiences” in the digital world for others around the world to engage with … and that is just on one platform.

What’s more interesting is that ~67% of Roblox’s users are under the age of 16. This game has captured the attention of younger audiences and continue to appeal to their interests. 

The success of a platform like Roblox gives interesting insight into what younger user bases want to interact with. It's not crazy to imagine the younger generation hanging out in some digital version of a mall.

Why are digital experiences so popular?

We hear the word “Metaverse” being thrown around today. The Metaverse is not an entirely defined place, but at its simplest form, the Metaverse is just another term for digital worlds (albeit with nuances we will explore in a later piece). 

At heart what the Metaverse is providing is engaging online experiences that are constantly evolving and curated to the endless needs of each user segment. Change is constant and experiences are novel because there is always something new in the Metaverse.

In the real world, creating a new experience takes time. If you wanted to put in a bigger store to replace an existing store, you may not be able to because of the physical and spatial constraints. Think about visiting your local mall, after a few visits you become familiar with all the mall has to offer and the excitement behind each visit declines.  Chances are there isn’t a new selection of products weekly at your favorite store, nor daily.

The Metaverse is appealing because it removes the barriers and constraints of the real world. 

🏃🏾‍♀️ 🏃 🏃🏽‍♀️ One constraint that is removed is the speed of new experiences being introduced. In Roblox, you can generate and experience new content and experiences daily. The excitement factor is extremely high. 

🐲 🦄 🕊 Another constraint that is removed is removing the limits of what humans can do. In a concert in the Metaverse, you can fly. You don’t even have to look human, you can be a dragon or unicorn if that’s what you want.

🗺 🌎 🤝 The last notable constraint that is removed is socialization doesn’t happen at the local level, it happens at the global level. You can log into a digital world and connect with someone half way across the world.

In a world where the Metaverse exists, users have a choice between choosing endless novelty in the Metaverse or choosing limited options in the real world.

Yes, technically you are just confined to your space physically when you are in the Metaverse (i.e. your real body is still just sitting in a chair). But what you can experience is virtually infinite.

Where is the “Metaverse”?

There will always be skeptics asking how meaningful are the interactions in the digital world... There will always be doubt and valid concerns about how the Metaverse may force social interaction to only exist behind the screen with little face-to-face connection. These concerns are important and valid, especially in the building phases of the Metaverse.

But in light of the pandemic, we’ve already been forced to live life more digitally than we have ever needed to before. Most of us spend more time behind screens than we do outside. 

👩🏿‍💻 We already learn online.

🧑‍💻 We already shop online.

👩🏽‍💻 We already work online.

So it’s not entirely crazy that one day we just recreate the “mall experience” (or any experience for that matter) in the Metaverse. We already shop online (e.g. eCommerce)… what if that experience became a hangout spot for us to also socialize? Is it that hard to believe? 

A large part of society has already adopted the behaviors that enable digital worlds and the Metaverse to proliferate. All the ingredients are already there.

And in the Metaverse, you can customize your experience however you want. You can find an endless amount of subcultures to be a part of. 

We tend to think of the Metaverse as a place and question whether this place exists or not. But our digital habits suggest that a mass migration to the metaverse is already happening. 

It’s only a matter of time.

So it’s NOT “where metaverse?” 

But “when”? 

⌚️⏱ 👀

More on that at a later time.

⌚️⏱ 👀