In the Economy 3.0, metaverses will create jobs for millions

Job creation is traditionally engineered by politicians desperate to get the country back to work and to be seen as stimulating the economy. From the job creation programs of the Great Depression to United States President Barack Obama’s American Jobs Act, employment schemes have a long, checkered history. Today, fostering meaningful employment for the masses remains as popular as ever with policymakers, and yet, the next great job creation scheme is unlikely to be issued as a top-down order.

Rather, it will emanate from a realm that most politicians have little dominion over and few powers to control: the Metaverse. That virtual world running parallel to our physical one is not constrained by national borders, nor is it the fiefdom of social media companies cynically commandeering its name.

The Metaverse comprises an interconnected series of virtual worlds in which humankind can recreate, interact and transact. As avatars, its users are free to flit between games, meeting spaces and markets, reenacting many of the tasks once constrained to meatspace.

The greatest promise the Metaverse holds, however, is not the ability for humans to don lurid skins and twerk as one in virtual concert halls. Rather, it is for these same people to obtain meaningful employment in worlds, realms and spaces across the Metaverse that will form the beating heart of Web3.

Related: Demystifying the business imperatives of the Metaverse

Making bank in the Metaverse

Given the amorphous nature of the Metaverse, it can be hard to envisage what a virtual world in which millions clock in and out to earn their crust might resemble. As it happens, though, there is already work being performed in fledgling metaverses the (virtual) world over.

In the play-to-earn — or “GameFi” — sector, virtual pets roam freely, with their human owners petting, dressing and training them. But it’s not just about recreation: With their respective metaverses, players can collect tokens and other in-game assets…