Metaverse Culture Begins in 2022: Discernment By Joe Sichta

Joe Sichta (CEO & Co-Founder of Meta X Studios) Talks about Metaverse & immersive technologies and his vision to develop a creator’s community & the importance of collaborations.

“To The Verge” held a meeting with Joe Sichta, CEO & Co-Founder of Meta X Studios. The entrepreneur shared his work and vision to develop a Metaverse platform that brings people together for knowledge sharing.

The organization is particular about creative storytelling & building a diverse community, and its focus is on NFTs, Animation & online games.

Meta X Studios has people from diverse backgrounds and looks forward to launching IPs specifically in Web 3.

A diverse team is vital 

Joe shared they came across an opportunity and designed the team specifically to stand out. The focus was to pick the right people for the right job, ranging from development, production, distribution, etc. As an organization, Meta X studios decided to launch intellectual properties to develop original brands, creations, properties, projects, and, most importantly, people.

“It is all about community building and having all those different backgrounds from the traditional Media to Metaverse. So, there is a lot of integration work, audience development, community building & community relationship that is required to develop an ideal Metaverse that we envisage.”

Currently, the team is busy with ongoing projects, but they are exploring new tech. He candidly admits that their team is the best. The team is trying to share what they know, at least from their traditional backgrounds. Meta X Studios is committed to the cause. They are still looking for volunteers to join the organization. 

“We aim to get good people on board who are eager to learn new concepts and help us in maintaining the Smart Contracts.”

The organization is particular about the timelines & deliverables. It guides, directs, and motivates the team to carry the projects into the market.

Motivation to create a Metaverse Platform

Joe has immense experience in animation and production. He can spot those disruptions in the television, cable, DVD Movies, and streaming.

“Each one of these has caused vast disruption in the economic opportunities & production pipeline. And, it filters down to the creative- What are the economic realities? Where do the opportunities to practice the craft lie?”

Being a producer, he has a holistic approach and thinks about taking the best care of his creative, production pipelines & people. He always strives to provide them the opportunity to do their best. He is on a mission to solve the economic questions and challenges.

He understands that the real money lies in distributing the content, and it is important to figure out the same.

He believes that Metaverse is the next big thing, disrupting everything. It would be wise to jump in early and get used to it. This is the reason he got motivated to develop a Metaverse platform.

“So, we have to evolve with the upcoming technologies as they come, whether you like it or not.”

Community of creative content creators

“Our goal is to develop a good community of creative content creators for knowledge sharing. It is important to find out answers to the questions like how does the crypto work. How does DAO work into this? How do the NFTs work? What is creative from the storytelling point of view? Why is the NFT valuable?”

Meta X Studios is focused on answering questions like how to develop something? What makes a great story? How does the character connect with the world? How to make an emotional connection? What is emotional storytelling?

He says that fundamental storytelling will not change just because of the commencement of Metaverse. Though, it can be expanded or planned in new ways. A large part of their work is collaboration. It will be about engaging in technology, content, opportunities & challenges, sharing the information within the community, building internal support, etc. They endeavor to collaborate with the right teams. They help with the story, plugging in some creativity or helping to bring the art level up.

The Projects

Joe says that their team is working on launching diverse sets of projects. They are on the verge of launching a Fashion Metaverse in February. Then, there is another comedy project, music project, etc. They are currently involved in various types of entertainment categories.

He says that this year looks enormously great for someone who is looking to explore Metaverse’s opportunity and grow a culture around it. We are going to utilize this opportunity.

As per Joe, fashion is an interesting space, and there is a lot of scope with brands like Nike & Adidas, who are joining the bandwagon. Metaverse would be all about being in the field, finding like-minded people, and talking about how to team up. For creators, having the right to copyright would be necessary. The rights will enable them to make money, and the company can create value.

He is upbeat about DAO (decentralized autonomous organization). “If you talk about DAO, it creates value for the people who are a part of it, who are in the system, and who are brought in.” ”Some of the things will change in DAO like the way value is captured, the meaning of having a company or ownership.” 

