Zima Red ep 116: Winston Robson - WeMeta: Virtual Worlds Analytics Platform
Primer: There is a lot of opacity in the virtual world space. Winston Robson intends to bring clarity to this sector with WeMeta, a data-driven NFT land marketplace. In this episode of Zima Red, he shares how he is bringing data science and data engineering into the Web3 space.
Background
Left college to do a real estate startup
Subsequently, he decided to sell houses in the SF Bay Area
Went on to learn Data Science
Entered crypto after that
Jumping Into Data Science
Always had a knack for statistics
Figured out that he liked collecting data
Getting Into Crypto
People in crypto reached out to him because they saw the educational content he had made with data science
Web3 has a lack of data scientists and data engineers
Participated in the Chainlink Spring 2021 Hackathon and was trying to code an NFT
“Humans are NFTs. You know, it's we have this human class, if you will. And then every single person is their own unique NFT with all their different attributes, characteristics, what have you.”
- Winston Robson
Shortly after, he found the Metaverse and connected with the land and the data
Reason For The Lack Of Data Scientists/Engineers In Web3
It’s easy to get a high paying job as a data scientist
The number of people that understands both data science and data engineering who is out seeking a job is very small
Difference Between A Data Scientist And A Data Engineer
Data scientists look at data that’s already been collected
Data engineers build the data pipeline/infrastructure to collect the data that is needed
WeMeta
A data-driven NFT land marketplace
Came up with the idea in the ETHGlobal 2021 Hackathon
Original idea was to have a website where users could see all the different Metaverse worlds:
Somnium Space
Sandbox
Cryptovoxels
Decentraland
Focuses on the data and helping people understand why their land is valuable, land sales history, bid history, etc.
Recently released Metaverse analytics that tracks the floor prices, average prices, etc.
Their Analytics Platform
Can be used to answer questions such as:
No. of unique owners
No. of transactions
Market cap
Active players
Most Metaverse games have no plans for in-game analytics
This is a problem that they have identified and will be solving
Getting Data From Virtual Worlds
Will build tools that can be plugged into virtual worlds
Partnering with builders from various virtual worlds
“These games need a need a Web3 analytics engine, and right now, the Web2 gaming analytic engines just don't cut it.”
- Winston Robson
The data is not readily available. They have to get permission from the builders
Virtual Worlds As Platforms
Agrees that they are platforms that could be built upon
Working on in-game analytics to help builders understand the value of their virtual real estate
Over time, the metaverse will become more abstract and game-like
Each virtual world has some sort of specialization:
Decentraland and Cryptovoxels have phenomenal art galleries
Somnium Space has a VR angle
User generated content will be what’s driving people towards virtual real estate
Why Are Games The End State Of Virtual Worlds?
Games enable shared experiences between individuals (e.g. One Times Square project in Decentraland)
Virtual land owners do not have a clue as to who visits their properties
Sees it as their job to provide answers to land owners
Wouldn’t People Prefer To Play A Pure Game (e.g. Fortnite) VS A Game-Like Experience (e.g. Cryptovoxels)?
This is a very good point raised by Andrew
There will always be people who are into specific things
Main Value Drivers In Virtual Worlds
Right now, it’s speculation
Will eventually come down to the number of users
For play-to-earn games like an Axie plot, it comes down to how much you can earn
For Sandbox, builders are creating content, which is the value driver
Will Virtual Lands Without Revenue Generating Potential Move Towards A Play-To-Earn Model?
Over the long term, play-to-earn makes sense
Fortnite and Call of Duty showed that play-to-earn works. People were willing to pay for battle passes
Interesting Insights They Have Seen?
Decentraland is gaining in popularity
The number of unique owners of NFT worlds have been falling like crazy
The floor price rises as the number of unique owners drop
There’s also a lack of tools, contributing to the difficulty in data collection
Is There A Certain Cohort Of Value Drivers Within These Worlds?
There’s power users, power holders, and power traders
There’s a small group of users driving most of the transactions
Scaling Up WeMeta
Recently hired a Solidity dev
Have made some of their code public
Introduced a feature called Support Worlds showing which worlds they support
Will be supporting other blockchains besides Ethereum soon. Looking at Polygon next
What Is It About NFTs That He Finds Exciting?
NFTs is an access point and a unique identifier that can do something
Long-Term Business Model For Virtual Worlds
Is a tough question
A certain percentage of in-game transactions could go to the developers
NFTs could be applied to any aspect of the game
What Is The Metaverse?
Any sort of web technology or virtual experience that could bring in the human connection is the Metaverse
Grand 5-10 Year Vision
Their goal is to provide a platform where anybody can use it to make Metaverse-related decisions
Will be building an in-game analytics engine and become the default analytics engine of the Metaverse
Most Controversial Thought On NFTs
A lot of people are trying to force things to become NFTs when they don’t have to
E.g. buildings in Decentraland do not have to be an NFT
If He Could Improve Something In The Space
People to be more thoughtful and mature when disagreeing with what they are building in the space
NFT Ecosystem In 3 Years
Projects will be interoperable
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