The Open Metaverse Alliance (OMA3) has recently unveiled an ambitious project aimed at addressing the challenges of navigating the metaverse. Based in Zug, Switzerland, this consortium consists of leading companies in the metaverse industry who share a common vision. Their mission is centered around establishing standards and infrastructure to pave the way for user-controlled and user-owned virtual worlds. In line with this vision, OMA3 has announced the Inter-World Portaling System (IWPS) project.
According to OMA3, the Portaling and Mapping Working Group (PMWG) is currently their most dynamic group. They believe that portals have the potential to revolutionize our interactions with the metaverse, offering a more immersive, accessible, and engaging digital realm. Additionally, portals could create new opportunities for software developers to monetize their creations. However, there are significant obstacles such as complexity and interoperability that need to be overcome.
The Role of Portals in Advancing the Metaverse
OMA3 predicts that metaverse portals will become the next major technological advancement, following in the footsteps of railroads, highways, and HTTP. Just as these innovations connected physical locations and digital databases, portals have the capacity to establish links between different metaverse environments. These digital gateways, akin to “transportation” systems, would enable users to seamlessly transition between various metaverse platforms, ultimately enhancing accessibility and user engagement.
The proposed Inter-World Portaling System (IWPS) aims to address the complexities of navigating the metaverse. It is not merely a teleportation method; rather, the IWPS is designed to facilitate inter-world travel. Users would have the ability to move between different metaverse platforms, including popular ones like Alien Worlds, My Neighbor Alice, and The Sandbox. The IWPS by OMA3 is poised to redefine intra-world teleportation systems by expanding their capabilities to encompass different worlds, not just locations within the same world.
Creating a Seamless and Performant User Experience in the Metaverse
OMA3’s system is being developed with the goal of providing an intuitive, cross-platform, flexible, and performant solution that enhances the user experience in the metaverse. It seeks to streamline user interactions, simplifying processes such as sign-ons, platform launches, and user setups. Given that metaverse platforms are built on various technology stacks, a universal portal system must support all possibilities.
Furthermore, OMA3 recognizes the importance of flexibility in supporting different levels of Web3 adoption and acknowledging the uniqueness of each platform without confusing users. Additionally, the system’s performance is crucial, with considerations such as throughput, latency, reliability, uptime, and resistance to DDoS attacks. User privacy and widespread interoperability are also key factors to ensure the success of the system.
OMA3’s ambitious project and the introduction of the Inter-World Portaling System (IWPS) represent a collaborative effort by creators in the Web3 metaverse platforms. Their focus is on fostering interoperability among virtual lands, digital assets, ideas, and services across various platforms while maintaining transparency for all communities involved. OMA3 welcomes builders in the Web3 metaverse to join their efforts, as they set the stage for an interactive and interconnected metaverse that harnesses the vast potential of Web3 and Metaverse development. The inter-world portal system they are pioneering has the potential to revolutionize how we explore and interact with the digital realms of the metaverse, and we eagerly anticipate the progress of this groundbreaking project.