Rivermen AMA 06 Recap| The enlightenment physical architectural system brings to the Metaverse

Architecture is not only used to satisfy the needs of individuals or families, but also to meet the needs of the whole society. With the development, different types of architecture with different functions are built to meet society’s increasing requirements.

Virtual buildings are one of the basic elements of the Metaverse, where people can wander and interact with others in a digital way. Buildings are where these activities take place. We are in the early stages of exploring the Metaverses, so what architects of virtual worlds consider the most paramount about virtual buildings now is the user experience and connection to the real world. In real life, there are complex buildings such as urban complexes. What will complex buildings in real life such as urban complexes look like when they are moved into the Metaverse? How will the various needs of users be satisfied through virtual buildings in the Metaverse?

Rivermen invited Ponlaii Design chief architect 04 to discuss the enlightenment physical architectural system brings to the Metaverse through Twitter Space.

AMA Recap

Guo

What is the story behind the monument designed by Ponlaii for Discusfish?

Nova

The monument was built to commemorate the biggest cryptocurrency attack on Poly Network. Discusfish lost a large number of assets due to the hack. Fortunately, however, hackers returned the assets and said it was an attempt to remind people that there are still plenty of security risks in the crypto world. So, Dicusfish and Ponlaii collaborated to build a monument showing white hats contributed to dealing with the problem and the attacker, as well as some words alerting crypto enthusiasts that more emphasis should be put on protocol and data safety.

Guo

I’ve been playing in the other Metaverse lately and found building functions in the virtual space are different from the ones in real life. So I would like to think the buildings in Metaverse don’t need to satisfy the needs that exist in real life, and what will virtual architectures look like in the future?

Nova

Players in Metaverse don’t eat, live, or work, so buildings for restaurants, apartments, and hotels are not needed. The most common buildings existing in CV and DCL are galleries. We conclude that the foremost need in a Metaverse is the visual experience. I think buildings like galleries used to exhibit arts and pictures will be constructed in large quantities.

Community member

What changes will Metaverse bring to the traditional construction industry? How should traditional construction companies or their workers grasp opportunities? Which way is better for architects, study independently or enter big companies?

Nova

I haven’t seen any changes the Metaverse brings to the traditional construction industry so far, because traditional construction is so old and developed that it may not change significantly. Another thing is that physical buildings are immovable while they can be moved anytime in the Metaverse, so this difference makes virtual buildings’ properties cannot be realized in real life. Finally, a lot of regulations are taken into account such as building codes, urban planning, and fire safety when constructions are built.

For architects, I think Metaverse is a place for them to design without materials and mechanics limitations in the real world. They don’t need to learn how to build virtual constructions specifically, what’s important is the skill to catch customers’ needs which they already acquired in the traditional industry. Generally speaking, there are few professional architects, let alone giant companies in the field of Metaverse.

Community member

How to speed up traditional architecture into the Metaverse? What interesting attempts have you seen so far?

Nova

I think it’s not necessary to boost the speed of putting real constructions into the Metaverse cuz they exist only for visiting but not satisfying players’ needs. What buildings the Metaverse needs most are those feature practical functions.

Community member

I’m doing structure-related work in an industrial design institute and interested in architectural design, do I have a chance to work in companies related to Metaverse constructions.

Nova

As I mentioned before, constructing virtual buildings doesn’t need to consider structure, design and urban planning are considered more instead. Maybe in the future, there is a need to construct virtual buildings in the real world, and there will be opportunities for traditional architects.

Host

In reality, traditional architecture has various practical utility and investment values, what about virtual buildings?

Nova

Virtual buildings definitely have a kind of practical utility, some were already used to sell wearables in CV. Our first owner was Whale Shark who opened his virtual clothing store in the CV. As for investment value, the land itself actually has no value at all. The value of a piece of land depends on the amount of money invested in the surrounding land. What has the real value is buildings which are made by designers.

Guo

Agree. What we should invest in is something that really costs a lot of labor.

Nova

The point is that your work has value only when it satisfies most people’s needs and is accepted by most people.

Host

How do the architects of the Metaverse work?

04

First, customers will make an offer. And then we make oral comments and suggestions based on their requirements. We begin to work after making an agreement.

