‘AI tools will bring very interesting improvements to the metaverse’ – Upland Co-founder – Interview Bitcoin News

According to Dirk Lueth, co-founder of Upland Metaverse, the colonization of the metaverse by technology giants and the construction of so-called “walled garden systems” is not sustainable. Lueth argues that instead of “locking users in,” the metaverse should usher in “a future where they are free to move between platforms and can easily take their assets and identity with them.”

‘Walled Garden Systems’ not sustainable

While interest in the metaverse has seemingly waned, as evidenced by Meta’s decision to focus on artificial intelligence (AI), Dirk Lueth argues that AI tools can still “provide very interesting improvements for the metaverse in general.” The Upland co-founder also told Bitcoin.com News his thoughts on the “infinite land” metaverse and scarcity.

In an interview with Bitcoin.com News, Lueth also shared his thoughts on the multichain metaverse, as well as the organization’s plans to create a metaverse superapp. Below is the rest of the Upland Metaverse co-founder’s response.

Bitcoin.com News (BCN): Neal Stephenson, who is said to have coined the term “metaverse”, is known for advocating a free and open metaverse. However, some say the tech giants are also working on their own metaverse projects that could potentially lead to them colonizing the metaverse and building walled gardens similar to today’s Web2. Do you think the metaverse will eventually be controlled by a small number of centralized entities?

Dirk Lueth (DL): We don’t have all the details about how the big tech giants will build their metaverse projects and whether they will lock users into walled gardens. I believe that walled garden systems are not sustainable over time and that people’s power, combined with property rights, will become much stronger over time. Incidentally, this is also why I co-founded, together with other decentralized projects, the open metaverse alliance for web3 (OM3). Instead of locking users in, we want to ensure that there is a future where they are free to move between platforms and can easily take their assets and identity with them.

BCN: The blockchain industry is multi-chain and users will expect to have the freedom to move their assets to whichever chain they want. Do you think a multichain metaverse is a real possibility?

DL: Technically, multi-chain standards may be possible already today. You can have some assets on one blockchain and other assets on another. What is more important is having standards that define the metadata, look and feel, and other characteristics of an asset. Once we have these standards, it will make it easy for users to move their assets around. And this is what we are working on at Upland and OMA3

BCN: What would you say are the different economic opportunities for entrepreneurs, developers and not-so-tech-savvy users in an ecosystem like Upland?

DL: Entrepreneurs or “Metapreneurs” are Uplanders who run their own businesses in Upland called “Metaventure.” Here they can resell assets from our partners such as FIFA, NFLPA or other assets from Upland. Soon there will also be shops where they can sell their own creations to other actors and earn a living in Upland and potentially also in real life.

Developers are individuals or companies who provide their own experiences and apps to other uplanders. An example is “World of Football” which allows Uplanders to play a Rocket League type game that is directly connected to Upland. Users enter this app by moving the game piece to a virtual property, i.e. a virtual street address in Upland.

The not so tech-savvy users on board Upland as described above. They can start buying and selling properties to other players with the aim of completing a collection as “King of the Street”. Completing a collection means they can increase the returns they earn for owning the properties. They can use these earnings to travel to another city or buy a racing car or an outdoor decor item. As you can see, it’s easy to get started with very simple game engagement loops and then dive deeper into Upland’s many possibilities.

BCN: After investing billions of dollars, Meta recently laid off over 10,000 people to shift its focus away from the metaverse to AI. In your opinion, why is it apparently so difficult to build a metaverse that users find interesting, as Meta seems to have found?

DL: I can’t comment on Meta’s strategy and how much they’ve really moved away from the metaverse. The truth is that AI tools will provide very interesting improvements to the metaverse in general. At Upland, we’re super focused on creating engagement points and utility of digital goods for our ecosystem of users, developers, designers and brand partners. So far this has proven to work well for us, making Upland one of the leading platforms for the metaverse. Can we do better? Of course, we are just getting started.

BCN: Your metaverse is said to be mapped to real cities. Why did you choose to go this route when others have virtually unlimited land values, and what would be your advice to users buying land and other assets in the “infinite land” metaverses?

DL: Being based in the real world creates a natural scarcity, just like in real life. When something is scarce, market dynamics develop, which is the basis for the real economy we are building in Upland. But there are other advantages, for example we had automatic reference points, users can look up what a property looks like in real life, and they can buy an address that in real life might be close to the sea or owned by a celebrity. Through this, we give our users the opportunity to play with their own imagination.

I try to stay away from giving concrete strategy advice to Upland or other users. All I share with them is try to understand the economic basis of the land you are buying and run scenarios in your head when the supply increased infinitely – something we avoid at Upland.

Metaverse Super App

BCN: Let’s talk about the so-called metaverse superapp. Sometimes when one thinks of a “super app”, Wechat or Telegram come to mind. Does Upland envision itself becoming the Wechat of the metaverse?

DL: In general, a superapp can be characterized as a comprehensive mobile application that integrates basic services such as messaging and payments, as well as a number of third-party “mini-apps” spanning various sectors such as retail, restaurants and government agencies. This is especially true for the world of Web2 mobile apps. An app achieves superapp status when it seamlessly consolidates a critical mass of services, making it very easy for users to switch between them, even though the integrated services may not be as efficient as standalone applications.

As the number of available services grows, the app becomes more engaging and profitable. Typical of super apps is that they start somewhere. Wechat started with Chat, and Indonesia’s Gojek started with ride-hailing. Just like its Web2 predecessors, Upland wants to make it incredibly easy for users to work with a Web3 application. It is achieved via several routes.

First, Upland was built with mobile users in mind and is available both in the app stores and online. Second, we obfuscate complicated blockchain technology by offering email and password onboarding. And thirdly, because we allow the use of credit cards, Paypal, (of course also crypto) and in-app purchases, we make it even more convenient for the majority of players to get involved.

In Upland, we offer a wide range of social, commercial and entertainment services to our users. We also empower third-party developers to connect to the economy and community by adding their apps and experiences to the metaverse.

When you look at these features and services, you can see that we really aim to become a metaverse super app. But while Wechat and Web2 applications are operated and influenced by the owners of the platforms, we want to move in the direction of a user-controlled and user-owned metaverse superapp – what Web3 is all about.

What are your thoughts on this interview? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Terence Zimwara

Terence Zimwara is a Zimbabwean award-winning journalist, writer and author. He has written extensively about the economic problems in some African countries, as well as how digital currencies can provide Africans with an escape route.