MetaMask wallet architect Joel Dietz is trying to reinvent the public Internet’s Domain Name System with an entirely new mechanism for the metaverse that’s based on coordinates.
While DNS is more than adequate for cataloging what is essentially a two-dimensional universe of traditional websites and mobile applications, it simply won’t do for the three-dimensional world that will eventually become the metaverse.
It might still be too early to put a finger on exactly what the metaverse will eventually look like, but we know that it’s going to be an incredibly complex place filled with 3D objects within countless 3D spaces.
As Dietz explained in an interview with VentureBeat, the problem is that the more complicated an idea is, the more difficult it becomes to communicate that thought.
“To me the metaverse… is this layer that allows us to communicate more clearly about more complex objects,” Dietz said. “If you think of a castle floating in the sky, we would have a way to draw it effectively in a 3D space and both experience it together. So you can have these things listed in a coordinate system, like giving someone a URL.”
To that end, Dietz has created a platform for building interoperable metaverses that comes with its own programming language and parallel dimension mapping capabilities.
That platform, Metametaverse, is based on a coordinate system that maps so-called “cubes”, which can be thought of as the virtual land blocks that make up the metaverse. Within these cubes are yet more cubes, and within them, even more cubes. Dietz is therefore creating a kind of Pandora’s box of metaverses, which he likens to an “Alice in Wonderland” effect. New spaces can be embedded inside of existing spaces, and users will be able to “shrink themselves” to go and visit them.
Each metaverse built with MetaMetaverse will be placed on a kind of map, helping to populate a much larger world of metaverses.
“It’s like a mind map,” Dietz told VentureBeat. “But it’s for complex 3D ideas, websites and other things.”
To enable this mind map to be drawn, Dietz has created a Layer 1 blockchain on which MetaMetaverse is built, along with an entirely new programming language for the metaverse, which he calls “Metametalang”. Metametalang can be used to map every kind of human experience onto coordinates and make them accessible to others. As such, it will be the basis of the new coordinate system that’s used to map the metaverse, Dietz said. Moreover, it will allow any individual or corporation to design and create their very own metaverse using game engines like Unreal Engine 5, which is the foundation of Fortnite, and Blender. Once created, new metaverses can then be subdivided and sold.
MetaMetaverse has so far raised $2 million in a seed funding round from a host of backers including Polygon Studios, DAO Maker and Ghaf Capital. Besides being just a platform for building and mapping out metaverses, MetaMetaverse also sees itself as a kind of marketplace. Metaverse owners will be able to design their own economies and sell NFTs and other items within their created worlds. MetaMetaverse will sell its own items too, including MetaShips for users to traverse the metaverse. These MetaShips will each be unique, with utility and the ability to be upgraded to enable faster travel around the metaverse. They will, in other words, become key to navigating across different metaverses.
Dietz admitted to VentureBeat that it won’t be easy to establish this interoperability between metaverses as he will need to convince others to use Metametalang and build according to MetaMetaverse’s standards. However, he’s confident he can win people over, and not just because the benefits of interoperability are only too apparent. While Dietz sees MetaMetaverse as a complement to existing metaverse platforms like The Sandbox and Decentraland, he also promised it will be much less restrictive, giving creators full freedom to develop worlds in the way they see fit.
For now, Dietz has his hands full anyway. The MetaMetaverse platform is still very much a work in progress. Things are moving fast though, with the platform expected to hold its initial parcel land sale in the coming weeks.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice
