The importance of self-care in the metaverse

In the early days of the Internet, websites were mostly static. This meant that there was little interactivity when it came to cyberspace or online communication.

Then came the rise of social networks. Now people could share and interact with each other through interactive apps. This was a huge change from websites and platforms where users had to download everything before they could even click ‘start’.

In addition, the entire Internet was centralized until the arrival of the blockchain, allowing self-custody of the ownership of digital assets. Today, this phenomenon is reproduced in the virtual world, or the metaverse. Virtual worlds allow users to buy and trade assets in cyberspace. The difference now is that people can actually OWN these creations – for example, buy land or property – instead of buying digital assets just to be owned by a centralized entity.

With Next Earth, users can purchase a virtual Earth tile as an NFT, which means that the land purchased will be theirs – in other words, it is a self-preservation system.

Why self-care is important

Self-custody refers to when an individual owns their own digital assets within a crypto economy. It’s similar to how we talk about owning our own homes in traditional societies – we live in our homes but we also have full title and ownership rights to them. In many ways, self-custody is what makes crypto economies so powerful, as it gives users true ownership over digital assets without centralized authority.

The reason owning things is so important in the Metaverse is that assets create value: there is a real market for property rights within these virtual worlds (just like in real life).

And since people are motivated by incentives, earning rewards for participating creates an economic incentive for people to invest their time and money in these platforms.

To show how this works, let’s look at Next Earth again as an example.

Next Earth is a virtual replica of the Earth on the blockchain, where you can buy one hundred square meters of terrestrial NFTs called tiles. They serve as both an asset and a form of crypto to collect, as each tile is unique and verifiable.

Here’s how it works: A player selects an interesting land tile, be it their own house or the White House, and then spends BNB to acquire that tile as an NFT. This NFT then belongs to the user and to him alone – and can even be resold on other marketplaces.

How does this compare to centralized platforms like Earth2?

In centralized platforms like Earth2, ownership of land and virtual assets is controlled by a single entity. This means that if Earth2 goes down or changes its conditions, your assets are at risk.

With decentralized platforms like Next Earth, there is no company to rely on for your land ownership – you have complete control over your own assets. That’s why it’s so important to really own your own resources in the Metaverse: you have the power to decide how they’re used and who can access them.

In the case of centralized platforms like Earth2, users do not have ownership rights over their own assets. They also cannot easily transfer or sell these assets to someone else. This is because centralized platforms belong to a single entity and this entity has the power to control the rules and policies of the platform.

The decentralized nature of blockchain-based metaavers means that they are ruled by code rather than humans, meaning that no person or organization has complete control over them. This is an important distinction, because it means that there is no central point of failure for these virtual worlds. If Next Earth were closed tomorrow, your NFTs would still be yours – they wouldn’t suddenly vanish into thin air!

Decentralized platforms are also resistant to censorship: no one can take away your property or restrict your freedom on a decentralized platform. Additionally, decentralized platforms are permission-free: anyone can join and use these virtual worlds without having to ask anyone for permission first.

Ultimately, if you are looking to purchase virtual real estate or collectibles, then owning them yourself is crucial.

Photo by Scott Szarapka on Unsplash