The Shiba Inu team released a trailer for its much-awaited Rocket Pond, a new destination in the protocol’s upcoming metaverse. The video provides a sneak peek at the hub’s design and features, and encapsulate “the feel of a hidden resort in the mountains,” the team says.
Launched on Twitter on June 8, the trailer begins with scenes of a desolate, post-apocalyptic landscape, through which a Shiba Inu dog runs. The barren wasteland quickly transforms into a lush and vibrant green oasis, with plants and trees growing and flowers blooming.
Wildlife appears; people dance and relax on the green grass. A hot air balloon disappears into the twilight. The trailer ends with a view of the Rocket Pond’s clear waters, tucked in between mountain ranges in a somewhat half wilderness mixed with modern touristy elements.
The transformation appears to be symbolic of the Shiba Inu developers’ ambition to create a thriving metaverse community from a cryptocurrency that started as a joke. Rocket Pond is one of the 11 hubs of the project, and its release is seen as a key milestone for Shiba Inu.
#SHIBARMY, welcome to Rocket Pond🚀Trailer and blog are live! https://t.co/aus0UeRATQ pic.twitter.com/HuTYGkG5pU
— Shib – The Metaverse (@mvshib) June 7, 2023
The price of SHIB, the native token of the Shiba Inu ecosystem, rose 0.6% to $0.00000796 after the news. The token has slumped 90% since its all time high of $0.00008616 reached on Oct. 28, 2021, according to CoinGecko data.
What can you do in Rocket Pond metaverse?
SHIB The Metaverse developers have been teasing the release of Rocket Pond for some time now. The official blog post claims “the release of this new world promises to leave an indelible mark on our collective consciousness.”
Rocket Pond immersive experiences are going to “spark conversations, ignite imaginations, and inspire the next generation of dreamers and innovators,” developers say. The hub will allow users to explore, play, and potentially make money from different activities.
In the Rocket Pond virtual world, users will be able to venture into the ruins of an abandoned space area, kayak through rapid waters, enjoy sunsets from hot air balloons, relax at a lake bar, camp in the mountains, and explore a mysterious fog-filled crater.
Along with the launch of Rocket Pond, the Shiba Inu team also announced the launch of a development tool known as “Game Builder.” According to the blog post, the tool comes with a physics engine and allows users to create custom gameplay experiences using 3D models.
“This tool is powerful because it not only allows users to create spaces for leisure and fun but also provides a complete platform for landowners to generate business models or activities that can be monetized,” developers wrote.
In addition, Shiba Inu announced the upcoming reveal of Ryoshi Plaza, a virtual space that is intended to “serve as the beating heart of SHIB -The Metaverse.”
Shib community excitement
Shiba Inu was created to make up for what rival Dogecoin (DOGE) lacked in functionality. Dogecoin started as a joke, just like Shiba Inu, but has since acquired meme status thanks to billionaire Elon Musk’s backing.
SHIB gained the limelight when it sent half of its initial supply of one quadrillion tokens to Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, who sold $1 billion worth of SHIB and gave the proceeds to India’s pandemic relief fund. The ecosystem has continued to grow over the years.
The team launched Shiba Eternity game last October and layer two solution Shibarium debuted in beta in January. Shiba Inu already operates a decentralized exchange allowing users to transact peer-to-peer.
And now SHIB The Metaverse, “a virtual representation of Shiba Token’s collective history.” Developers showcased the Shib WAGMI Temple, its first hub which offers “a zen-like realm with calming sensations,” at Southwest Film and TV festival in Texas, U.S., in March.
Also read: Meta Employees Find Firm’s Metaverse Headsets ‘Glitchy’, Unwieldy
Hubs are epicenters of activity within the SHIB metaverse, offering distinctive experiences rooted in each hubs’s theme, according to Sherri Cuono, metaverse advisor to Shiba Token. Each hub offers special attractions that may only be experienced in that hub, Cuono says.
The Shiba Inu team did not provide details about when Rocket Pond will be released or how users will be able to participate. But the trailer generated excitement within the SHIB community, and many are eagerly awaiting the launch of this new project.
“We have the best Metaverse. Im definitely buying land and I can’t wait for it to be released,” said one user, in response to the Rocket Pond trailer tweet. Several other tweets demonstrated similar enthusiasm.
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