With PlayStation, Xbox and Oculus Rift bringing gaming and virtual reality closer to mainstream popularity, 2015 looks to be an enormous market for the virtual reality industry as a whole.
In response, Vizor wants to expand their services. Deemed the “YouTube of Virtual Reality,” Vizor allows anyone to create virtual reality videos and host them on their site for others to enjoy. With the drive to expand, they needed an option to crowd fund an initiative to support the development of an integrated authoring virtual reality toolkit.
Instead of following the traditional, mainstream route of using Kickstarter, Vizor wanted to try something different: building VIZR tokens on top of the Dogecoin blockchain utilizing Dogeparty.
“VIZR is a meta-coin built with Dogeparty, which is a port of Counterparty to the Dogecoin blockchain,” Vizor co-founder Wendall Davis told Bitcoinist. “We are also the maintainers of Dogeparty, and made the decision because we needed a fast, inexpensive blockchain that could deal with a large number of transactions. Dogeparty was essentially built for Vizor.”
Using Koinify, Vizor is planning on selling their tokens in their crowdfunding effort. According to Vizor, the VIZR tokens can be used to purchase goods in the Vizor marketplace, such as templates, textures, modules and sound effects. Consumers can also use VIZR tokens to tip creators of virtual reality producers if they choose.
Answering the Harder Questions
Anyone in the cryptocurrency sphere knows coin sales, IPOs and crowdfunding efforts often happen; each coin promising fame and fortune to those that get in early. Most of the time, the coin never succeeds or falls by the wayside quickly.
When asked about why Vizor chose the route of using the crypto as a crowdfunding tool for their platform, rather than promoting it as an investment to “change the entire cryptocurrency landscape,” Wendall responded with the following:
“We think it would be a fool’s errand to try and blatantly pump something with so many uncertainties. Parties interesting in Vizor can judge it on its own merits: Is it believable that the VR industry, at its promising but nascent stage, will blossom into something extraordinary? Does our platform’s premise sound reasonable? Does our team seem like it can execute?”
“Of course, we are taking a risk on this direction because we ourselves believe that there is a great future in VR, and a great future in both the use of unique, application-specific crypto tokens (“appcoins”), and crypto-tokens as a global fundraising tool.”
But why build on the Dogecoin blockchain instead of the bitcoin blockchain? Tools like Counterparty are gaining major traction lately, whereas Dogeparty doesn’t see as much action. Wendall says they wanted a common token that everyone on the platform has ready access to, and bitcoin isn’t widely dispersed. They also wish to distribute a large amount of the token in order to incentivize and reward “high quality activity on our platform.”
Interview Over Virtual Reality and Cryptocurrency
After the harder, cryptocurrency questions had been answered, Wendall was able to talk about virtual reality for a moment.
I’ve never used Vizor before and don’t have a headset to utilize it. Am I restricted to only using the Oculus Rift, or does Vizor have other recommended VR technologies?
“Actually you can use Vizor without any headset at all. Vizor uses WebGL, and displays a 2D rendition of the 3D scene, if you do not have a stereoscopic head mounted display (HMD). We assume that, at least for a while, most users will be experiencing Vizor this way.”
“As for other hardware, we will support anything that browsers support. For example, there have been many discussions online lately about adding WebGL+WebVR support to GearVR. If this happens, Vizor support will be automatic.”
With Sony, Microsoft and Facebook all bringing virtual reality to gaming, what are Vizor’s thoughts on the notion that 2015 will be an enormous year for VR?
“Of course we’re assuming the same thing. However, unlike many other platforms we are taking the completely open approach. Our view is that the Web is where the most interesting, and particularly the most interesting “user generated” VR activity will happen.”
What’s the coolest thing about virtual reality technology?
“In short, the manifest promise of full sensory immersion in a completely synthetic environment. Right now of course, we are vaguely above the Atari 2600 stage of VR, but anyone who tries even the first version of the Oculus Rift — especially paired with a Leap Motion — will immediately understand immensity of what is coming.”
What do you think about crowdfunding virtual reality? Is it something you think is a worthy cause? Let us know in the comment section below!
Photographs courtesy of Wikipedia and Flickr
