NFTs and digital avatars: how blockchain has enabled these technologies
You’ve most likely heard about NFTs by now; they’ve been hot on the news recently and attracting a lot of attention. Crypto enthusiasts, artists, gamers, and even celebrities are all on board with this new technology. Whether people are trying to cash in or just through general interest, this space has exploded, and NFTs have more applications than you might imagine.
Virtual worlds have seen a surge in interest with the introduction of NFTs. Some worlds are even entirely based upon blockchain and NFT technology — the Sandbox, who already have giants like Atari and the trading platform Binance scooping up real estate. Decentraland is seeing a big influx of players, a fully decentralized world where the creators and players govern the ecosystem. ESPA is aiming to provide a decentralized esports platform where everyone can make a living for themselves while avoiding industry-political approval.
Blockchain Avatars
Avatars, these virtual worlds wouldn’t be complete without them. They are a person’s digital identity inside the metaverse. With traditional games, you don’t actually own anything; it’s all the company’s property. Now, what if you owned your character? What if everything related to the avatar is just as much yours as the shirt on your back?
Bring on the NFT revolution. Your digital identity is now yours to fully own, with the help of blockchain and private key technology. An NFT is a non-fungible token; they are digital and unique assets. NFTs are identifiable and provide proof of ownership over a digital asset; think of them as a certificate of authenticity. They reside at a specific address on the blockchain, where anyone can check ownership for confirmation.
So what do they have to do with avatars? When attached to any digital item, that asset becomes unique; even if someone copies it, you can still confirm the original asset thanks to the NFT. Avatars can be considered a digital asset; an NFT can be attached to everything to do with an avatar. Character, clothing, even the name can be an NFT; you can own everything about your avatar. This allows you to trade or sell your avatars’ assets like clothing, as it is your property.
What Are They!
If we start at the beginning, Cryptopunks could arguably be the first NFT avatars. Although they are 2D images and originally sold as artworks, owners have been using them as profile avatars due to their expensive nature and their scarcity. There were only 10,000 created, this may sound like a large number, but in reality, it’s relatively small considering how rapid the NFT space is growing.
Cryptopunks is a good example because they are fully backed by blockchain technology. The actual image is too large to be stored on the blockchain, but! There is a hashed version of the composite image (this is the real image) of every single punk, which is then embedded into the smart contract. You can confirm it is genuine by calculating an SHA-256 hash on the image of a cryptopunk and comparing it to the hash stored in the contract, incredible!
Laravel Labs, the same which brought out Cryptopunks, have created 3D avatars called Meebits. These are considered proper avatars, and they can be used as playable characters inside a digital world like the metaverse. Interestingly, a custom generative algorithm created only 20,000 unique avatars. An NFT contract governs their ownership under ERC-721 tokens; these will work with any compatible exchange or service that handles transactions of the tokens.
There are other notables like Decentraland avatars and the newest to the scene Genies. While the avatars themselves are NFTs in Decentraland, the names are also a separate NFT. This is an interesting aspect, if you want a name change you have the option to sell the name and purchase a new one. Likewise, everything associated with the avatar can be sold or traded. Transactions can all take place on their own platform marketplace or third party marketplaces.
The Success
Similar to Laravel Labs Cryptopunks, a company called Yuga Labs developed Bored Ape Yacht Club. Each of these apes are programmatically generated from over 170 different traits, some being rarer than others. They are not just a piece of art or an image to use as a profile avatar. They work as a type of digital identity card, each ape doubles as a YachtClub membership card for member only benefits. This is an ambitious project to take on but showed huge success with all 10,000 apes sold out in 12 hours!
Back to 3D avatars. Cryptoavatars is a hugely successful project from a company called Polygonal Mind, they created a wide selection of avatars that are portable to many different worlds in the Metaverse. Most notably VR Chat, Decentraland and The Sandbox. All avatars are supported by the underlying blockchain technology, people own and manage their own valuable digital identity that can be used across the metaverse.
NFT Development and Understanding
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have seen a huge rise in popularity. The technology allows for the unique identification of digital assets like art, fashion, gaming assets and virtual real estate. The majority of NFTs are on the Ethereum blockchain which supports smart contracts that handle the transactions for NFTs.
NFTs are on a basic level a hash string which is unique to all others. The NFT is managed by a private key which acts as a sentinel to the assets in a specific Ethereum wallet. Anyone who holds the private key has control over the wallet’s contents and can move or sell the NFT. While the asset itself can be duplicated or copied, the NFT itself is non duplicable and certifies ownership.
This has had a huge impact on the world of digital collectables. An NFT works the same way as a COA for traditional art, NFTs are even better. They live on the immutable blockchain; anything recorded is there forever. They are Only accessible via the smart contract which is a fragment of code run at a certain address on the chain.
This code is not run by a human; it acts as an intermediary to perform certain tasks and lives at a specific address. This makes any NFT permanent and unique and entirely decentralized, digital assets now have proof of ownership which is backed by blockchain technology.
The Popularity of an Alias
People love avatars. They are an extension of your creative self. The reason digital identities have grown in popularity so much recently is due to NFTs. They make avatars truly unique, and it’s this aspect that’s attracting people. It’s a chance to have a one-of-a-kind persona.
Genies that were mentioned earlier are a prime example of this. Not only are there many unique and rare items to style your avatar, but brands like Gucci and The North Face have made clothing available for purchase. A lot of luxury brands have already been eyeing up NFTs and the benefits they can bring to the scene; they could greatly improve our online browsing experience in a few ways. Gucci has already been selling $12 sneakers NFTs, which you can try on through the use of AR.
Avatars are not just standalone; why style up your avatar if no one will see it? Genies and other metaverse platforms are all orientated around communication and socializing with the community. VRChat especially promotes this; you can take your Gucci clad avatar into the world and chat with friends or other collectors. This is giving brands a further reach of advertising, by allowing users to carry their designs into the virtual space and opening up a new market.
The Future of Digital Identities
NFTs combined with current AR, and VR technology has created the fundamentals for the development of digital identity technology. There are many proven references for developers to take inspiration from. Proof of concept ideas is floating around already implemented inside games. Expanding upon these fundamental ideas and releasing control over the assets and market to the users will see the digital identity market flourish.
There are many options for getting your hands on a digital identity. The cost can range from a couple of hundred dollars or over 100k+, and there is a selection of worlds already open to you. Whatever you’re into, there will be a place in the metaverse for you. Find your style and get ready to enter the metaverse!
