15 Apr 2022 | Sam Sprigg
XR Trends 2022 (2/12): Cross-Platform Avatars and Digital Identity
XR Trends Metaverse Virtual Reality Augmented Reality

Welcome to the second post in our blog series that takes a look at some of the top trends across the XR industry and examines where the technology is currently being utilized, and the benefits that augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) offer to practically any industry vertical. In each post, we’ll dive into a new trend that will:


  • Demonstrate how XR technology is shaping the future of various industries.
  • Examine where the technology is currently being utilized.
  • Look at the benefits that AR and VR offer to practically any industry vertical.
  • Cover how the needs of these industries are in turn helping to drive AR/VR innovation within the tech sector.

In this post we are going to look at how 3D avatars will drive the portability of our digital identities.


An essential part of the metaverse (covered in our first blog post in this series), the idea of digital identity is one that is now seeing a lot of interest in the XR space. In the Web2 era, users have interacted with one another using an ID, whether in the form of an email address, a social media handle, or username. However, as virtual reality grows in popularity, one big part of how people currently interact in VR is through an avatar—a digital representation of how a person would like to be viewed in the virtual world (or metaverse).


Avatars can take the form of a like-for-like digital twin of a user’s real self, it could be as a giant goldfish, or as a raincloud. With the virtual world there are virtually no limits to how people can be represented, other than the human imagination.


The ability to be able to port a highly customizable avatar across a range of different platforms is going to become an increasingly important part of digital identity in the metaverse, as it will allow users to maintain a consistent identity wherever they end up going in the virtual world. Imagine having to change your clothes every time you went into a different building—it would get super old, super fast. Therefore, why should it be any different with your virtual attire across different arenas?


Platforms such as Ready Player Me are therefore working to solve this issue of portability and are seeing success in the full-body 3D avatar creation space by offering a cross-app avatar system that allows users to explore virtual worlds with one consistent identity across multiple different compatible platforms. Similarly, Genies, which recently announced $150 million in Series C funding, is working to build an “avatar ecosystem,” which will in part consist of avatar avatars, fashion and collectibles, through which users will be able to express their identities. Meta is also working to create portability and consistency of avatars across its Meta Quest, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger platforms. 


While the idea of the metaverse is still more of an abstract concept, avatars provide something a little more straightforward to understand, and may even end up acting as our passports to the metaverse.


Having a digital version of yourself should also be something that is also representative of your digital experiences, and one thing that will enable users to show off these experiences will be the many digital collectibles that they pick up along their digital journey. Just in the same way that people collect fridge magnets from different countries, bumper stickers from different states, or t-shirts of their favorite bands and musicians, digital collectibles will form an important part of how people share and express their experiences in the digital world.


Another important aspect of users being able to express themselves within the metaverse will be the digital fashion items and collectibles that they can add to customizable avatars. The market is turning into a huge opportunity for creators and designers alike, with several leading fashion brands looking to develop digital assets that users can purchase to showcase their style.

One entry point for brands has been the creation and distribution of NFTs (or “non-fungible tokens”), a type of digital collectible that can have only one owner at a time and that utilize blockchain technology to verify ownership and the transfer of tokens between different owners. NFTs have exploded in popularity over the past few years, and are increasingly becoming synonymous with the metaverse. Leading fashion brands including Nike, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Balenciaga and many more are already investing in their metaverse and NFT collectibles strategies, and it is likely that this will become the norm for fashion brands and retailers moving forward.


AWE USA 2022’s Creator Track is going to feature content relating to avatars, digital identity, and the surrounding ecosystem that will allow people to create and sell 3D assets, collectibles and NFTs that can be attributed to users’ avatars. Make sure you don’t miss out on the world’s leading AR/VR conference, where you can learn more about how people will create their digital identities for the metaverse.


Watch Sessions

 

Some of the best talks focusing on avatars and digital identity this year at AWE USA 2022 include:


(Header image source: Ready Player Me)
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