To predict where we’re going, we need to examine where we’ve been. For all the talk of a VR metaverse, the mainstream applications of Web3 have been very 2D. While there’s a handful of whales buying virtual land and importing 3D models into niche VR servers, most Web3 applications have been and continue to be built on top of the platforms that we already spend time on - gaming, music, fashion, and social media. Before Web3, we were already hanging in Discord, playing games, and sharing memes on Twitter. Now we’re doing all of those same things but with NFTs as a backdrop, in the form of play-to-earn games and generative PFPs.

The metaverse isn’t some alien technology waiting to be invented - it is and already has been here, in the form of the internet. Web3 is spreading to the platforms that already have adoption, adding decentralized ownership to the activities we already do. If we want to guess what platform Web3 will spread to next, we should look to existing places that Web3 hasn’t touched, instead of expecting people to jump to a transformative new platform overnight. Until VR becomes vastly more accessible in terms of price and technology, it won’t claim the title of the dominant metaverse platform, or even the next one. Even Zuckerberg is cooling his jets on VR - maybe that’s for the better.

While it’s compelling to paint our future as an interconnected ecosystem of fully-digital worlds, this narrative ignores that our bodies are made of atoms, not bits. The virtual worlds of Ready Player One and The Matrix are awe-inspiring, but in the backdrop of each of these stories lies a dystopian reality where the “real world” is a barely habitable wasteland as people drink from tubes and pee in bottles. This brings us to a core belief we hold at JIO: for “the metaverse” to reach its full potential to improve our lives, Web3 must seamlessly extend and interconnect our digital existences with our physical world.

The metaverse of the future will contain many virtual worlds, but it will also entail a significant layer that extends into the physical world. This physical metaverse layer will enable us to hook real-world events and interactions into our virtual lives similar to how the apps of Uber, Google Maps, and Pokemon Go power Web2 today. We don’t need groundbreaking new tech to make it happen either - smartphones, the same technology that powers offline Web2, are capable of hooking Web3 into many of our daily activities. Meeting up with friends, interacting with retail brands, exploring new places through tourism - these all have the potential to be gamified and integrated into our Web3 existence.

Mobile phones hold a major advantage over PCs. More people have smartphones than computers. This is especially true in developing nations, where billions of new internet users are coming online. Phones are also portable and always with us. This portability enables unprecedented immersion and will allow Web3 creators to transform mundane chores into exciting adventures that have on-chain consequences, thanks to location-driven experiences. A routine trip to the grocery store becomes a thrilling quest for items that can unlock new perks in your digital Web3 life when you get home. By infusing real-life experiences with mobile technology and the blockchain, we can create a world where the metaverse enriches every aspect of our lives.

Many Web3 projects have aspired to merge the physical with the digital, with innovations like PBTs providing early glimpses into the potential of bridging the virtual and real worlds. But we still haven’t explored the full capabilities of today’s technology. In the future, Web2 brands like Adidas will launch exclusive quests, offering special drops and rewards to participants who visit designated locations. The combination of real-world interaction and digital assets will open the door to untapped partnership opportunities, business models, and sustainable revenue streams - things that have evaded many aspiring Web3 projects in the past.

We’re excited to reveal the meaning behind JIO: a phonetic play on “geo”-location and an acronym for “Joyful Interactions Offline”. For the last year and a half, we’ve developed a technological platform to support mobile-driven and location-based Web3 interactions. We aim to experiment and push the boundaries of what’s possible, incorporating Web3 into real-world experiences. We look forward to building unique interactions with our community and forging rich connections that transcend the virtual and spark joy - indoors and out.

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of JIO Journey, a web-based experience that marks the start of a thriving JIO tech ecosystem. JIO Journey will serve as a wallet collection tool, Discord invitation platform, and the primary way for our followers to earn allowlist.

You may have already encountered the mysterious @JIOArtificer on Twitter, who has been graciously granting dedicated JIO followers golden Overdrive tablets. These tablets have been designed by the artificer to locate the mysterious and powerful artifacts scattered across JIO.