Metaverse is poised to become a great opportunity for the creators. They will be able to reach out directly to the customers with fewer intermediaries. It will become possible with servicing the community, creating & capturing value, and driving business.

“Value is the keyword whether the community or the company captures the same.” ”It can be anything like the value of being entertained, the value of having fun, etc.” ”Defining the value would be necessary.”

Future of NFTs

Joe thinks that NFTs are fascinating, and the team has been working on the NFTs since August 2020. “We are not new to this phenomenon. However, it’s a new format and has much bigger potential than what we have seen so far”.

He says that NFTs are essentially mini-computers and programmable media pieces. They have a built-in contract that performs a job as per the instructions. They’re entirely value propositions and not just authenticated pieces of artwork. They allow exchanging value or programming of almost any kind of digital information.

He says that NFT is such an exciting & interesting technology that it is quite hard to comprehend it in the present scenario completely. The NFT revolution has just begun, and we can develop a strong version of the new economic incentive. It is too early stage, and we have a long way to go. The NFT technology will evolve with time, and there will be numerous innovations in this field.

Current challenges in NFTs & Crypto world

Joe says that volatility in cryptocurrencies is a huge problem. Another issue is that people need to have the capital to get into crypto. Though they are a powerful technology and open up many economic opportunities for the people, there is an economic barrier here, and people would need to innovate in this field. It is yet to be developed the right way to create prosperity & economic opportunities for the people.

The main challenge with NFTs is that people need capital to get into the game. In addition, NFTs are a hyper niche product because of their complicated nature. For now, they are not very user-friendly in Metaverse/Web3.

He says that people view NFTs as a business platform, whereas he sees it as a form of entertainment. Different people prefer different ways of entertaining themselves, and there are so many options these days. Metaverse & NFTs are one of these options currently but they are yet to be adopted in a massive manner.

Regulation in Metaverse & NFTs

Joe says that the Metaverse, NFTs, Cryptocurrencies will get regulated in the future, not sure how. There will be a lot of challenges to regulating a completely decentralized global network.

He says that The Meta X Studios wishes to be a consistent company that regularly delivers high-quality fun content. Also, they wish to avoid the regulation by projecting themselves as a provider of entertainment products.

He says that eventually, there will be a lot of money that will float in the Metaverse, NFTs, Crypto world, so regulation has to be there. Having said that, there should be a balance that should be maintained. If it gets over-regulated, then you may kill the golden goose and lose all its advantages. We need to make sure that people find Metaverse as a better place & a viable medium.

This is possible if the regulation is carried out in a thoughtful & balanced way.

Adoption to Metaverse

Joe says that the Artists and the companies should look for collaboration. This would be the best way to adapt to the Metaverse and reap advantages. The trick is to look for like-minded people and gain knowledge from their skills.

“People are coming forward and teaching each other. This, in turn, builds relationships & trust. And then we come across the Metaverse & Blockchain, where this trust is automated. It would be interesting to see how technology automates trust.”

AI shaping the Metaverse

Joe says that it’s already happening, and AI is driving everything. Some of the conversations are driven by algorithms, and some by engagement. The trick would be to raise human intelligence to contend with AI to control our conversations & consciousness while AI is trying to program our thoughts.

Final vision on Metaverse

“Metaverse is a space where both digital and physical aspects transcend with each other. It is a space of creative play that has an economic value that will support our life, wellbeing & spiritual needs.”

“It would be a creator economy, and the key to success would be a collaboration with like-minded people and knowledge sharing.”

CONCLUSION

Metaverse has immense potential, and it may transform the way businesses operate across the globe. Joe Sichta suggests people should jump early to reap its benefits and evolve with immersive technologies. The key to success would be building a good community for mutual knowledge sharing. 2022 would be a great year for creative storytellers and content creators as they can grow immensely in the Metaverse space.

According to him, NFTs are at a nascent stage but may bring prosperity. They are mini-computers that can be programmed to perform a job as per the instructions. Proper know-how and capital are critical to utilize NFTs. Thus, both NFTs and Metaverse may require regulation in the future but in a balanced manner.