As a discussion starter, this week we discuss land buying and selling transactions in the Metaverse that went viral. Many doubt, but not a few believe that this can happen, especially considering the current phenomenon where invisible crypto assets have high value and are traded. However, there are fears that this phenomenon will only occur for a moment, considering the case of buying and selling plants where prices had soared and suddenly fell because the price game was over. Moreover, it is added when we hear from many parties that today is the era of post-truth or post-truth, where something that goes viral is not necessarily true.
Then, what's the truth?
Before Facebook replaced its mother with Meta and conveyed its vision of the Metaverse, there had been a lot of buying and selling of assets in the digital world, especially among gamers. They sell and buy accessories, weapons, or even playable characters. The goal, apart from making players have a character that is played to be cooler and more powerful, can also be resold at a higher price. This is not much different from transactions in the real world, but with assets that are not physically visible.
As long as there is an ecosystem created, the digital asset has value. When a digital game fails to build an ecosystem, then the assets in it will also be of no value. This is because the ecosystem in digital games creates the trust of its users in the value of digital assets in it. We can compare it with various other examples of digital assets faced by each individual, whether related to digital game assets, crypto assets, digital shops, or virtual lands.
Many small and medium entrepreneurs now have the courage to rent digital shops on a monthly or one year basis because the ecosystem in the e-marketplace has been created. Visitors come in large numbers, digital transactions actually occur, and the availability of a fair mechanism for every shop owner, is a motivating part for entrepreneurs to decide to pay for their stalls on e-marketplaces even though they are not physically visible. When an ecosystem is created, the need to own becomes even greater.
This is not much different from the metaverse, which is still promising for the future. When the ecosystem is formed, not only the need for stalls to sell but also for other interests may arise. It will take time to see the ecosystems within the metaverse really take shape. As long as the ecosystem hasn't been created, what happens is only "frying" future prospects as happened in the case of buying and selling plants whose prices had soared and suddenly fell because the price game was over. Even though buying and selling digital assets is a real thing and has happened, we all need to be aware of these possibilities.
Ridwan Sanjaya