The Solana blockchain is home to a remarkable game called Star Atlas with a space theme. The game is built with Unreal Engine, which makes it possible to create highly realistic games. The goal of the game is space exploration. You do so by siding with a faction, creating civilizations, and, of course, intergalactic economies. The economy is supported by the in-game ATLAS token, as well as by the POLIS token, which is required to manipulate crypto game parameters.
There's nothing new about the theme or the gameplay. However, by incorporating blockchain technology and in-game tokens that control economic parameters, they do offer quite the experience. Realistic graphics further enhance the feel. Once entering virtual worlds becomes commonplace, Star Atlas will be one step ahead thanks to its Unreal Engine infrastructure.
Chapter 7: Questions
Surrounding the Metaverse
At this point in our journey, you might be wondering, “Isn't there anything negative about the metaverse?” That is a wise question. Successful investors are aware of risks and manage them efficiently. To achieve success in the upcoming metaverse era, we, too, should be aware of the questions that surround metaverse and plan accordingly.
Due to our limited knowledge of what the metaverse will really look like, our risk assessments are also limited. In any case, we can learn from other advancements and technologies. In addition, knowledgeable people and organizations are already asking questions.
Dot-com Bubble 2.0
We mentioned the dot-com bubble a few times throughout the book. In case you are unfamiliar with the dot-com bubble, it basically refers to the market crash in the ‘90s. When the internet became popular, internet-based companies rose very quickly in revenue. This led to the unrealistic evolution of company values, eventually creating a crisis so big that people lost billions of dollars.
What created the dot-com crash is debated. Some blame the lack of know-how in tech company evaluation. Others blame brokers for becoming too greedy. Choosing a side in that debate is a decision you have to make personally after doing research. For our purposes, we need to examine whether a situation similar to the dot-com bubble could hold true for the metaverse era as well.
Some internet users claim the metaverse will be the dot-com bubble of this generation. Their argument is that metaverse companies are such a novelty that people are overvaluing them just like they did with tech companies in the 1990s. They are not wrong in the sense that the metaverse remains a novelty for the time being. However, they miss an important aspect of it.
During the dot-com bubble, information was decentralized, not the currency. Metaverses use decentralized blockchains, cryptocurrencies, and tokens. Therefore, although their economy is tied to fiat money, the value is completely independent of it.
What could create a dot-com burst 2.0 is the stock market itself. Companies like Meta and NVIDIA are on the officially regulated stock market. Therefore, if you are worried about a stock market crash, you can choose to remain on the blockchain. But in reality, there is no real need for that at all. During the dot-com bubble, people who lost money did so out of misinformation and greed. They followed the hype and let speculation get the best of them. The stock market is not a place to get rich quick. In fact, those who offer a “get rich quick” business model often end up being Ponzi schemes. By paying new investors with the money they acquire from old ones, they create an unsustainable loop until they are no longer able to manage it. Yet another scheme involves creating speculation. Speculators collect large amounts of stocks and increase their value to create hype around them. When enough people buy-in, they sell their own stock, leaving others with unprofitable stocks.
Metaverse businesses continue to grow rapidly in users, making them a perfect platform for similar schemes. Do not be fooled by promises that are too good to be true. Never take tips from anyone and always use your own judgment to make educated guesses. Metaverse can be a great way to make money much quicker than other investment instruments. These are available to people who create businesses or can correctly predict the future of cryptocurrencies, which is difficult to do in a volatile decentralized economy.
If the dot-com bubble taught anything, it is to work hard and not be greedy. Jeff Bezos survived the crash because he was able to keep producing and creating value for Amazon. The dot-com crash did not destroy Marc Cuban because he left early when his profit margin was reached. Bottom line: Even if a metaverse bubble occurs, smart users will survive just fine.
