HEADLINER
YOUNG RUFFIANS
BECAUSETHEYDON ’TMAKE ’EMLIKETHEYUSEDTO
These upgraded American classics could be from a video game, in fact, they’re from the mind of someone who creates them...
WORDS ROWAN HORNCASTLE
PHOTOGRAPHY MARK RICCIONI
The metaverse. It’s a term that’s currently perched precariously on the tip of the tongue of anyone in tech. And it’s the future, apparently. One where we’ll live in the internet going about our daily lives – doing day to day things – in augmented reality, rather than reality reality.
Sounds like a scary Black Mirror episode, right? One that’ll never happen. But, believe it or not, it’s already here.
Last year, people in the Philippines were ditching their day jobs in the real world to take up jobs on Axie Infinity (an online, blockchain-based game where players can earn tokens and cash out in local currency), as they could make more money trading digital pets or becoming dragon blacksmiths/unicorn barbers than a traditional job in the actual universe.
But the human mind, body and soul crave physicality and creativity, something to tickle the left side of our brains while using the limby tools attached to our bodies. And no one knows this more than Chris Ashton, the co-founder/design director of Turtle Rock Studios.