The 'Metaverse Primer' recap by MetaPortal - Part IX

It took us nearly four months to work through and summarise all the articles in Matthew Ball's "Metaverse Primer" series. This is the last one. Part IX focuses on Evolving User & Business Behaviors, defined as "Observable changes in consumer and business behaviors (including spend and investment, time and attention, decision-making and capability) which are either directly associated with the Metaverse, or otherwise enable it or reflect its principles and philosophy. These behaviors almost always seem like 'trends' (or, more pejoratively, 'fads') when they initially appear, but later show enduring global social significance."

Short-Term Behavioral Changes

On the short-term side of things, Covid has fundamentally changed the perception around spending time online, in social games, virtual worlds or virtual events. For a long-time, playing video games carried a certain stigma and was often described as a waste of time or anti-social. That's not the case anymore.

"Not only has this destigmatized virtual life, and "the Metaverse," but it might even mean an extra generation will participate in it."

Matthew uses the example of online grocery shopping, which was available but not widely used for at least a decade due to a plethora of primarily psychological excuses. With Covid, many people had to give online grocery shopping a try, regardless of their opinion on the matter. Only to learn that it's not so bad. Some of them will continue shopping online, some will go back to stores, and some will do both. But the tide has turned, and consumer behaviour changed.

Outside of the changing user behaviour, the Metaverse narrative has benefited from the emergence and legitimization of pure virtual assets with cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Furthermore, many traditional brands have entered the space, from Prada and Gucci in fashion to automotive with Ford and sports and entertainment brands. These investments contributed to the Metaverse expanding beyond traditional video game experiences focused on action (shoot, kill, score) to more broadly appealing ones centred on exploration, social engagement, collaboration, etc.

We are also seeing businesses adjust to these developments too. Hollywood is shifting some of its production to Unity or Unreal or developing in-house engines. The same can be said about architectural firms and automotive companies. The main benefit here is unlimited usability potential for digital items without additional cost. Whether it's planet Endor or a Ford truck, both can be infinitely reused in their digital form or iterated upon to design more tailored digital experiences.

The Ongoing March of Open Asset Economies and Sharing

Open platforms and economies have been covered rather extensively in Part VIII of the primer. We are moving towards a digital world that is more open and allows for interoperability of items, socials, achievements, etc. Fortnite and what it has done for cross-platform experiences is the perfect example here.

As platforms like Fortnite or Roblox become part of the mainstream culture, brands need to have a strategy for branding and marketing on these platforms. To that end, Fortnite has partnered with a long list of brands over the years to offer just that. For brands to participate, however, they have to allow for unlimited-term licenses and overlapping marketing windows with other brands, plus give up control over editorial. Not something we would've expected five years ago, but it's happening nevertheless.

Lastly, we are seeing Epic and Epic Online Services push hard on cross-title achievements and interoperable virtual goods.

"The company seems to believe that by reducing the friction to accessing different games (via free-to-play monetization), making it easier to bring your friends and items across these games, and giving players a reason to try/play these games, players will spend more time gaming, with more people, across more titles, and with greater spend."

And finally, the crypto space has been pushing hard on new economic models for games that would benefit from open systems and interoperable goods. It's early days, but the level of innovation is encouraging.

Long-Term Behavioural Changes

Things don't get much more long-term than generational change. Matthew uses the example of kids who grew up with iPads and saw magazines as "an iPad that doesn't work". To understand what that led to, we should look at Roblox a decade later. Roblox has been around since 2006 and has had barely any users for a long time. But as the iPad generation grew up, Roblox became the generational social platform of choice.

"The iPad generation grew up with very different expectations, behaviors, and social formats than those that preceded it."

The equivalent could be YouTube or Netflix and on-demand video in general for the millennials. However, the amount of leisure time we spend on video on a generational basis is declining. While the share spent on gaming is increasing with each generation.

Today, the majority of the iPad generation are consumers. Few are creators, and almost none are in corporate leadership positions. As they mature, their different frames of reference will profoundly impact our future.