Hadean is powering the future of the internet – one that is spatial, immersive, interactive, social, and brings added value and functionality to our everyday lives.
Our mission has always moved in step with Web3. Back in 2022, we published a blog series that covered the technical components behind this spatial revolution as it pertained to Web3 and the metaverse.
While Web3 remains a nascent field, we have since seen numerous exciting examples of creators, brands, and publishers exploring its value for sharing unique content, building engaged communities, or adding functionality to their existing activities.
This has been a great driving force for us as we continue to break boundaries in technology to deliver rich, immersive experiences collaboratively and at scale.
In this series, we’ll cover some of the innovations we’ve seen over the past year in more detail. But first, an introduction to how virtual experiences are a natural fit for the digital-native communities of Web3.
Web3 is shaping not just the future, but our present
Web3 is the next evolution of the internet.
Web1 and Web2 were characterised by progress in the ability of users to create, share, and manipulate content online – from web pages, chat rooms, and email to modern social media, live service gaming, and SaaS platforms.
While this has radically unlocked the ability for people all over the world to create value with and for each other, much of it occurs on closed, centralised platforms whose owners have unlimited control over the flow of data in and out of their platform.
Web3 aims to give more control back to its users by disintermediating third-party data brokers, enabling individual contributors to enjoy greater agency over the contributions that they make to their preferred online communities and economies.
Central to this are blockchains – peer-to-peer data networks enabling decentralised verification of the ownership of digital assets.
Leveraging blockchains has a dual purpose for Web3 communities:
- Allowing users to hold a unique identity across the internet, and to trade any assets they accrue on a Web3 platform into other assets beyond it, including fiat currencies. This ensures that every contributor has an equitable and verifiable stake in the communities they choose to participate in.
- Having a verifiable stake in the community promotes a feeling of shared responsibility and fellowship amongst users. This is a powerful catalyst for the collaboration, creativity, and relentless innovation through which Web3 ecosystems ultimately aim to bring value to people’s lives.
Virtual worlds are driving value in the Web3 space
The purpose of the spatial web is to foster more intimate, authentic, and interactive connections online. It’s therefore no surprise that the Web3 space should be amongst the most enthusiastic in leveraging virtual experiences in its bid to break into the mainstream.
Web3, at its core, is about building communities. Within this is the imperative for community members to work together to create value, trade ideas, or simply have a great time around shared interests and values.
Simply put, virtual worlds offer more opportunities than 2D interfaces for collaboration, creativity, and genuine socialisation. Immersive environments, simulated embodiment, and visualisation of 3D objects all add an extra dimension to the way that Web3 communities can come together to share unique and memorable experiences.
As platforms for building and sharing virtual experiences become more open, transparent, and accessible to developers and users alike, they will become an integral part of digital activity.
Virtual experiences in Web3: 3 core use cases
Networking and collaboration
Web3 communities are places where like-minded individuals with a variety of skills gather to collaborate on initiatives, whether creative, technical, or entrepreneurial. For these, investing in a community signifies an active commitment to its growth and prosperity. Virtual worlds give these communities an added dimension for creativity, innovation, and value creation, as well as social spaces more conducive to authentic and meaningful interactions.
Our partner and investor, Yuga Labs, is aiming to foster the next generation of Web3 communities on ‘Otherside’, a platform optimised for high-fidelity virtual experiences that bring creators and players together at scale. Check out the announcement of our partnership here!
Gaming
Gaming has always been a key catalyst in driving the functionality of virtual worlds. Now, the fruition of Web3 is adding a new twist to existing gaming paradigms. Web3 gaming allows users to take ownership of in-game identities, as well as assets that they earn or create through play. This not only allows them to get a return on the time, effort, and resources they invest into in-game progress but also catalyses the co-creation of value for other players.
We have seen major breakthroughs in this space come from our partners at Mythical Games, whose blockchain-based competitive sports game, NFL Rivals, has topped 1 million downloads across mobile app stores. More is surely to come as developers hone the craft of building gaming experiences around the principles of Web3.
Brand communities
Established brands have been amongst the most active in leveraging Web3 and virtual experiences to innovate for a new era of customer experiences. To them, the future of the internet signals new opportunities for building engaged communities around their brands and bringing unique value to the brand-customer relationship through increased co-creation and interactivity.
We will cover how fashion brands are leveraging digital fashion and Web3 as part of a new era of omnichannel customer experiences in a future part. For now, feel free to head to hadean.com/fashion to learn more about how we’re contributing.
Conclusion and what lies ahead
The marriage between virtual worlds and Web3 will keep gathering steam in the coming year, with an increasing number of brands, publishers, and creative communities exploring ways to build it into their long-term strategy.
In summary, we see virtual worlds offering the following benefits to digital-native Web3 communities as they seek to break into the mainstream:
- Fostering increasingly interactive and engaged connections between members
- Adding an extra, limitless dimension for creativity and innovation
- Making awesome, memorable community experiences around entertainment, gaming, and brands
We’re incredibly excited to be bringing these benefits to life through our work with Yuga Labs and YOURE. Stay tuned for huge updates in both of these in the coming months!
Meanwhile, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get notified as we delve deeper into developments in the space, including how virtual worlds and Web3 are revolutionising customer experiences for fashion brands, and how Web3 communities are using virtual worlds to add unprecedented utility to NFTs.