CGI specialist says the metaverse opens up new possibilities for the internet, businesses and creativity and students should take advantage
Adam Sidwell, founder and creative director of the company Future House Studios, introduced students to the concept of the Metaverse, a digital world that combines virtual reality, games, films, stories and any worlds they have "encapsulating in [their] minds.” He explained the Metaverse is the next iteration of the web and will allow people to interface with each other in three-dimensional worlds.
Sidwell said he graduated from BYU in Provo in 2003 with a degree in animation. He said working in this field felt like being an entrepreneur. He wasn't sure how things would work out, and he said he had ambitions to work in the movie industry. He shared he and other students had to work hard and tolerate risk taking if they wanted to land a career in film.
Upon graduation, he shared he worked with 3D computer graphics on films, and his informational flyer for the seminar listed the movies, including “iRobot,” “King Kong,” “Pirates of the Caribbean III,” “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” “Tron,” “Thor,” “Ender's Game,” “Pacific Rim,” “Warcraft,” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II.”
On June 15th, Sidwell spoke to BYU–Hawaii students about the Metaverse's capabilities and possibilities. His company, Future House Studios, aims to "build the future of things that are imagined, but haven't been built yet," he said. Five years ago, he shared, he began experimenting with virtual reality in 4-game engines, which combined different areas of his expertise. He said two years ago, he started the Metaverse Creation Company.
Modern examples
The term Metaverse was first coined in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 book, “Snow Crash,” which revolves around a group of children navigating this virtual environment that could be entered through a browser, Sidwell shared. The term meta in Metaverse means different lays of existence that are self-referential, he added.
Movies such as “The Matrix” and “Ready Player One” possess similar renditions and concepts of the Metaverse and incorporate the concept of virtual reality, he stated.
Sidwell shared Metaversal examples including the Wendyverse and a virtual Justin Bieber Concert his company built. The Wendyverse, he said, allows users to navigate a digitized version of the Wendy’s restaurant and can make orders that will ship to them in real life.
Sidwell said the virtual Justin Bieber concert allowed virtual reality (VR) users, or those who weren’t able to attend the in-person event, to tune in and view a Bieber avatar. In real time, he added Justin Bieber was filmed in motion capture somewhere on a soundstage. He said about 8 million people watched this concert that kicked off Bieber’s World Tour.
An exchange system
Sidwell said the Metaverse could be defined by interoperability, identity, ownership and mutability. Interoperability is the concept of being able to navigate and travel through different Metaverses connected to each other. He said although some companies are not interested in building connections between different Metaverses, he is convinced it would be beneficial.
Dallin Ballard, a freshman business management major from Draper, Utah, said he enjoyed the idea of different corporate Metaverses connecting together for the common good. By doing this, he said companies can potentially establish trust and partnerships. “He’s trying to combine so many different companies together … for the common good.”
Identity
The Metaverse allows users to establish and preserve their own identity through creating avatars, Sidwell shared. Creating avatars, he added, allows users to personalize themselves to their own preference, which permits more engaging interactions and represents who they really are.
Rosalind Malolo, a sophomore political science major from Sydney, Australia, said creating and using avatars allows people to figure out the kind of person they are.
Ownership and mutability
Sidwell shared people are able to purchase land in the Metaverse that equates to the marketing of brands in the real world. Opportunities to take ownership include storytelling, creative direction, blockchain development, or shared databases, and NFT creations. This enables people to change or edit in the Metaverse for everyone else to see.
Malolo said land ownership in the Metaverse differs from real life land or house ownership in which Metaversal ownership is more of a marketing strategy and not for personal reasons.
The future of the Metaverse
Paul Wilson said the Metaverse isn’t just the future, but a reality in itself and demonstrates how digitality or digital reality, is going to function. He believes that our future generations will be “walking into the Internet” with our current way of life being considered outdated, he added.
Wilson, an associate professor in the Faculty of Business and Government, said he met Sidwell while studying pre-Law at BYU in Provo. Once, he said, Sidwell and his friends were interviewed by a group of Spanish news reporters because they built a boat made of milk jugs and sailed across Utah Lake. He said Sidwell commits to what he does and follows through with energy and enjoyment.
After listening to Sidwell, Ballard said he wants to invest time into exploring the Metaverse. Business inquiries and transactions would be easier to deal with in the Metaverse than in-person, he said. Ballard said students shouldn’t avoid virtual reality just because they don’t know anything about it. “If we don’t jump on it, other people will,” he said.
Malolo said the Metaverse is something that, if like the Internet, cannot be avoided and will continue to develop. She added it seems scary to not know how it will evolve, but she does not want to stay close-minded to the idea of it, despite some fears.
Upcoming opportunities
Sidwell encouraged students to explore the new things that are happening and integrating into people's lives. Similarly, he shared, it would be like understanding the Internet before 2001 and understanding the iPhone before it was released. “We’re about to have access to thousands of imaginary worlds where we will do real things.”
Sidwell shared his company donated 15 Oculus VR goggles for students to try after the seminar. Wilson said he is planning to teach a course, entitled Entrepreneurship 201R, which will teach students about how to apply the Metaverse and its opportunities to business.
Wilson said this class will allow students to learn and create projects within the Metaverse. Attaining an education at BYUH allows students to become critical thinkers and learn about things that don’t even tangibly exist, he added.