Webaverse explained 🌐

Intro to Webaverse and the Upstreet MMO mint!

William M. Peaster

Aug 4, 2022

Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs, virtual worlds, & collectibles

Dear Bankless Nation,

One of the biggest events in NFTs right now?

The kick off of Webaverse’s Drop Week, which is happening over two phases in the coming days.

It’s a mint of note because the Webaverse is arguably the most promising all-in-one open metaverse project in action today, and it’s shifting to prime time with its Upstreet season pass drop.

If you’re out of the loop here, no worries — let’s get you up to speed on the Webaverse and Upstreet for today’s Metaversal!

-WMP

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Welcome to Webaverse

“Reminder that 99% of social VR is closed source, even most of the crypto based ones, and that Webaverse is an outlier that took the high and difficult road to build a truly open stack from ground-up beginning years before any of the metaverse hype … Webaverse is a modder's heaven and a perfect match for the remix / meme culture of the Internet” — Jin, extended reality (XR) philosopher, Webaverse contributor

What is Webaverse

Webaverse is an open-source and browser-based web3 metaverse engine, and anyone can build and host virtual world and gaming experiences on top of it. Because the system is powered in users’ browsers, it is accessible across a range of devices, including VR headsets.

metamike @itsmetamike

dear @webaverse - @allstarz_nft have arrived

What makes Webaverse special?

A principled open metaverse project spearheaded by XR dev Avaer, the Webaverse optimizes for user freedom and interoperability by relying on popular open file formats and components like Three.js, WebGL, and WebXR.

Taken altogether and combined with Ethereum, these components allow Webaverse users to readily bring their NFTs to life for fun in metaversal contexts and to freely customize and own their avatars, worlds, and beyond.

jin @dankvr

We can build our own social VR platform mixed in with MMO / GTA / sandbox game feel shenanigans Custom avatars, worlds, vehicles, pets, and projectile weapons using open web based tech @webaverse

What is Upstreet?

Built in collaboration with Webaverse’s creators, Upstreet is the first massively multiplayer online (MMO) game created on the Webaverse engine.

“Similar to what Fortnite is to Unreal Engine [the 3D creator tooling], Upstreet is to Webaverse,” Jin’s noted. The metaverse researcher par excellence has also likened Upstreet to “story mode” for the Internet Cinematic Universe (ICU).

jin @dankvr

5. The Street The inspiration for seasons came from The Street in Snow Crash. Instead of scrolling a website up and down, what if you can scroll a blockchain forwards and backwards through time on a 3D website? Each season is immortalized as a new block on the chain: The Street

The Upstreet NFT drop

For Season 1 of Upstreet, the Webaverse is holding a season pass NFT drop. The passes — i.e. Origin Tablet Shards — are each claimable for one of 15,600 procedurally-generated parcels of land (of 20k total supply) in the game.

The Upstreet alpha is open to use by anyone, so these NFTs aren’t required for playing the game. However, holders of these plots of land will receive much more content over time in the form of NFT asset airdrops from the Webaverse team.

jin @dankvr

4. Airdrops NFTs come to life in Upstreet. Everything is built on standard file formats with interop / modding support for diverse types of game dev and virtual productions Webaverse supports UGC: - glTF 3D models - VRM avatars - js / WASM scripting + Hot swappable AI services

As for the specifics of the NFT mint, it will occur across two phases via Metadrop. The first phase is an allowlist + rafflelist process, wherein 20 NFT communities will receive 150 allowlist spots each that will be raffled off to those communities’ holders. That said, registering for the rafflelist doesn’t guarantee a mint spot, but winners will be able to mint one season pass each for 0.2 ETH.

Raffelist registrations close tomorrow, August 5th, at 10:00AM PDT, so if you’re eligible you can get in line at Metadrop. The 20 targeted NFT communities are Admit One, Anata, Azuki, BAYC, Clonex, CrypToadz, CryptoPunks, Cyberbrokers, Doodles, FRWC, goblintown.wtf, Interleave, MAYC, Meebits, Mfers, Moonbirds, Nouns, RaidParty, VeeFriends, and Wassies.

Webaverse (🕳 🐇, Drop Week) @webaverse

If you're in of one of the following communities, you can take part in the raffle for allowlist. Rafflelist registration begins Today, Aug 3; You can mint 1 NFT per wallet for 0.2E. Each NFT community has a rafflelist pool (150 spots) that get raffled amongst those who register.

The allowlist + rafflelist mint will run from August 6th-8th. On August 9th, the second phase of the mint — an open capped English-style auction — kicks off and may run up to 24 hours. All winners will pay the same price, which is capped not to exceed 2 ETH each during the mint.

Examples of Webaverse in action

untitled, xyz @untitledxyz_

I just built a solo @MuseumofCrypto ROOM for my @XCOPYART Grifter and then dropped the mapped .glb directly into @webaverse to walk (fly) around it. Webaverse is open source, immersive, accessible, and insanely beautiful 🌌 ROOMs will take your crypto art across the metaverse...

soby🦋🕹 xNFT @sobylife

meet me in @webaverse my clone will be waiting for you

jin @dankvr

Late night hack adding the same mixamo animation set as VRChat into @webaverse! 🕺 #VRM #clonex

Conclusion

Many of the world’s mightiest companies are currently building out closed Metaverse™ platforms. These efforts, which are new flashy attempts to pen in masses of users, threaten the very future of freedom on the web. In every way, Webaverse is built from the ground up to be accessible, open, and interoperable, so the project is the polar opposite of these rising corporate metaverse enterprises. To that point, you might say the Webaverse has arrived when we needed it most in the battle to secure an open metaverse. Now, we’ve definitely got a fighting chance.

Action steps

🌐 Learn more about Webaverse
🔍 Check out the Webaverse drop page
🧐 Read my previous post Rise of the Nouns if you missed it!

Author Bio

William M. Peaster is a professional writer and creator of Metaversal—a Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the cryptoeconomy. He’s also recently been contributing content to Bankless, JPG, and beyond!

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Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

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