Rethinking the Metaverse: Why Interoperability is Essential for Success

The global metaverse market is estimated to reach $280 billion by 2025 and a few trillion dollars by 2030.?

The Metaverse promises to revolutionize the way we work, interact, and play. For this to happen, interoperability between worlds will be critical to success, and without it, the metaverse risks becoming a fragmented and a boring, digital landscape that hinders user experience and adoption. ?

In this blog post, I will explore what interoperability is, why it's important, and what will be the catalysts to help build it.

What is interoperability?

Interoperability is the ability of different systems, services, and platforms to communicate and work together. From a user perspective, it enables them to move seamlessly across different systems and platforms with minimal disruptions and degradation of experience.

In the Metaverse, interoperability will allow different platforms to

• Access and confirm identity, ownership and reputation
• Enable seamless commerce
• Enable history, and allow users to ‘travel’ with avatars and digital objects across platforms

A simple example of this is the current limitation in taking digital assets like avatars, skins, weapons whether bought, built or earned inside one game to another.

Why is interoperability important in the Metaverse?

The benefits of interoperability in the Metaverse are numerous. It will enable scalability, commerce, and a seamless user experience. Without interoperability, the Metaverse becomes a siloed digital landscape.

Achieving interoperability in the Metaverse is not simple and common standards, protocols need to emerge and be accepted across platforms as they emerge. The technology is in the early stages of its evolution which further creates challenges in defining a future state of interoperability.

Currently, different metaverse platforms have their own currencies, avatars, and digital assets, which cannot be used across other platforms. By default, creators, brands, businesses must also build within the platform limiting the user experience. The whole idea of a limitless virtual world is to enable users to move seamlessly across different metaverse platforms with minimal disruptions, leading to more engaging and immersive experiences.

The catalysts to drive Interoperability

While technology will enable interoperability the real catalysts do drive interoperability will be

• Financal incentives
• Market Competition and
• Regulatory Compliance

We are in the early stages and it is difficult to say which of these three will lead but I believe financial incentives and marketing competition will weigh in more as regulatory compliance and frameworks seem a bit far at this stage. In the long run these will together create a push for interoperability and make it a reality.

The creation of the internet itself, was driven by a competitive pressure to connect computers and facilitate communication between them. The development of the internet protocol (IP) and the World Wide Web (WWW) allowed for the creation of a widely accepted standard that has transformed the way we live, work, and communicate.

The development of the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) by the Indian government is an example of financial incentives driving interoperability. The interface facilitates inter-bank peer-to-peer (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions. As of September 2022, there were 358 banks available on the platform with a monthly volume of 6.7 billion transactions amounting to ?11.16 trillion (US$140 billion). That is the magic of interoperability and the seamless experience it can create to drive adoption.

Taking Action

It is the responsibility of every builder, creator, business to recognize the importance of interoperability in the Metaverse and work towards making it a reality. Depending on who you are and what you do, here is a list to choose from to act:

• Join relevant industry groups to support. Metaverse Standards forum is one such group.
• Collaborate with other stakeholders, including other businesses, developers, and regulators, to establish common standards and protocols for Metaverse interoperability
• Invest in the development of open-source projects that promote interoperability across different Metaverse platforms
• Experiment with Metaverse platforms that prioritize interoperability, and encourage your customers to do the same
• Advocate for interoperability by spreading awareness and education about its benefits and impact on the Metaverse

The Metaverse is poised to revolutionize the way we live and work. Its potential will be capped without interoperability. Fragmentation will lead to a lack lustre digital landscape, hindering adoption and the user experience.

The solution lies in a collaborative effort to achieve interoperability. Forward thinking approach supported with action will play a critical role in shaping a Metaverse's future that is without boundaries, easy to use and fun to be in.?

Pitch in.