UPDATED! Creator Jam’s Metaverse Maker Competition Runs Feb. 1st to March 1st, 2022, in NeosVR, with US$300,000 in Neos Credits as Prizes!

The insanely talented Creator Jam community in the innovative social VR platform NeosVR is once again hosting a competition for content creators, with prizes in 13 different categories consisting of Neos Credits (NCR), NeosVR’s cryptocurrency (at press time, 1 NCR = 3.88 USD, but at times in the recent past, cryptocurrency speculators have driven NCR to reach the dizzying heights of 10 USD each!).

The Metaverse Maker Competition (MMC) is a month long competition in NeosVR where participants make a world, avatar, or other type of creation to win a prize. In past MMC competitions there were creations ranging from avatar creators, social worlds, games, NPCs, generative art, custom tools, and much more. Entry is free, and anyone can participate, either as individuals or groups (if you are looking for a group to join, here’s a shared spreadsheet of opportunities).

Here’s a summary of the MMC prize categories (source; please also read the official contest rules):

Prizes

• 50,000+ NCR (~$150,000) Total
• Official Badges (supported by Neos)
• Digital Trophies

Prize is in the form of NCR (Neos Credits cryptocurrency, not USD). More info can be found here.

Prizes are split by category and placement (winner and honorable mention).

13 Total Categories:

• World: Social (Individual/Team with 5 or fewer members)  – environments focused on social gatherings and groups

•World: Social (Team with 6 or more members)  – environments focused on social gatherings and groups

• World: Game (Individual/Team with 5 or fewer members) – worlds that are games

• World: Game (Team with 6 or more members)  – worlds that are games

• World: Misc – any world that doesn’t fit into the Art, Educational/Science/Dataviz, Meme category or Social, Game subcategory

• Avatar: Avatars – if the avatar is equippable, it counts

• Avatar: Accessories – any wearable item for use with avatars such as equibbables, clothes, user interfaces, etc…

• Avatar: Misc – anything avatar related that doesn’t fit into Avatars or Accessories subcategory such as avatar creators, avatar animation systems, etc…

• Other: Tools, Apps. and Utilities (TAU)  – objects that create additional functionality such as tools, apps, and utilities.

• Other: Misc – any object that doesn’t fit into the Art, Educational/Science/Dataviz, Meme category or TAU subcategory such as weapons, code, special effects, etc…

• Art – entries with the primary focus only on art

• Education/Science/Dataviz (ESD) – any works that focus on educational, tutorial, scientific aspects, and or data visualization.

• Meme – humor and parody category. Works will be a form of parody and comedic use so any asset is acceptable.

Here’s the online registration form for the Metaverse Maker Competition, if you’re interested and you want to enter.

(By the way, the Creator Jam is still looking for prize sponsors; here’s the sponsor guide in English, Japanese, and Korean. One kind soul recently donated 30,000 NCR to sweeten the prize pot, the equivalent of US$90,000!)

If you want to learn more about NeosVR, you can visit their website or their wiki, check out their Steam page, join their Discord server, or follow them on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. (The Creator Jam community has their own separate Discord server, which you can join as well). And, of course, you can always choose to support the project through their Patreon page (as I do).

UPDATE 9:16 p.m.: I have been informed that the MCC prize pool has now increased to over 70,000 NCR (approximately US$210,000 at current exchange rates), thanks to another sizeable donation by someone who wishes to remain anonymous. I have therefore updated the title of this blogpost accordingly.

UPDATE Jan. 19th, 2022: The Creator Jam announced on Twitter that NeosVR has added 30,000 NCR to the Metaverse Maker Competition prize pot, bringing it to 100,000 NCR (equivalent to US$300,00!):

I have updated the title of this blogpost accordingly.

Electronic Musician Jean-Michel Jarre Performs in VRChat January 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, 2022: Get Your FREE Tickets NOW!

Image source: the biography page on Jean-Michel jarre’s website

Just a quick heads up: French electronic music superstar Jean-Michel Jarre will be performing once again in VRChat! Here are teh details:

Jean-Michel Jarre, VRrOOm, and VRChat are happy to invite you to the live preview of Jean-Michel Jarre’s latest opus “Oxymore”, an immersive concert which will be simultaneously played at the Hyper Weekend Festival’s first edition @Maison de la Radio in Paris in multicanal format, and on VRChat in 6DoF binaural format, in an effort to bridge the gap between the real and virtual worlds.

Jean-Michel Jarre’s Oxymore will be broadcast live on VRChat in Oxyville, XR capital of music and sound, designed by Russian artist Pavel Pavlyukov and produced by VRrOOm.

In both the virtual and physical worlds, the 50 minutes exclusive concert will be played on Jan 21 at 9:30pm and 11:30pm, Jan 22 at 9:30pm CET and 11:30pm CET, and Jan 23 at 9:30pm CET. In order to exactly match the real-world concert restricted conditions, each concert session will be limited to 200 people max.

The Quest-compatible VR concert experience is free to access on VRChat! Book your tickets now, on a first come firsrt serve basis; make sure you will be able to attend when you book your ticket, as the places are limited! Thanks a lot and we are happy to welcome you to this new, groundbreaking music experience in social VR.

Tickets are available for free, but they are limited, so if you are interested, get them now!

