Hey there. In this video, we're going to talk about arts, entertainment, and sports in the metaverse. I'm going to take a guess. I bet you know someone who's a huge fan of Star Trek. You know the kind. They've watched all the movies and TV shows, have traveled to conventions to meet cast members from Captain James T. Kirk to Captain Michael Burnham, and even know a few phrases in Klingon. What are you a fan of? Maybe you're big into college basketball or professional polo, collect sculptures or watercolor paintings, have seen your favorite band in concert two dozen times, or can quote The Princess Bride by heart. Well, let me tell you: You haven't experienced fandom until you've done it in the metaverse. Let's tackle today's topics one by one. First up, art. Now there's a term that's been floating around for a while, mostly related to art, that has a lot of people scratching their heads. That term is NFT. Well, you may know that stands for non-fungible token. What does that mean? Fungible means that something can be easily interchanged with an identical item. So then non-fungible means the opposite: something that can't be replicated and replaced. In simple terms, an NFT is a one-of-a-kind digital record that proves an object's authenticity. Right now, someone could visit a website, download images from it, and use those images however they want. They shouldn't, but they could. But blockchain technology, which you'll learn about in the money in the metaverse module, is how we prove that each NFT is one of a kind. Think of it like a digital receipt that proves you are the owner of this specific asset, tells everyone that it's an authentic item, and allows you to control who can see it and when. As you'd expect in the metaverse, NFTs are designed to be interoperable, so that you can take them as many places as possible. Let's say you bought a designer handbag. In the physical world, you'd have a receipt to prove that item is authentic, not a knockoff, and that you paid for it. An NFT serves that purpose in the metaverse, proving ownership and authenticity of digital items. Imagine buying your favorite avatar a pair of really hot, limited edition digital sneakers. Then, someone offers you double what you paid for them. With NFT technology, you can prove that the shoes are authentic, that you own them, and that you sold them to your friend for the amount you agreed upon. Now the sneakers are in your friend's digital closet, and they too can prove the same details of the transaction, because of that digital transaction receipt. NFTs are a popular way to buy and sell digital art. Examples of NFTs include Everydays: The First 5000 Days created by the artist Beeple, which sold for an astonishing $69.3 million in 2021; the first tweet from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, which went for almost $3 million that same year; and the first known NFT, called Quantum, which was created and sold for just $4 in 2014. Then, in 2022, the auction house Sotheby's auctioned it off for just under $1.5 million! Numerous marketplaces exist online where you can check out what people are making and selling as NFTs. If you're feeling the creative itch, you can even design your own art. Today, there are numerous art experiences you can have using VR and AR, including the traveling Van Gogh Exhibition, an in-person, immersive experience that uses 360-degree projections to bring Vincent's artwork to life. The Google Arts & Culture app has more than 1,000 museums and galleries you can visit virtually from your smartphone or tablet, including the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, the Museo Frida Kahlo in Ciudad de Mexico, and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. Art in the metaverse also provides opportunities for artists to extend their work beyond the physical form, or blend the virtual and physical. For example, the Takashi Murakami's Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow exhibit at The Broad in Los Angeles, California, incorporated immersive features, using AR to bring art outside a museum or gallery, allowing more people to experience it and enjoy it. Imagine putting the Mona Lisa outside the Louvre! Now if art isn't your thing, don't worry. Entertainment options abound in the metaverse. Virtual concerts have actually been going on since 2013, when holographic versions of South Korean stars like Girls' Generation and Psy first began to appear on stages in the physical world. Believe it or not, England's Duran Duran has the honor of being the first major band to play in a virtual world, way back in 2006. Because of in-person restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, metaverse concerts took off in 2020 and 2021. Notable names like Ariana Grande, BTS, and Diplo have performed in VR on Fortnite, Justin Bieber's avatar took the stage in his own virtual universe on Wave, The Weeknd starred in an AR livestream on TikTok watched by more than two million fans. The metaverse even opens up stages for new types of talent like, avatars. Japan's Hatsune Miku, a synthetic voice program first created in 2007 and now represented in avatar form as a 16-year-old girl anime character, routinely sells out virtual shows. Are movies and television more your thing? You can hop into the metaverse and invite friends to your virtual space no matter how far apart you are to catch up on the newest seasons of your favorite Netflix show or rewatch a classic film. There's loads of entertainment out there made specifically for VR, too, including movies, immersive experiences, and interactive games. Okay, sports fans, you've waited long enough. It's your turn up at bat, or on the 50-yard line, or at the free throw line, or... whatever reference you need to let you know, it's time to talk sports in the metaverse. Whether you're into football, golf, rugby, swimming, baseball, cricket, you name it, you'll find experiences to enjoy in the metaverse. In 2022, Manchester City started building the first metaverse football stadium, a digital replica of Etihad Stadium. Basketball fans can scoop up NBA and WNBA NFTs at the Top Shot shop. No matter what you're a fan of, the best part of taking your devotion digital is that distance is irrelevant. Whether your favorite singer is performing halfway around the world, when a new art exhibit opens in a city you aren't able to visit, when your team is in the finals of the big game that's impossible to get tickets for, you can be there in the metaverse. I don't know about you, but one of my favorite things about being a fan is connecting with people who love the same things I do. Coming up next, you'll explore the ways in which fandom will evolve in the metaverse. In the meantime, live long and prosper.