Nova

For the first round of consultations, we don’t require customers to describe exactly the building’s appearance, what we pay more attention to is what they want the buildings to do for them. Then we provide a draft to customers for them to see if our products will work for their purposes. About the process of construction, it’s different in different Metaverse and is simpler than it is in the real world.

Community member

What interactions or activities are available now in the Metaverse?

Nova

The most precious thing in Metaverse is the public’s attention, the more attention you catch, the more successful these activities will be. Performing digitally is a good direction for the movie industry. It’s easier for filming in the virtual world because a variety of equipment is not needed.

Community member

I’ve seen some guys play games like DnD on discord before the project was launched, and NFTs were considered as their roles. Is it better to play DnD on a centralized platform?

Nova

Yes. The experience may be better on a centralized platform when playing DnD games. Many people in the crypto world are preaching decentralization now, but I think it’s not going to solve all problems.

Host

Some traditional fashion brands have collaborated with some Metaverse projects, what do you think of this?

Nova

We’ve seen that Nike and Adidas are trying to get into Metaverse, I think the action is based on business logic. The reason they want to get into Metaverse is to attract customers embracing the Metaverse who are young and fashionistas. For fashion brands, it doesn’t matter which field they go into, what matters is luring consumers.

Host

How to turn domestic projects international? Rivermen, for instance, it’s difficult for foreigners to understand the culture.

Nova

When we try to export culture and make them understand, we need to tell the story in their language. It’s true that Black Panther features some African local culture; it’s also true that the value it promotes is American. What I wanna say is that we should cover Chinese values with a foreign culture so that outsiders can accept them more easily.

Community member

Is it necessary for the Metaverse team to make urban planning for the land?

Nova

In the spectacle of Westward Progress, lands were cut into small pieces to sell, which resulted in dispersed ownership of land. So, it became harder to build large buildings for urbanization. CV has a similar problem.

As the seller of the virtual land, they need to make complete and reasonable planning for the whole space. Such planning can ensure that the value of each piece of land will not be strictly limited, and there are more possibilities for development.

Community member

I’m wondering why the land supply is so limited in the Metaverse.

04

Too easy to get or create products, will lead to substantial depreciation, and human nature is the pursuit of individual character and difference. If resources are unlimited, everyone can acquire them and everyone is the same.

Community member

What’s the difference between your company and a traditional construction company? Are there any requirements of SU, CAD? Can a candidate with non-architecture major background get an offer?

04

We are a transdisciplinary team, with a sufficient number of professional architects and non-professional groups. The architectural development of the Metaverse involves more aspects that have never been touched by traditional architecture, so there are still opportunities for non-architecture professional background.

Community member

In the Metaverse, do you think it’s better to be able to see your neighbors’ house or even farther away, like DCL and CV, or is it better to protect privacy by being not able to see the buildings on the other land? If I charge for a concert in the Metaverse, whether my neighbors can see it?

04

Metaverse is in its early stage now. With the development, players can choose whether their neighbors can see what’s happening on their land in the future. I think that’s the best case for metaverse development.

Community member

All the activities in the Metaverse such as exhibitions, conferences, social networking, games, shopping, and so on can be done in the web 2.0 era without land and buildings. So why is it necessary to build a house in the Metaverse?

04

This is a profound question. Let’s just say that we can live with a few pieces of bread and a glass of water every day. But who wants that? Is all the art created by man unnecessary?

Community member

Actually, I think there is no close relation between the traditional construction industry and the Metaverse. Metaverse architecture is more like the art industry. Constructions that cannot be constructed in real life are built in the Metaverse, can this promote the development of the construction design industry in reality?

04

I think it’s unlikely for the virtual building industry to facilitate the traditional construction industry because for architects in the real world, there are additional factors to consider such as a lot of laws and regulations, budgets, and so on.

Community member

Since there are so many Metaverse projects coming out, will the present projects devalue?

04

In the reality, human beings are also constantly creating wealth and products in large quantities, but the valuable asset will always keep value.

Community member

As an architect, what would you take into consideration when building in a Metaverse without considering clients’ needs? Are there other factors besides the urban planning mentioned before?

04

As architects, we aim to serve the client. If the clients want the process to be fully led by the architect, the architect will understand that the client is difficult to find ideas, and our goal is to think for the clients.