# Openverse Whitepaper

### Abstract

Today, XR app developers are dependent on centralized, permissioned distribution channels for their income. These channels take 30% of the revenues in exchange for the placement of a creator's content on their digital shelf. These platforms are not necessarily the most benevolent governments to build a community in, especially since they have been known to block certain apps from working properly, preventing developer from building valuable features, and in the worst case cannibalizing an app altogether. Our goal is to provide developers with a way to reduce their dependence on centralized channels.

We will accomplish this by building a protocol which enables the tokenization of digital space and an auditable record of interactions with the digital spaces. Through the use of scalable web3 protocols, we will enable a more transparent financial settlement layer for the exchange of value between advertisers and the creators who are offering spatial liquidity. Gone will be the days when payment processors take a cut of the transaction. Through the use of a profit-sharing token, all stakeholders of the network, including investors and protocol developers, will be able to benefit from the growth of the network.

### Introduction

Augmented and virtual reality provides a new substrate for the creation of spatial experiences that have some form of spatial scarcity.

Why XR?

XR enhances the feeling of presence in a social setting, but also the notion of ownership of a particular virtual good - the ability to “touch” and “feel” something.

Platform Risk

When it comes to payment for crypto-native games - what's happening with Apple/Epic right now might inevitably happen to crypto games too.

This calls for a need for a decentralized, community-owned App Store.

Tailwinds

* Regulation, antitrust and privacy
* VR technology
* Web3
* COVID

Headwinds

Just like how virtual machines provide a runtime with guardrails for memory access and management, the combination of web3 and webxr gives us a new way of technically enforcing contractual obligations in a virtual reality.

We believe:

1. Technology has the power to solve problems it has created for itself, such as data privacy violations and antitrust issues.
2. DAOs are a method of coordinating capital and people.
3. Value should be distributed in a meritocratic fashion to those who create it.
4. Progressive decentralization as the best method for going from idea —> full usage.
5. That there is no such thing as a truly free Web service. If a Web service is free, the user is paying for the service through ads and data.

Just circling back to drivers/catalysts: I think there's a bit of work to be done in terms of where we think the idea of a "metaverse" is going to go.

It's pretty difficult to predict the impact of the proliferation of new AR/VR hardware

As well as the proliferation of consumer-friendly digital wallets

Their adoption needs to definitely be driven by real utility and value that's delivered at the application layer

I think it might analagous to laying down L1 infrastructure - one definitely has to come before the other, but once we get to a state where the infrastructure is usable that's when the developers will swarm in to build value on top of it

One of the bets that we're making is IMO a pretty safe one - developers that build content on top of the train tracks that are being laid (proliferation of AR/VR hardware, scalable L1's, etc.), will want to monetize their stuff in some way.

there are many ways in which monetization can be done, but our bet is that in in the future, applications will not be "owned" by some app store like it is today, but it will be self-hosted and decentralized.

as well, advertisements will be a truly viable way in which developers can monetize

COVID acts as a good driver for both XR and crypto:
1. For XR - the difficulty of meeting people in person will be solved by the technology that provides presence-as-a-service. Any activity in the digital realm will be increased as more people have to remain indoors, which includes games.
2. For crypto - the disappearance of cash as a transfer of value, in addition to central banks and authorities starting to think about digital currencies will drive greater understanding into the crypto ecosystem

I see the metaverse as a massive hyperreal coping mechanism
@jseam I agree with you to some extent, but I think that Discord is also a part of the metaverse
Outside of coping, I think that the metaverse will provide real utility for people to meet others, communicate, be entertained, and one day, conduct business.

The metaverse is society 2.0.
It is a society that is not limited by the boundaries that are drawn by nation states. (Sovereign Individual)