FIVARS: The Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories Runs February 21st to 28th, 2022

Established in 2015, FIVARS (short for the Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories) is a Canadian festival focused on curating the best immersive story-driven VR/AR/MR/XR content from around the world, with the aim of exploring and nurturing this platform for new narrative forms. Their website states:

As with the modern cinema experience, through Virtual Reality, we can explore truth, happiness, sadness, and the science fiction that will be tomorrow’s science fact. 

The difference is that, unlike modern cinema where you explore these worlds through a window, with Virtual Reality you can now transport into the center of the action, standing inside of the world you wish to explore. Just like real life, if you try to look away from what is in front of you, you will now see what is behind, below, above, to the right or left of you. 

The real-time response of your head’s movement creates a powerful sense of physical immersion that allows you or your intended audience to connect to the content on a deeper, more visceral level.

FIVARS (Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories) openly encourages viewers to enjoy and connect to stories in this newly emergent narrative form, while challenging content creators to showcase ideas that defy and transcend the status quo.

At the festival, there is also an opportunity to share conversations both with our team and other industry members in attendance to discuss how to take part in this snowballing revolution in tech, entertainment, research and information sharing.

The 9th FIVARS festival is a browser-based immersive virtual festival featuring 360 video projects from around the globe online, rwhich runs from February 21st to 28th, 2022, with additional private in-person showcases for interactive content.

  • Immersive festival featuring Virtual Reality, 360 Film and Dome Experiences in browser-based immersive theater–available on desktop, mobile, tablet or in VR headset
  • In-person interactive content (by appointment only in select cities, stay tuned for more information)
  • Talks & Panels with content creators and industry experts from around the world

And it’s not too late for creators to submit entries to the festival! The Late Deadline is January 25th, 2022, and the Extended Deadline is February 15th, 2022. More details are available via the FIVARS website.

Tickets are available to purchase via EventBrite. It promises to be an exciting event!

UPDATED: Cryptoland Just Lost Its Island in Fiji

Cryptoland’s contract to purchase Nananu-i-cake, the Fijian island which was to be its home base for its fantastical crypto paradise, has fallen through, and the island is once again up for sale on the market

You may have been following my recent blogposts about the Cryptoland project (here and here), and so I bring you this breaking news, courtesy of The Guardian newspaper:

Widely mocked plans to establish a tropical haven for cryptocurrency enthusiasts have run into trouble after a contract to buy an island in Fiji for US$12 million fell through.

A group of crypto-evangelists, led by Max Olivier and Helena Lopez, outlined plans for the island, Nananu-i-cake, in a lavishly animated YouTube video, featuring a wide-eyed crypto bro named Christopher landing by helicopter and being given a guided tour by a talking coin called Connie.

The full YouTube clip has been taken down, but cached copies show it touted the island as “an international hub for the community to come live, work and have fun and enjoy a first-class crypto lifestyle”, boasting “a complete ecosystem that represents the blooming crypto space” that was “a paradise made by crypto enthusiasts for crypto enthusiasts”.

Ben Butler of The Guardian goes on to write:

But the project appears to have hit a bigger hurdle than bad publicity. The real estate agent selling Nananu-i-cake, Rick Kermode, of New Zealand firm Bayleys, told Guardian Australia that the contract to sell it to Cryptoland’s backers fell through this week and the island was back on the market.

“We’re telling people that it was under contract during the period of time that they had the contract but it has come back on the market,” he said.

So, it would appear that Cryptoland’s grand plans have come to nought, unless they can somehow find a way to renegotiate the contract. Somehow, given all the negative publicity and ridicule this project has attracted, I don’t think that is going to happen.

I had also heard that they had removed the project’s highly-scrutinized white paper (called a “Why Paper” ) from the Cryptoland website, but I was able to locate it fairly easily, here. Of course, they’re still minting their butt-ugly NFTs, and still trying to sell the project to crypto bros using the face, voice, and quotes from Carlos Matos:

As to why Cryptoland would want to associate Mr. Matos (infamous for his batshit crazy speech promoting the BitConnect ponzi scheme) with their project in any way absolutely mystifies me. I mean, c’mon people, the quote comes from this:

So, it would appear that the strange Cryptoland saga is coming to an end sooner than expected! However, I have no doubt that many equally cringeworthy NFT projects will come along to take its place in 2022.

UPDATE Jan. 16th, 2022: Well, it looks as though I wrote off Cryptoland too easily! Apparently, the team is undeterred by this development. I am not on the official Cryptoland Discord, but someone shared the following screen capture with me:

I know it’s a bit hard to read, so here is a transcription:

Thanks for the list of thoughtful points.

1. Right now the purchase agreement is until December 17th, but we had a conversation with the sellers of the island and they said they would be open to extend it (for a few more months, we need to discuss that still) if things look promising (if we get more investors). The island has been for sale for many years, no one is going to buy it right now, even if the contract expires.

2. If somehow someone were to buy the island, we would find another one (there are some) or we could re-buy it from the new owner maybe. This island is going to be for Cryptoland, we know the market for islands like this is very small, the risks of someone else acquiring before us are very low.

This response seems overly confident, bordering on brash, to me. All this talk about simply switching to another island if Nananu-i-cake is sold to another buyer means (among other things) that the Cryptoland team will have to completely rewrite their white paper proposal, as well as impact the layout and even the number of real estate parcels they can sell. Stop and ponder this incontrovertible fact for a moment: Cryptoland is already selling land on an island they don’t even own yet.

I still believe that this project is never going to come to fruition. Anyway, the Cryptoland saga seems to have a few more chapters left, Stay tuned!