Understanding the Metaverse: User‑Generated Content, Digital Assets, and Blockchain Foundations

What is a higher degree of freedom? Some may think we are already free in online games, playing however we like.

However, regardless of how rich a game's elements are, characters, quests, classes, items, and scenes are all pre‑designed by game designers.

Take World of Warcraft as an example: you can be a mage or a hunter, but you cannot be a “Starcraft Marine” because that class was never designed.

Similarly, although WoW has many weapons, you cannot forge a “Heavenly Sword” because the designers never created it.

In the metaverse, however, the virtual world is co‑built by everyone; each user can not only participate but also reshape the world, creating new elements and rules.

Players’ creations in Minecraft

If in online games the designer is a god, in the metaverse there is no authoritative “god”; all users collectively participate and reshape the world.

The industry calls this model UGC (User Generated Content).

Online games also have economies with virtual currencies and item trading. What is special about the metaverse’s economic system?

Scarcity is the foundation of economics. In the real world, whether a bun or a villa, quantities are limited, requiring more materials, energy, and labor to produce more.

In online games, all items are digital; theoretically, providers can duplicate items infinitely at no extra cost, so the game economy is not independent.

In the metaverse, each item is unique and cannot be mass‑copied; transactions are secured by digital contracts, making digital assets scarce and stable like real‑world assets.

Scarcity and stability are the foundation of the metaverse’s independent economy.

Digital asset “Bored Ape” series

What technologies are involved in realizing the metaverse?

First, common technologies such as cloud computing, 5G communication, and VR are used; we will not elaborate on their details.

The metaverse’s decentralization relies on the development of blockchain over the past decade. In blockchain there is no central server; each user is an independent, equal node that can submit content and, upon consensus, update the chain, enabling users to reshape the virtual world.

Additionally, the recent popularity of NFTs provides guarantees for the metaverse’s independent economic system.

NFT stands for Non‑Fungible Token, a blockchain‑based digital token. Unlike fungible Bitcoin, which can be divided (e.g., 0.01 BTC), each NFT is unique and indivisible, like the original Mona Lisa or a house.

In the metaverse, the production and trading of every item rely on NFTs, ensuring the scarcity and stability of all digital items.

Roblox, the world’s largest multiplayer online creation platform, allows players to both play games and develop their own.

Players create games of various genres—shooters, fighting, racing, survival—fully unleashing everyone’s imagination.

In March 2021, Roblox went public, dubbed the first metaverse stock, and 2021 was called the Metaverse Year.

Major players are responding; Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is a strong supporter, even renaming the company to Meta.

In China, Tencent invested in Roblox, and ByteDance invested in a “Chinese Roblox” developer Code QianKun.

Now, the metaverse is a new battlefield for internet giants.