Key Takeaways:
- The Metaverse: A virtual reality where work, play, and socializing converge, backed by major tech players like Facebook.
- Avoiding Corporate Control: Concerns over corporate dominance in the Metaverse countered by blockchain-based projects like Sandbox and Decentraland.
- Metaverse Architects: Transitioning from game design, these professionals require creativity and 2D or 3D design skills.
- Collaboration and Socializing: Networking is key in the small but growing Metaverse industry.
- Ownership and Value: Assets created by Metaverse architects can be owned as NFTs, providing a sense of true ownership in virtual worlds.
- Metaverse vs. Traditional Architecture: While physics rules traditional architecture, Metaverse architects have more creative freedom.
- Attention to Detail: Like traditional architects, Metaverse architects focus on minute details for immersive experiences.
- Future Demand: As the Metaverse expands, the demand for skilled professionals, particularly in game design, will rise.
- Economic Opportunities: Companies are investing in Metaverse lands, creating opportunities for architects to build and create value.
- Career Growth: Metaverse architecture will become a sought-after career as the industry continues to evolve.
With Facebook and other companies betting billions of dollars on the Metaverse, it is clearly the future of tech. Metaverse is an alternate reality that is fully virtual. At the core of it is the building itself.
The metaverse concept is a huge, alternate world where people can simulate to work, play, and hang out with other people. It takes the idea of socializing digitally. However, this is also a very new concept that requires extensive work from skilled professionals who can design virtual environments.
Movies such as 'Ready Player One' and 'Matrix' have shown us the pitfalls of giving away the control of Metaverse. No one likes the idea of large corporations like Facebook controlling the metaverse and extending their reach in our everyday lives. However, blockchain projects such as Sandbox and Decentraland have been at it for years now, building a more diverse, blockchain-based decentralized metaverse.
Introduction: What’s a Metaverse Architect?
Metaverse architects have been here for decades. There's just another term for this profession: Game Designers. However, metaverse building could be way more complex.
Gaming companies are already transitioning to make inroads into the metaverse, and large companies such as Microsoft have spent Billions of dollars in acquiring existing gaming companies.
However, if you ask any game designer, they'd tell you how complex all of it is. It often takes over five years with thousands of talented people in designing virtual platforms to build a large open-world game.
Constructing three-dimensional spaces is a slow and time-consuming process because of the sheer amount of creativity required. Like thousands of people who practice architecture as a profession to design buildings in the real world, we will see an explosion of metaverse architects to create content in virtual environments.
The Skills Needed To Be a Metaverse Architect
The first and the most important skill for a metaverse architect is creativity. Like architecture, metaverse architects also need to be creative above all else. They should be able to imagine large structures and reach beyond the limitations of physics, especially in virtual environments.
Then, they also have to learn to design and build 2D or 3D experiences within the metaverse to create realistic user interfaces by using a combination of game engines or modeling software. This is probably the hardest part. It takes a lot of time and practice to design and render digital models in metaverse development. A person who wants to make a serious career out of it needs to get into 2D or 3D modeling and designing, have a lot of practice, and build a portfolio.
Finally, there's participating and socializing. One person cannot build the metaverse. It is still a very small industry now. Get to know other people, build a portfolio of work with metaverse technologies, programming languages, computational design, and 3d modeling software solutions out there related to Virtual Reality (VR).
*“The Metaverse is a truly fascinating place because not only can you build whatever the mind can think of, but people can actually own some of the assets that were built by the metaverse architects. You can physically own these items (as NFTs) and feel a sense of true ownership for the metaverse that you have spent so much of your time gaming in. Never has such a true value been provided to gamers and those who traverse into virtual worlds."
SpaceMonk, Founder of Web3 Gaming Company MetaVox Labs*
Architecture vs Metaverse Architect
The main difference between architecture and metaverse architecture is physics. Traditional architects are trained to construct buildings with design principles bound to the laws of physics. It takes a little bit of practice to unlearn that.
Technically, you could even build a structure that looks tiny from the outside but a multistorey structure when you go inside. You do not have to care about gravity, weather, and structural stability.
Also, there's more emphasis on the fully digital world. You don’t have to put in a window for better airflow or even care about the fire safety laws.
However, attention to detail is still very important. Both architects and metaverse architects work for hours focusing on the tiniest details. With architecture, if anything goes wrong, it could cause the building to fail. Similarly, if the details are not perfect in the metaverse platform, it could take away the whole immersive layer from its users.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How much do Metaverse architects make?
Metaverse architect salaries can vary depending on experience and the company you work for. According to Cryptojoblist.com, the average Metaverse Architect salary (globally) is $54,600 per year.
Q2. Do you have to be licensed to be an architect in the Metaverse?
No license is currently required to be an architect in the Metaverse. It's a new field, so regulations haven't caught up yet.
Q3. How to build structures in the Metaverse?
Building in the metaverse involves using specialized creation tools and platforms. These tools allow you to design and assemble 3D objects, and then place them within a virtual world. Some platforms even allow you to purchase land to build on.
Conclusion
The metaverse is still a very new concept. With so many new companies entering the metaverse space, there will be a great deal of demand for the people who can work on it. As companies start expanding, the severe lack of talent would force them to hire experts in game design. But eventually, Metaverse Architecture would be a real career experience that would be sought after in the augmented reality industry.
In fact, we see the demand already. Both Sandbox and Decentraland are the biggest metaverse companies in the blockchain, where large companies buy land. Just like real-world land, there is no value if it remains empty. Landowners have started hiring experts and outsourcing to other companies to build on it.
Check out Metaverse Jobs and other Design Jobs on Crypto Jobs List.
