Meta will be conducting a series of tests with selected creators, allowing them to sell virtual goods in their digital worlds – a function that will become crucial in the developing metaverse.
Testing will launch in Meta’s social virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds, which Zuckerberg considers “core to our metaverse vision.” The platform allows users to create virtual worlds, interact with each other as avatars, and play games.
The company is seeking to generate additional opportunities for users to monetize their content within the metaverse. The goal is for creators to be able to make a living in this new environment while for the audience – to purchase experiences and goods.
“For example, someone could make and sell attachable accessories for a fashion world or offer paid access to a new part of a world,” Meta’s statement reads.
Purchasing goods will be available for those over the age of 18 living in the US and Canada, where Horizon Words is available.
Simultaneously, Meta will also start testing its Horizon Worlds Creator Bonus program for participants in the US. Creators will be compensated with bonuses for reaching their monthly goals. At the moment, the targets include “building worlds that attract the most time spent.”
The metaverse excitement among regular users does not seem to die down. People are already securing deals with designers to create their future home interiors and applying for mortgages to afford a piece of digital land.
“[The metaverse] is a seamless integration of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, all within a single application – users can move from flat web to dynamic web pages, to immersive environments. They can be embodied in an avatar. It’s the evolution of virtual worlds that we’ve seen from World of Warcraft and EverQuest, where it’s no longer necessarily games – it can be this massively multi-user online reality,” Brian Shuster, the creators of a Utherverse platform, told Cybernews.
Currently, it looks like the metaverse will impact our lives way more than originally anticipated. Meta has already announced the release of its Horizon Workrooms app while Microsoft will be rolling out Mesh for Microsoft Teams, which will likely affect where and how we work. As the hybrid work model becomes the new norm, it won’t be necessary to be present in the office anymore – our 3D avatars will do the trick by sitting at the virtual round table for us.
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