#40 | All about people in virtual spaces

Read time: an apple

This is a weekly newsletter brought to you by a former fashion editor, aka me, Lina. I will cover digital wearables and their role in gaming and fashion.

The Wearables Daily feature and acknowledge all industry talents and tell their stories.

Introduction

Hi! Today I am sending you my 40th newsletter! 40th! I can't believe it myself. And I am dedicating this issue to everything that has happened before. Each week I am thrilled to learn and see some amazing things about virtual environments, worlds, games, fashion, and everything else, really. This week I want to share the best moments of this newsletter, which featured digital creators, virtual worlds, and many enthusiasts and their art. I gathered some thoughts on the topic of virtual life. So let's go back for a little bit and appreciate the best that was published in those 39 newsletters!

What is the future of digital wearables/fashion?

Digital creators on the future of digital wearables and fashion:

I think that in the future, most wearables will resemble real-life fashion and will be used to express a person in the metaverse. It's an amazing opportunity for brands to get more exposure, for regular users to dress in a way they might not be comfortable dressing IRL, and mainly have fun! - YANNAKIS

What I hope to see in the future of wearables will be more smart wearables and education/access to them. So we can turn these amazingly stunning looks and give them an equally stunning capability or function. If we can push the limits of how something looks, we can push the limits on how it can go beyond just clothes in the metaverse! - CK Bubbles

The future IS wearables and other NFTs as we live more and more in this digital era. Many people on Web2 have been using filters, producing pictures, etc., for a long time. So expressing ourselves through digital it's not new. The same with games. We have been playing games and "earning" items to decorate our avatars and boost our stats with no profit. So it makes sense to bring games to the blockchain where users, developers, and investors can win. This new reality is an awesome upgrade where we can see creativity and benefits going to the next level. - Miguel Amargo, creator of VoxBoards

I think the future of wearables lies in the hands of the creators! This could be the next fashion trend and bridge to the real and digital worlds in a unique way. We are early, and it will only get more fun as we go! In my year of designing digital clothing, I’ve seen the space rocket, so there is so much more potential! - Digital wearables designer Hiroto Kai

Higher quality of meshes and textures. The better weighting of vertices. More integration with activations and events as creators develop detailed roadmaps. Michi often talks about a creator’s brand. More attention will be given to this by the creators as we gain experience and wisdom. - Scott Moore

Digital wearables will become a huge part of fashion in the future because they are sustainable, fun, and hugely creative. Whether dressing an avatar or yourself with AR, they offer endless possibilities for expressing yourself. We spend more and more time online, and it's a logical step that we want our digital identities to be just as fashionable as in real life. - Anne-Liese Prem

The future of wearables, I feel, changes every few months! How we design for the digital space is shifting and evolving, opening opportunities to create something unique and mix crafts together. Motion + design, architecture + fashion, music + digital representation! The way we express ourselves in the digital space is changing and shows there are no limits to how we can collaborate. - Michi Todd

People working on virtual worlds

Melanie Arakaki, UX/UI lead at Decentraland

What is the most important thing you learn while being in web3?

I learned a lot of things this year, but the most important one is how rewarding it is to work within a community.

As a UXer, you are told that your job is to represent the "voice of users" and advocate for their needs. However, I am sure almost every designer working in traditional companies has experienced at least one situation where business interests were always above everything in the end.

In the case of Decentraland, all community members, including the Foundation, share the same goal: growing the platform and the protocol. Of course, there is still a lot of work to build more bridges and find agreements between different groups of people and interests, but the process is much more transparent and collaborative than in any other place I have ever worked at.

This diversity of opinions also leads to fascinating philosophical debates, which I find very enriching.

Another thing I learned from the interviews we are doing with community members is the idea of "keep building." So many talented people are building under the mindset of "if it doesn't exist, create it." This sentiment is very contagious. It's impossible not to get inspired by all the amazing things other people do in this space.

Adam Gomez, co-founder at The Portals

What is the future of the Metaverse and Web3?

In our case, we've kind of taken, I guess you can say, a conservative approach when it comes to like fully diving into Web3 and creating tokens and decentralizing everything from the very beginning because we want to make sure that we have a focused team that can create a great product as a foundation.

I think only some people will want to build and sell. People might just be coming into the Metaverse wishing for a good experience. So not requiring a wallet, not requiring having to purchase tokens, and allowing anybody and everybody to come in is very important.

So we're always looking at what are the things that long term we think are gonna make sense for Web3. A smaller percentage of your user base that's going to be really, really interested in that.

Leo Nilsson, co-founder at Scapin'

What Are Your Thoughts About the Metaverse, and What Opportunities Do You See in It?

I generally think about the Metaverse as an initiative to improve the time we spend online. As a result, we will see more and more digital consumer and business experiences enter the Metaverse.

Simplifying quite a lot, I keep my eye on three developments that enable this shift.

Experiences moving from Digital to Virtual, which will happen across all platforms, including mobile.

Economics and ownership moving from centralized to decentralized, supporting a healthier creator economy and user ownership.

Creativity moving from advanced to simple, AI-assisted tools that anyone can use to create something magical.

There are great Metaverse projects out there, and many are based on a philosophy and long-term vision that we share!

With Scapin', we see an opportunity to accelerate the adoption of Metaverse experiences by reimagining an experience that is familiar to all of us, but hasn't quite been captured naturally in a virtual setting; chatting and hanging out.

Mika Timonen, Product Director at Sulake

What is the future of Web3?

With NFTs, they can have their web shops selling all the digital clothing items, and then you can take your digital hoodie back and wear it in all of the games in Sandbox, Decentraland, and Habbo. So I see the world going in that direction. So, yeah, there's considerably more interest and experimentation for the brands, and I'm very excited to see what happens there. The games will improve or be more engaging when these existing brands are present. So you can go to Digital Store, buy your clothes there, and then wear them everywhere. I see the world going in that direction.

Best virtual looks

Here are some best virtual looks which I stumbled upon just recently. Can you imagine wearing these in real life?

#1

#2

#3

My favorite virtual environments to visit

TRU BAND ROOM on Hyperfy

The legendary TRU BAND ROOM, originally located in Decentraland, can now also be found on Hyperfy. The iconic place has hosted numerous shows and onboarded many new performers into the Metaverse this past year. Go to the second floor to enjoy a performance by Metaverse DJ Gucci Toe!

Follow Shelley to get the news about the very first gig on Hyperfy!

Visit: https://hyperfy.io/tru

Vroomway on Decentraland

Play and earn racing game is full of exciting race tracks, solo sprints, and parties. Vroomway is a Decentraland racing game where you can earn NFTs by playing. It's also one of the most popular games on the platform, gathering over 500 players monthly. Even if you're not up to a race, there's a live performance of a different metaverse DJ every Friday.

Jump in here.

Runway magazine in Spatial

Runway magazine has its permanent residence in Spatial. During events like Paris Fashion Week, the magazine organizes various online events in the metaverse to support real-life fashion activations. There's always a fun presentation in the space or just random digital fashion lovers hanging out in the room. It's worth visiting once in a while because the space changes according to the events.

Jump in here.

Interesting and worth checking

#1 article

#2 digital wearable of the week

#3 competition of the year

Disclaimer: I have to say this - this is not financial advice! 🙈

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