If you persevere, you will get it…
Author: Theo
Some interesting things are happening, and I believe this will be a very hot topic for Web3 and the metaverse in the coming years – digital preservation and persistence.
Now, Google and Apple are removing outdated apps from their app stores; it is estimated that Google Play has kicked out 869,000 apps, and Apple has removed 650,000. Google is also considering hiding apps that have not been updated in two years starting from November this year.
As physical media is pushed aside in favor of digital ownership, this poses a huge problem for persistence and preservation – because the idea of the metaverse will soon turn into a chaotic wasteland, filled with abandoned digital art or avatars left behind in the world, but had to be left behind for the promise of persistence.
And data storage is not free.
This means that archiving will have to be a process considered in advance, much more so than some decentralized world builders are willing to admit, due to the requirements of data storage, which means turning to centralized services to achieve it.
Not only that, outdated virtual goods and services have become more attractive to malware and attacks due to their older code or the software used to create and maintain them.
We have already witnessed old movies disappearing from public directories because they are not available in digital format, so what does this mean for the history of the metaverse and Web3 if we are such a society that is abandoned?
Do we expect creators to constantly update their virtual world goods and services every time there is a major platform update? We talk a lot about interoperability, which is all good today, but what does this mean when outdated digital items are no longer interoperable and are therefore removed from the system?
As the market and technology change, will today’s NFTs become completely useless in 5 years? Will wallets even support them?
Where is the Web3 or metaverse strategy that allows for unlimited storage?
A truly interesting solution is something like Arweave – fully decentralized storage, just as software like SETI@Home operates on a peer-to-peer network to utilize space computing power, Arweave uses decentralized space storage capabilities.
Arweave is a network that connects those with excess disk space with those who need permanent data storage. This system provides users with unparalleled data replication and security, while also providing economic incentives for those who store data, without middlemen.
Arweave operates not as a traditional company or foundation, but is fully decentralized, meaning anyone can store data or provide storage space in the network, without a leader or centralized point of failure. Through decentralization, Arweave provides a new standard for data archiving and storage: information is replicated on hundreds of machines worldwide, unaffected by fire, flood, or intentional destruction.
When you consider the amount of data that could be generated by the entire metaverse platform, not just about the real-time streaming information of user activities, but also all the object and file data of digital assets, it is said that we are allowed to envision under the “creator economy,” then storage becomes a huge issue. File sizes in popular formats like .gltf can range from a few megabytes to 70MB bin files, or even larger.
This brings up the issue of digital preservation and persistence, especially when the continuous existence of every bit and byte is a core tenet for scholars like Matthew Ball, who defines the metaverse as a network of persistent and interconnected 3D virtual worlds.
Take Star Citizen, for example, a constantly evolving virtual network world where players interact and affect their surroundings, and these effects will last forever.
So… what is persistence?
Increasing persistence is a huge milestone and an important addition to the game, affecting almost every aspect of Star Citizen. The game’s backend functions are already complete, allowing for persistence between game sessions for things like purchased items, Alpha UEC balance, and hostility levels. This means that when you log out and return later, what you did in the past few days will still be there!
Even for a single game, this is not an easy feat, but to try to do this in dozens or even hundreds of virtual worlds, and to be able to affect each other, is an impossible requirement for today’s client-server-based technology.
Arweave’s solution is a start, but it needs to scale. There are 3 billion people playing video games worldwide, and people accept that games come and go, online game servers will eventually close, and all these assets will disappear. In Web3, we are promised permanent ownership of these assets, so where will these assets live?
It’s interesting to watch what’s happening on today’s largest platforms being completely ignored, because these issues will continue to exist and manifest on tomorrow’s platforms.
Blockchain does not solve this problem. Cryptocurrency does not solve this problem. But we have to think about this now, and I really hope the Metaverse Standards Forum will pay attention.