After connecting to JIO Journey, the Artificer will provide you with a tablet and guide you through the process of upgrading that tablet to discover your own rare artifact.

When using the JIO Journey app, you will be prompted to connect your Twitter, crypto wallet, and Discord accounts. It is crucial to connect the specific accounts you wish to use, as changes cannot be made once the accounts are synced. The wallet you connect will be added to the final allowlists before mint, and the connected Discord account will determine your role within our Discord server.

Once your accounts are connected, you will gain access to a set of activities that will earn you points when you complete them. The activities range from engaging on Twitter to referring friends to the project. Your point total will play a crucial role in advancing through JIO Journey and securing your allowlist.

Please ensure that you connect the correct accounts and actively participate in the provided activities to enhance your chances of recognition and promotion within our community. We have three distinct roles that can be earned, each of which corresponds to a unique tablet state:

Loaded

Loaded is the first tier that can be earned via JIO Journey, and signifies users who are on our waitlist. These followers will have early access to Discord and are well on their way to acquiring the Locked (whitelist) role. Users with the Loaded role will be prioritized when we promote users to the Locked role. Loaded followers will have their own mint phase - on a first-come, first-served basis.

Locked

The Locked role represents our whitelist participants who are guaranteed a mint spot during our mint phase. Followers who receive a Locked spot have been reviewed and hand selected by our team on the basis of their activity and other outstanding factors.

Overdrive

This role is exclusively reserved for our most dedicated followers who consistently contribute the highest value to our community. This can be demonstrated through various means such as creating high-quality threads, sharing fan art, and providing unwavering support. The selection process for Overdrive members is meticulous and conducted by our team. As a token of appreciation, these users will be entitled to a free mint.

Overdrive members can still earn our Locked role if they have not already and secure a mint spot, and Locked members can also earn Overdrive for outstanding contributions.

Conclusion

We’re so excited for many of you to begin your JIO Journey. We believe these roles will help streamline the process and create a rewarding experience for our valued community members. Stay tuned for further updates on details of our collection, our supply, and our mint process!

Today, fun is the fuel that drives the most successful internet products. The app stores have entire sections dedicated to games, and the next-most popular categories are social media and dating apps, which are so heavily gamified that they're essentially games too. As a successor to the internet, Web3 will be defined by fun even more so than its predecessor, and those projects who harness this potential will lead the space.

While many were drawn to Web3 for the chance at a quick buck, everyone who joined the party was exposed to a playful alternative way of life. Where else can you solve riddles while collecting incredible art, flex your interests in investing and technology, and plug into a diverse and global community? Now that the crypto bubble has burst, those who remain in Web3 are here because they can't go back to the way things were. They've seen the vast and unexplored potential for fun within the space and want to bring that better future into reality. At JIO, we believe the most successful Web3 brands will be the ones who tirelessly push the "fun envelope” and prove to their holders that Web3 can be more engaging than anything Web2 can offer.

Dynamic Collectibles. Where We’ve Been.

I still remember the thrill of buying my first NFT - buying digital collectibles is like opening presents on Christmas day. But there’s still so much room to improve this core experience. Many projects have already dipped their toes into improving the fun factor of buying and holding their NFTs. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of some innovations that have been popular in the space so far:

• Breeding mechanisms where your collectibles can interact to spawn unique combinations (Cryptokitties, Axie Infinity, among others)

• Mutation serums and tokens which can be applied/burned to mutate your original art (RTFKT CryptoKicks, Bored Ape Mutants, among others)

• Multi-stage reveal processes that allow users to play with the game theory and economics of holding or selling their pieces (Renga among others)

• Staking and loot boxes that reward users for holding their collectibles (Nanopass among others)

• Re-rolling mechanisms that give users opportunities to have more control over their collectible (Valhalla among others)

All of these mechanisms make digital collectibles more “dynamic”. Recently, the space has begun to see further moves toward gamification, and that pace is rapidly accelerating. As established game studios like Epic Games (Fortnite) and Nexon (Maplestory) make their entry, Web3 projects will face intense pressure to innovate and make their collectibles more fun and dynamic. Luckily, Web3 is on the brink of innovations that finally bring on-chain functionality to parity with what’s possible in Web2 games. The result will be a Cambrian explosion of creativity where projects will be limited only by the depth of their imaginations and engineering talent.

