The Future of Work in the Digital Metaverse
As 2022 rolls into view, one trend that seems set to stay the distance into the new year and beyond is the digital metaverse. The term itself was unknown to most people outside the tech, and perhaps more specifically, the blockchain and crypto scene, before October. However, since Facebook cemented its metaverse ambitions with a name change to Meta Platforms, its barely been out of the headlines. Most recently, sports apparel brands have been leaping onto the bandwagon. In mid-December, Nike announced it had acquired virtual footwear platform RTFKT as part of its own metaverse ambitions, while rival Adidas had already tweeted of a partnership with several high-profile NFT companies some weeks before. For existing operators in the metaverse space, this is proving to be great news. One industry insider compared the current land grab on virtual real estate to buying property in Manhattan in the 1800s, indicating just how much promise some believe still awaits. An ambitious blockchain-slash-VR project called NetVRk is aiming high – in a promotional video, the narrator speaks of future use cases involving its token economy and VR headset, including training simulations, education, architecture, product demonstrations, and more. A New Virtual World of Opportunity The internet created an entirely