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Metaverse and virtual reality (VR) go hand in hand in the public imagination, and platforms like Somnium Space, Crypto Voxel, and Meta’s Horizon World already support the technology.
But Decentraland, a browser-based 3D metaverse platform, still doesn’t have VR, despite what the website describes as a “distributed virtual reality platform.”
Augmented reality expert and XR Dev Studio founder Sean Ong is part of the team that developed the ‘alpha’ version of the VR platform. He explained that “VR has always been part of his vision for Decentraland,” but the Decentraland Foundation has prioritized implementing core features over VR.
“The team that is primarily responsible for developing Decentraland has been very busy implementing and building so many features, core features, that VR was not really on their priority list.”
Ong is a member of Decentraland’s DAO, and he and his team received a grant after submitting a proposal to bring VR to the platform.
However, he said the funding was just a “VR port” and only allowed him to create an alpha version of an unstable VR client.
Ong told Cointelegraph that the challenge of bringing VR to Decentraland is due to its “fundamental incompatibility with VR.”
Porting VR requires rewriting the original code to make it compatible with another platform. While this saves time and effort initially, the developer will have to make changes to the port every time his project is updated, Ong said.
Building a dedicated VR client takes more time, he explained, but it isolates it from the main project and makes it more resilient in the long run.
Ong and his team sought an additional $240,000 in funding through a Dec. 14 proposal to develop a purpose-built VR client, but the vote fell by more than three-quarters. It ended in failure.
Sandbox VR?
Cointelegraph also asked Sebastien Borger, co-founder of blockchain-based metaverse The Sandbox, for his thoughts on virtual reality in the metaverse.
Borget suggested that while the metaverse will eventually exist in VR, the priority for 2023 will be mobile, and that “there are no immediate or future plans for VR.”
“We believe VR technology is not mature enough and mainstream, so our focus is on making the metaverse more mainstream and accessible to all,” he said. .
Related: Decentraland launches virtual property rentals for LAND owners
Meanwhile, when asked about Decentraland’s recent criticism of 8,000 daily active users, Ong said those numbers are still relatively low and the platform should aim for millions.
“The metaverse is synonymous with VR these days,” says Ong, who believes Decentraland can onboard more users if it can bring virtual reality support to the platform. A truly full-featured metaverse.
Agustin Ferreira, executive director of the Decentraland Foundation, said in an email response that the DAO may eventually take over platform development, and that the foundation will support community development and that “developers can help the entire ecosystem. It aims to create incentives to add value to
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