Will the Metaverse Ever Evolve Beyond Cartoon Avatars?

Everyone who has ever played a metaverse game or participated in a metaverse project knows that graphics can be a bit lacking. They often feel very cartoonish, on par with very old games, and certainly nowhere near the quality of today’s blockbuster video games with hyper-realistic visuals.

Some people have seen the metaverse as something incredible, a futuristic project set to transform how we use the internet. The graphics of most metaverses we’ve seen so far have been underwhelming. But is this really a problem? Does it pull you out of the immersive experience?

Let’s take a closer look at where the metaverse stands and what we could see soon.

Why Are the Graphics Bad in Metaverse Games?

For everyone looking down on the graphics quality in metaverse games, it’s worth noting why that’s the case. The most important thing to state is that there’s a good reason why the quality is underwhelming. Well, actually, there are several reasons.

Every Metaverse Has to Load in Real Time

Regular video games can rely on excellent graphics as the game has time to load. Whenever you start the game — it loads whenever you start a new level or when you enter a new area.

This is possible as the game is permanently installed on your computer or console, and Metaverse projects don’t have that luxury as they have to load in real-time. This means that everything that happens in the game must go through your internet connection and then be processed by the hardware.

It happens all the time, so it’s not possible for modern graphics cards to successfully carry that load, and they can only achieve that with low-quality visuals. 

Every Metaverse Has to Incorporate Blockchain Technology

Most metaverse projects today incorporate various blockchains and cryptocurrencies, and they have to interact with specific blockchains and allow the integration of various wallets. 

Some games have their own cryptocurrencies and wallets, but this, too, is an integration that has to work in real-time. 

What’s more, as one of the main concepts of metaverse projects is the pay-to-earn idea, it’s only natural for blockchain and crypto integration to take precedence over other processes and visuals. With the current technological capabilities, it’s the only way for the play-to-earn concept to run smoothly.

Every VR Metaverse Has to Have Bad Graphics

When it comes to metaverses incorporating Virtual Reality headsets, bad graphics are necessary. The reason is simple — they need bad graphics to stave off motion sickness.

That’s because lags and similar issues in VR can cause motion sickness, so metaverses have to ensure these are next to non-existent. And the only way to do that is to keep the visual quality lower, so the headset has fewer processes to run.

A similar thing is true for augmented reality and mixed reality. There’s simply too much activity for the technology to ensure smoothness while playing.

Can a Game With Cartoonish Avatars Still Be Enjoyable?

However, even though poor graphics are inherent to the industry, that doesn’t mean they can’t be enjoyable. As long as the metaverse offers unique and exciting concepts like no other, you will be hard-pressed to find low-quality graphics a bad thing.

A good example is Fashion League, which might look like many other metaverse projects at first glance, but it has much more to offer once you give it a chance. The avatars and objects in the game might look cartoonish, but the quality is still outstanding for that level, while the design itself is unique.

Moreover, it offers various play-to-earn opportunities and has a fashion focus that allows people to become virtual 3D designers who can create, sell, trade, and rent products.

Examples like that can make even a cartoonish design enjoyable and give players a chance to enjoy a unique metaverse environment that doesn’t have to rely on good graphics. 

When Will We Get Better Graphics?

With the technology we currently have, bad graphics are almost necessary. Naturally, some projects have tried to get past that instead of embracing it and offering something unique like Fashion League.

Second Life is an excellent example of a project that tried to focus on better graphics but ended up offering lags and slow load times as an inherent part of the experience. And the graphics there aren’t even that good — they are just better than most games on the web. The game simply wanted to look revolutionary regarding the overall graphics but ended up biting more than it could chew.

However, that doesn’t mean we are not moving toward a future where the graphics in metaverses are genuinely astonishing. Many metaverse projects are bringing us closer to that future by using various ingenious ideas and focusing on specific things like objects and interactions.

A good example is Looking Glass Labs, a Web3 platform that works hard to offer a more immersive metaverse environment. It strives to incorporate high-quality 3D assets that can exist over various NFT blockchain environments, and their visual quality will only improve over time. The company even has a first-of-its-kind NFT-powered live-action film and comic series, GenZeroes, which recently announced a special NFT airdrop.

Projects like Looking Glass will continue to work hard to transform the metaverse into an irresistible environment for broad audiences.

Its technology will only continue to improve, and we’ll likely see better graphics in a few years. In a decade or so, we’ll likely even reach a future where games like the one in Ready Player One are a reality. We just have to be patient and enjoy quality metaverse projects with much more going for them than mere quality graphics.