Please describe your proposed solution.
One of the main hopes of any metaverse is that businesses will build on their platform and so attract new consumers who want to explore their creations. We regularly see headlines in mainstream media about brands entering and building in a metaverse, but once executed the end products are little more than a hallow display with some light, preset interactions. The whole experience often feels superficial and, when checking out existing metaverses (e.g., Decentraland and Sandbox), a lot of areas are completely dead. What it is missing is the human touch.
When we go to a bar, we do not go in order to pay for drinks that we can more cheaply consume at home. We go because the environment encourages us to socialize with friends and make new ones. The bartender not only acts as another person to socialize with, but also anchors the entire bar experience. The bartender is a representative of the business, and they play a role in establishing the environment that attracts customers who want to participate in it. When examining this setup, the drinks themselves are less important, it is the social dynamic that is created that is of added value.
The same can be said when you go to a theme park, such as Disneyland. There are plenty of areas to explore, but the cast members, mascots and performers are what really sell the experience.
A typical non-playable character (NPC) in a game can only say and do what the developer has programmed. Much of what we do in real life involves personalized social interactions. Our thesis is that by adding people in roles themed after the environment, we can elevate social experiences by allowing them to dynamically react to players in different contexts.
We will develop the software to manage the work, payments and overall experience.
Future Fest has the baseline infrastructure to support a multiplayer experience. Additional features are required in order to create a proper flow for workers to get in and perform their duties.
(Video explainer)
The features that will make this project work are:
- Special user accounts
- Unique avatars
- Voice chat
- Worker and manager dashboard
- Cryptocurrency payout
Initial jobs will include:
- Performers
- Help desk assistants
- Mascots
- Bartender
We want to ensure people who work in these positions are adequately compensated. Workers will receive a fair wage and will be able to earn additional tips from users for outstanding service.
While initially this service will be integrated into the Future Fest system, we fully intend to expand the product over time, so that other teams building on Cardano can utilize and integrate it into their own products in the future.
Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.
We want to drive adoption on Cardano by providing high-quality experiences. If we can provide the ability for people to work across metaverses, we will enable more people to not only participate in this new economy, but also make it more enjoyable and socially rewarding for the people playing in it.
What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?
Legal issues will be the greatest challenge for this proposal. We need to ensure that our integration complies with the laws in the jurisdictions where we deploy. Our strategy is to release in one region at a time. The first region will be the United States and we will expand as we receive approval.