Introducing NEAR Hub: The NEAR Community Metaverse
NEAR Hub is a community-driven initiative that aims to build the first metaverse for the NEAR community. It has recently received funding from the Human Guild, the NEAR guild dedicated to supporting the next generation of Web3 games built on NEAR. In the next few months, NEAR Hub will build the first portal to the NEARverse that will allow users to experience the NEAR ecosystem in an engaging and meaningful way while retaining full ownership of their data.
NEAR Hub’s Mission and Vision
NEAR Hub’s vision is to create a metaverse for the NEAR community where people can interact with each other, work, and build relationships in a disintermediated and privacy-respecting environment. It positions itself as the first starting contact for newcomers to discover the NEAR ecosystem but also as the playground for NEAR’s dApps, a place where work mixes with friendship and creativity is unleashed.
NEAR Hub will provide an immersive virtual experience into the NEAR ecosystem. Users will be able to hang out, build networks, discover new projects, and express themselves in a creative and fun way. On NEAR Hub, dApps will literally come to life and be experienced by users in a very engaging way. Inside NEAR Hub’s rooms, which are fully customized spaces for dApps, everybody will be able to come together for events, meetings, parties, and more. NEAR Hub will also serve a wide variety of other spaces such as malls, office spaces, NFT exhibitions, and more, offering something for everyone in the ecosystem.
In short, the metaverse that NEAR Hub wants to create is a metaverse where the NEAR ecosystem can tangibly be experienced by the community, acting as a unifying and uplifting force.
NEAR Hub’s Core User Experience
NEAR Hub will allow users to benefit from a wide variety of features that will bring their metaverse experience to the next level. Below is a non exhaustive overview of the features that are being brought to fruition:
1. Immersive and customisable 3D virtual meeting spaces
On NEAR Hub 3D virtual rooms are fully customisable. Objects, art, and furniture can all be added to the space, and entire themed settings can be created. Users will also be able to have a full immersive experience thanks to the spatial directional audio that mimics the real world and other functionalities that allow them to perform a variety of tasks: from creating art with the pen function to capturing selfies and memories with an in-world camera. Users can also use their VR headsets and gloves to maximise their metaverse experience.
2. Login to NEAR Hub on Mobile & Desktop with NEAR Wallet
NEAR Hub offers users the option to interact with the metaverse through their mobile phones and to access the space by easily connecting with their NEAR wallet login.
3. Comprehensive NFT integration
NEAR Hub is developing a seamless NFT minting, shopping, and trading mechanism in the metaverse and will soon bring to the space a native NFT marketplace. In addition to creating a virtual mall with everything NEAR and beyond, NEAR Hub will integrate gated NFTs that act like tickets for stand-up comedy, music shows, and other events.
4. Wide Variety of Avatar Options
On NEAR Hub everybody will have access to the base model of HRMS-v001, but it will also provide the possibility of getting a special Generative NFT Avatar from its collection or to create a fully personal NFT avatar with their new Avatar Creator currently in development.
NEAR Hub is working closely with NEAR ecosystem projects to identify new functionalities that enhance user experience. As it strives to innovate and revolutionise user experience, it will seek to enable new styles of self expression that allow for more creativity while using the web.
How can I get started?
Currently, anyone can register with a NEAR testnet wallet and explore the NEAR Hub metaverse. Users can create a custom avatar character and explore the various featured NEAR Hub rooms, including: Cheddar Farm, AstroDAO Spaceship, Paras Anniversary Gallery, and the DragoNEAR Beach. In the coming months, four additional rooms will soon be created for the MarmaJ Birthday Party, OFP Forest, a NEAR Hub nightclub and CronCat Corner where some interesting features for DAO’s will be tested for the 1st time. By the end of the year NEAR Hub will complete its NFT marketplace, upgrade the communication system, and implement 360° video VR experiences.
2022 Roadmap
Q1: NEAR Hub will bring to fruition a Human Guild Arcade, add world game mechanics, create token gated rooms, peer to peer token transfers and in World DAO voting.
Q2: Further UI improvements, avatar upgrades, deploy Beta node on IPFS and NEAR Hub auctions.
Q3: IDO launch, deploy Alpha node on IPFS, launch a NEAR Hub community loyalty program and bring to fruition the NEAR Hub Mega Park.
Q4: Public token launch and inaugurate community mining nodes to support the network.
Be sure to check out the NEAR Hub at https://nearhub.online/.
LaDevochka is a writer for 4NTS Guild. You can check out their Medium for more content or follow them on Twitter.
