In June, the virtual platform sandbox will be the location of the first Metaverse Native LGBTQ Pride Parade.The event is the brainchild of the People of Crypto (POC) Lab, a new agency and innovation hub focused on building diversity. In Web3 space..
According to People of Crypto co-founder Simone Berry, users of all shapes, sizes and identities already live within the Metaverse platforms, but the companies that build these platforms and the virtual experiences within them are less so. Not diverse.
Berry and her co-founder Akbar Hamid (a black woman and a gay Islamic man, respectively) met for the first time at an NFT event about five years ago. There, he was one of the few non-white participants. “I was walking around and saying,’No one can see,'” Berry said. “He was there with the client, and I was like this.” I need to talk to you. I just need to meet someone. I met at Starbucks and decided to glue it on a cheese plate and make changes. ”
POC Lab is a collaborative effort between Berry and Hamid, whose first project is to build a “Center of Belonging” sandbox, a center of diversity and inclusiveness that will serve as the starting point for the first Metaverse Pride event. ..
Launched in June, the event aims to bring members of the LGBTQ community interested in cryptocurrencies into the Metaverse and establish The Sandbox as a place to welcome users of all identities. The highlight of the pride space is a giant rainbow-striped statue in the shape of a raised fist, stating that Hamid will eventually turn into a cross-platform NFT. POC Lab also creates interoperable NFT avatars that show different perspectives, such as hijab and wheelchair avatars. The company also wants to partner with LGBTQ advocates such as GLAAD and 15% Pledge. “Of course, there is a giveback element,” Hamid said. “We will also write charities on all smart contracts.”
Companies like POC Labs and Sandboxes Diversity of virtual space Events like Metaverse Pride are in great need to match real-world demographics.At the moment there is a healthy amount Skepticism about the Metaverse Within the community that has reached its limits, especially the LGBTQ community, its members are already Feel defenseless In Web2 spaces such as social media. Skepticism is fair. Both Berry and Hamid were able to provide a laundry list for Web3 projects ranging from misguided racists to blatantly racists.
“was MetaslaveThere was something about; George FloydThere was a project where you could see the scale of dark skin shortage not selling so high, “Berry said. “There is a comment that the reason things don’t sell is because there aren’t many blacks in the space, but that’s not true. We’re a lot, it’s just that we’re spreading.”
Despite this concern, the group’s Web3 experts who have reached their limits feel that the decentralized web has the potential to boost the community through blockchain technology. “These are communities that have been deprived of their rights from the actual banking system,” Hamid said. “So it’s these communities because it doesn’t require a permit to see who is adopting it early.”
“We had a financial system built for men, for men — a small group of wealthy white men — and that system continues to serve that group, and I. We are at a very interesting turning point and there are unauthorized, unreliable technologies that give us the opportunity to create a whole new financial system, “said Lisa Wang, founder of. Bad Bitch Empire, Web3 investment group for women. “Now, the opportunity does not mean that it will naturally be fair, democratized, transparent, and all of this. So far, the same people have flowed in and the same people have this. Because we are using a new system. “
Wang, a former Hall of Fame competitive gym and technology founder and entrepreneur, started Bad Bitch Empire after being disappointed by the shortage of women in the boardrooms of prominent Web2 companies such as Uber and Amazon. .. As Web3 moves from a speculative vision to a full-fledged industry, groups like her and POC Lab are taking more and more steps to enable diverse users to speak in the form of a metaverse from the beginning. ..
While the main purpose of Metaverse Pride events is to inspire individual users, social justice-oriented virtual events allow brands to join these communities in a more authentic and natural way than past attempts at Web2 social. It also creates new opportunities for. media.
“The last two years have been a big awakening. Before that, there was a lot of façade activity,” Hamid said. “In Web3, I think it really happens at a basic level — and so far the reaction has been great.”
