WebMe #TechVision Consider Nike, which launched a virtual world Though today’s solutions may sometimes 41 called NIKELAND on Roblox in late 2021. seem too futuristic, niche, or disjointed, they NIKELAND has buildings and fields inspired by are broader signals indicating the next digital the company’s real-world headquarters, arenas revolution is beginning to appear on the horizon. where visitors can play games, and a digital Eventually, the entire online footprint that showroom where they can outfit their avatars companies have been endeavoring to build with Nike products. And the full experience over the last decade will need to be reimagined crosses into the physical world too – by using to be compatible with this new evolution: the accelerometers on their phones, visitors can from what services are sold and what data is translate activity in the physical world into longer accessible to how advertising is conducted, jumps or faster running speeds in NIKELAND and content is generated. games. As another example, Bayer’s Crop Science group partnered with BlockApps to build TraceHarvest, an agricultural blockchain platform used to track produce from the moment it is planted as a seed, all the way 42 through the value chain. And many retailers have announced plans to seamlessly accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies – which may not be the most convenient payment methods in the physical world today, but will be valuable experiments should these companies begin transacting in the metaverse. Introduction // WebMe // Programmable World // The Unreal // Computing the Impossible 27