MetaWorld VR begins Early Access on September 29th!
It's pretty much a given, that the human race is going to begin partaking in digital worlds of their own creation. In fact, a possible answer to the Fermi Paradox, is the idea that once a civilization gets advanced enough to create it's own realities, it then chooses to spend most of it's time playing around with it's own creation. That's why we feel so alone in this universe. Everybody else is playing some banging VR! Seriously though, here we go folks. Starting on September 29th, HelloVR will make the first legitimate attempt at seeing what something like a metaverse could look like. Sure, this may be the most prehistoric version of a metaverse that we will ever see, but MetaWorld is a metaverse in some respects nonetheless.
HelloVR, the developer of MetaWorld, has the advantage of being the first entertainment company to leverage Improbable's operating system called SpatialOS. If you haven't heard of Improbable yet, this is the UK based company that is currently valued at over one billion dollars, despite the fact that their product hasn't quite proven itself yet. Still, investors are giddy with excitement about this British startup. SpatialOS, is a computing platform that runs across thousands of machines on Google's cloud. It allows HelloVR to craft a persistent simulation, that will allow thousands of players to participate in a shared experience. HelloVR says that users will
"Experience 20,000 square miles of massively scaled open world together. Discover endless activities and adventure, inside a real-time physics simulation allowing thousands of visitors to participate simultaneously online"
Certainly, the biggest question for this first stab at a metaspace, is will it actually be fun? Even more importantly, will it be fun once the novelty wears off? HelloVR is offering an unprecedented chance at living a virtual life in a virtual world the likes of which we've never seen before. HelloVR gives a lot of activities for players to partake in. Hunting, Fishing, Snorkeling, Sailing, Sports, Training, Drones, Go Karts, etc, etc.... You even get to build your very own persistent living space, and have actual virtual neighbors. Get together at the neighborhood campfire, and discuss how you are going to collectively build out this world, or just exist in it.
Right now, on the MetaWorld website, you can sign up to be a "Pioneer". The lowest entry point is $9.99. This gives you Early Access, 1/4 Acre of land, a survival kit, and a log cabin. For $29.99, you get a nice little mansion along with 1 full acre of land. You also get a vehicle and a Custom Interior for your Modern Villa. Then there is the vendor option for $100, which will allow 3rd parties to set up shop in this Virutal World that HelloVR is crafting. We don't know what the Steam Early Access price is going to be, but with the two options of $9.99 and $29.99, hopefully that gives us a good idea. Maybe the $10 fee basically gets you into the world, to see if you really care about going deeper. I think the idea is super intriguing, but it's going to come down to the execution. I can tell you one thing, we'd certainly be interested in checking the game out as soon as it goes live on September 29th.