The Future of Dynamic Collectibles

To get a glimpse of where things are headed, think of how most RPGs work: players collect items through quests and social actions like trade or combat with other players. Players can "equip" these items to their characters in a way that provides aesthetic value but also empowers their character with buffs or abilities that affect core gameplay. These items can be upgraded, scrapped for parts, or crafted into new forms. Generative PFP projects and digital collectibles will soon be just as dynamic as these RPGs.

The first innovation that will pave the way for this next phase will be the emergence of individually collectible and modular traits. Instead of NFTs with immutable metadata, we’ll have dynamic NFTs that hold traits and modifications as separate on-chain collectibles. This world is here today with innovations like ERC-6551 launching in the next few weeks, giving every NFT its own wallet. This will allow all NFTs to hold items and traits in a more customizable and fluid form than a single, hard-to-update metadata file. Many projects are already gearing up to implement this experience, with Stapleverse SAPIENZ, Doodles 2, and more leading the charge. In the coming months, dynamic traits will become table stakes for this new era of utility and customizability.

In a world with individually collectible traits and items, what new and interesting experiences will come to the forefront? These new forms of functionality fall into two categories: Conditions and Behaviors. If you want a quick way to understand these terms, think of the sentence: “If (Condition), then “(Behavior)”.

1. Conditions are the name we give actions or events that can lead to things happening on-chain. In World of Warcraft, a condition could be reaching Level 60, meeting or fighting with a particular NPC, or visiting a certain destination. Some real-life conditions could be meeting with a friend who owns a Bored Ape, purchasing an NFT, staking an NFT for a certain amount of time, or traveling to a real-world location.

2. Behaviors. Behaviors are on-chain logic that can be coupled with a condition. This is the interesting stuff that happens after you do something. Imagine things like a trait’s metadata updating to increase its rarity, getting airdropped a new trait, unlocking the privilege to mint a limited-edition trait, or even an existing trait being burned.

The exciting part is that conditions and behaviors can be combined and chained together to create incredible interactions. Here are some hypothetical use cases the space could see in the future:

Real World and Geolocation

• If a player is physically located in Japan, they can earn the right to mint a limited edition Japanese katana trait.

• If a player is next to an ocean, they can mint a rare water-based trait, or their base NFT can unlock a water-elemental skin.

Social

• If a player holding an Azuki physically meets a player holding a CloneX, then both are airdropped a limited edition collaborative art piece or trait.

• If more than X members of a community are colocated or work together online, they each earn the ability to re-roll a trait into a higher rarity tier.

Upgradeability

• Projects can continuously develop trait “packs” that expand or rework the artwork of the base collection in exciting ways, and share those packs through a variety of means.

DAOs

• If the project has a DAO, the DAO can make decisions that impact the rarity of certain traits, or the DAO could affect the base appearance and functionality of the existing traits within the collection.

Financial

• If a wallet has more than 1ETH in it, that player earns the ability to paint a single trait and turn it “Gold”.

• If the floor price of a project goes above 0.25 ETH, then all holders’ NFTs receive a special new trait variation.

These hypothetical examples illustrate just a fraction of what’s possible in the future of dynamic collectibles.

Conclusion. Where is JIO Heading?

As engineers, these boundless possibilities are what inspired us to create JIO and our JIO mobile app experience. We want to contribute to the frontier of new experiences that will shape opportunities for fun and joy for digital collectors worldwide. In our next post, we’ll share more about the specific direction of our mobile app and how it will expand the creative horizons of our brand.