You can’t carry your points from Reddit to Twitter, or automatically place your bio info from Facebook to Tumblr. The internet is a network, but it’s a network of independent platforms only linked via search engines (which might translate to virtual lobbies in the metaverse).
Naysayers of an interoperable metaverse say it’s impossible due to private interests of companies like Meta, who want to lock users in their walled garden and have them buy and use items only available in their ecosystem. There was recent controversy over Meta’s proposed 47.5% fee for creators on their platform, which is easier to implement when you have a monopoly on metaverse tech.
Many of the web2 platforms now allow you to log in with your already existing google account. With this concept in mind it’s possible to picture a similar situation with NFT avatars, which will also break down the walled gardens.
Ready Player Me is a cross-app avatar platform for the metaverse. You create an avatar on their platform (which you can do by simply taking a picture of yourself and letting the platform create one for you!) and it’s your “passport to the metaverse” with partnerships for various apps and games that allow integrations of their avatar. The avatars are also a NFT. 10-20 years from now you might picture a dozen major NFT avatar platforms that act as a universal account for the metaverse.
These platforms will hold blockchain data that includes not just your avatar but your cryptocurrency and other digital assets (NFTs for digital clothing, keepsakes, game tools, and more).
But what changes then for platforms like Meta? Basically, the fear of missing out (FOMO). When a standard protocol was developed for internet websites, companies like Coca-Cola didn’t just decide to create their own. When Twitter arrived, big companies didn’t create new Twitter platforms… they created Twitter accounts.
When everyone gravitates to a certain system, big companies will integrate rather than develop outside of it. Big companies that build virtual platforms will probably factor in easy integration with well-known cross-app asset management platforms.