We cannot control the avatars that happen to us in our day to day, but what we can control is our avatar in the Metaverse.
This avatar is our representation in the different virtual worlds that make up the Metaverse, and even more so, it is our user and forms part of our digital identity.
The Metaverse is the next evolution of the internet, and one of its characteristics is that we will go from browsing in 2D to much more immersive browsing in 3D.
Currently, to authenticate ourselves on these websites we need to register with a username and password. This means that we have a user on each website, something that is difficult to manage without a password manager, in addition to the fact that all our data is stored on these websites.
However, with the irruption of Web3 , our digital identity takes a radical turn. You want to know more? Well keep reading.
How does Web3 affect our digital identity?
Thanks to the emergence of Web3, we can create our own wallet (a virtual purse) in which to store our personal data and connect to different applications and virtual worlds. And what is more important, since we are the owners of our data and with the ability to decide the type of information we share with the platforms.
One of those pieces of information, one of the most important, is the avatar. The avatar is the three-dimensional image of ourselves in all these three-dimensional environments. It is the way in which other users see us when we access a multi-user virtual environment, the way in which they perceive us and want to be represented. Just like on Web2, on Web3 we also don’t want to have to create an avatar for each environment.
This is where interoperability comes into play .
The importance of interoperability in the Metaverse
Interoperability is the philosopher’s stone of the Metaverse, it is what will allow us a frictionless transition through the different three-dimensional worlds, representing ourselves in all of them with the same appearance of our avatar.
There is still no consensus on what this interoperability should be like, but there are already several initiatives underway, such as the Metaverse Standards Forum , in which the first steps are being taken to propose standards that can shape this interoperability.
When creating our avatar , there are many options. We can highlight some like Ready Player Me or Union Avatars . These platforms allow us to create a personalized avatar with multiple options, or even incorporate a photo of ourselves so that the avatar looks even more like us.
These two platforms are quite widespread, which allows us, using an avatar created from them, to visit different environments with the same avatar. However, many other platforms continue to be ” walled gardens “, closed platforms that are not interoperable with their own avatar system, so to use them we have to create an avatar in their system, just as happens with users on current websites.
Customize your avatar to make it unique
Once we have created our avatar , the most common thing is to find other avatars with the same clothes as us, which makes us feel like one more, and not someone unique.
The solution is digital fashion . More and more brands and designers are making the leap to digital platforms, tailoring physical garments for avatars or creating looks that couldn’t exist in reality.
Because, since we are in the Metaverse, we don’t have to stick to physics like gravity that we endure in real life, which provides an incredible degree of creativity to be able to develop all kinds of fantasy clothing.
So far we have seen that we can incorporate one or more avatars into our wallet, in addition to being able to customize them thanks to digital fashion. But our digital identity goes far beyond appearance, it can be a container that identifies us in different ways.
