Hello, I'm an artist / virtual architect with a background in urban design. Architecture lead at @MuseumofCrypto and member of @m3org. Over the last several years I've built and led countless projects across all major (crypto-centric) metaverse and virtual world platforms. Every world has its own flow and flavor, aesthetic, SDKs, interfaces and preferred 3D file types. Each environment comes with its own native language that a creator must ultimately learn in order to build locally. Here, I've made a chart to help visualize just how accessible these virtual worlds are from a creator perspective. The graphic is broken down into 4 core sections; Control, Infrastructure, Interface and Building. With this, I hope to help creators (like myself) understand the high-level benefits and bottlenecks across this nascent 3D ecosystem - ignoring tokenomics - and simply focusing on openness and create-ability. 🌐 VIRTUAL WORLD: Creator Accessibility SPOTLIGHT: Hyperfy @hyperfy_io, Oncyber/AWE @oncyber / @awe_box, Spatial @Spatial_io, MONA @monaverse, Nifty Island @niftyisland, Horizon Worlds, Substrata @SubstrataVr, Voxels @cryptovoxels, Decentraland @decentraland, Somnium Space @SomniumSpace, Sandbox @TheSandboxGame, Otherside @OthersideMeta. 🤝 CONTROL: who owns the platform? Is it run by a community-facing grassroots team or supported by venture capital? This is likely a controversial first column, but as a creator who has seen so many platforms boom and bust I believe creator-alignment is extremely important for a truly open and decentralized project. When times are tough, who is the World ultimately beholden to - their investors or their community? Leaders: Hyperfy, Substrata, Voxels ⚙️ INFRASTRUCTURE: what powers the world itself? Is it fueled by a custom open source 3D engine or is it powered by a third-party service like Unity, or Unreal Engine? Can you host your own environment via your own app or website? Understanding these core dependencies and bottlenecks are critical when it comes to platform strength and longevity. Look up the Unity "runtime fee" controversy and you'll immediately understand why this is so important. "Engine" might actually be the most important statistic in the "open metaverse" discussion - and it's rarely ever talked about. Leaders: Hyperfy, Oncyber/AWE, Substrata 🔀 INTERFACE: how connected is this world? If I receive a link how many clicks will it take for me (my avatar) to get inside? Can I use a web browser, phone or with a VR headset? I think people will be surprised to learn that the most well-known metaverse apps actually have the most friction here. It was a revealing experiment and while I don't believe it's an indication of "quality" per se I do believe that it's serious metric for builders who want their visitors to simply visit an environment as they would a website. Leaders: Hyperfy, Spatial, Substrata (special mentions to Oncyber/AWE, MONA and Voxels) ⚒️ BUILDING: how easy is it to actually create in this world? Do I need to pay some kind of fee (i.e. own an NFT, a plot of virtual land) or can anyone jump in to build and share? Do I need to download an SDK or can I build directly in the browser using my own 3D files? Similar to the interface section, Land-based platforms come with a lot of restrictions. Realtime world editing with multiple-users (all simultaneously adding and subtracting in 3D) is an incredible performance to participate in. Raw co-creation is truly magic. We need more of it, and less of the walled garden. Leaders: Hyperfy, Spatial, Oncyber/AWE 📍 TAKEAWAYS: In this study focused on creator accessibility, Hyperfy leads the way alongside Oncyber/AWE. As I’ve spoken about in past posts, I think we're approaching a radical shift away from “the metaverse” phase. The metaverse land model is going to be retired in favor of more accessible world-building. The future web simply must be open, accessible and agile. My hope here is that each of these platforms / communities take a moment to learn about and explore one another from a creator POV. The future web is still a very, very small town. We're all neighbors, let's build like it.
