Metaverse pioneer and movie VFX team unite for blockchain project

Wētā Workshop is known for its special effects work on movies like The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

The blockchain protocol launched by New York Times best-selling author Neal Stephenson, who conceived the term “metaverse” in a 1992 novel, has collaborated with a special effects firm known for their work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy on blockchain-based endeavor. 

In an announcement sent to Cointelegraph, Stephenson’s Lamina1 protocol said it is launching a worldbuilding project with Wētā Workshop, a special effects and video game development company based in New Zealand. 

Wētā Workshop is known for its work on producing sets, costumes, armor, weapons and creatures for hit films The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. 

Blueprint for intellectual property expansion

According to the announcement, the experience will be called “Artefact.” It will create a framework for intellectual property (IP) development and participatory worldbuilding with Stephenson. The project will introduce a blueprint for IP expansion using experiences incorporating fan inputs. 

Stephenson and the Wētā team will engage with community creators through the blockchain protocol Lamina1 and invite them to unravel the lore behind a set of “Artefacts.” This will build upon themes and lore from Stephenson’s work as an author. 

Stephenson asserted that the project will be more than a world but an infrastructure that allows the building of worlds. He said:

“This is more than just a new virtual world — it’s a new way to build worlds. It’s a promising new way of looking at what we can offer to both creators and their communities.”

The author added that collaborating with Wētā Workshop will create “a new path” in digital worldbuilding. The executive said that Lamina1’s creator economy and open metaverse will provide a foundation for long-term value. 

The announcement also added that the upcoming project will serve as a flagship project of Lamina1 to showcase a major multimedia launch on the platform’s blockchain infrastructure. 

Steering into immersive spaces

Lamina1 CEO Rebecca Barkin shared their definition of the metaverse within the project. Barkin explained: 

“The metaverse refers to an always-on, virtual environment where people gather and participate in both non-linear and linear stories, games, and experiences. It does not require a headset, and our experience won’t yet either.”

Meanwhile, the executive told Cointelegraph that worldbuilding in the project’s context involves creating an expansive imaginary world with lore, history, environment and characters. Barkin said that they are creating “narrative scaffolding” and engaging with their audience with interactive elements. 

Barkin also explained that their team is advocating for the open metaverse. “As the boundaries between physical and digital worlds dissolve and we traverse persistent, connected platforms fluidly, we need to better advocate for protecting humans, their data, and their output,” Barkin said. 

Unlike centralized metaverses, advocates of the open metaverse push transparency, inclusiveness, decentralization and democratization into their virtual worlds.

Related: Neal Stephenson’s blockchain project holds discovery month as metaverse hype wanes

Metaverse happening in a “different” way

In a previous Cointelegraph interview, Stephenson said that the metaverse is happening differently from how he imagined it in his 1992 novel Snow Crash. While his idea of the metaverse’s potential didn’t change, new technologies allow a different type of execution than his initial thoughts. 

The author believes that technological building blocks like affordable and high-quality three-dimensional graphics allow a different type of metaverse than he thought. 

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