The concept of the metaverse and virtual reality (VR) are closely associated in the minds of the public. Several platforms, such as Somnium Space, Crypto Voxels, and Meta’s Horizon Worlds, have already embraced this technology. However, Decentraland, a browser-based 3D metaverse platform, which describes itself as “decentralized virtual reality platform,” is yet to incorporate VR into its system.
Sean Ong, the founder of XR Dev Studio, a company specializing in extended reality, is part of a team that has developed an “alpha” version of the VR platform for Decentraland. Ong explained that although VR has always been part of Decentraland’s vision, the Decentraland Foundation has prioritized implementing core features before focusing on VR.
Ong, who is also a member of Decentraland’s DAO, received grants after submitting a proposal to introduce VR to the platform. However, the funding only allowed them to create an alpha version of the VR client, which lacked stability. Ong stated that the challenges in bringing VR to Decentraland stem from its fundamental incompatibility with VR.
To make Decentraland VR-compatible, the original code needs to be reworked, a process known as VR porting. Ong noted that although this initially saves time and effort, developers would need to make changes to the port whenever the main project is updated. Building a dedicated VR client would take more time but would make it more resilient in the long run.
Ong and his team requested an additional $240,000 in funding to develop a dedicated VR client, but the proposal was voted down, with more than three-quarters voting against it.
Cointelegraph also reached out to Sébastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox, a blockchain-based metaverse, for his thoughts on VR in the metaverse. Borget stated that while VR will eventually be part of metaverses, The Sandbox’s focus for 2023 is on mobile platforms, and they have no immediate plans for VR. He believes that VR technology is not yet mature or mainstream enough, so their priority is to make the metaverse more accessible to all.
Regarding recent criticism of Decentraland’s low daily active user count of 8,000, Ong acknowledges that these numbers are relatively low and believes that the platform should aim for millions of users. He asserts that VR is a crucial component for a fully-featured metaverse and that implementing VR support would attract many more users to Decentraland.
In response to inquiries, Agustin Ferreira, the executive director of the Decentraland Foundation, stated that the DAO could eventually take over platform development, and the foundation’s goal is to support community development and incentivize developers to enhance the entire ecosystem.