By Faith Mudoga,
Chinese social networking app Soul launched a program called NAWA that helps users to create their own 3D images, or avatars.
Appearing in avatars means privacy of users can be protected while ensuring that their appearances are not judged. Users can feel at ease to express their real emotions, something closer to their souls.
Soul officials say technology is the bedrock of the metaverse and investment are needed in a sustainable manner for a long period of time.
The metaverse is a simulated digital environment that combines augmented reality, virtual reality, block chain, and social media concepts to create areas for rich user interaction that mirror the real world. If you have watched Ready Player One, then you have an idea of what the metaverse is.
A Chinese social networking app which is known as Soul has just apparently come up with a program called NAWA. The program enables users to come up with their own 3D images and avatars. The program also allows users to design those avatars according to their liking and preferences.
Tom Ming who is the Source chief technology officer at Soul explained that NAWA helps users to be able to express their authentic personalities and to also be able to draw inspirations from each other’s creativity hence expanding their minds and imagination.
“NAWA engine is our most important project in a long time after a long run of our RND team. It’s a big step for Soul to move towards their networks. When users dive into the Soul realm they can craft their own avatars to shape a new internet personnel and this is what we want to continuously enhance from the perspective of technology.” Explained Tom Ming.
The use of avatars allows users’ privacy to be maintained while also ensuring that their appearances are not judged and criticized. Users will definitely feel at ease to express their real emotions something that is closer to their souls.
Many users have joined avatar parties with strangers just to enjoy engaging conversations that are difficult to have in real life. Also to do fun activities and games that they do not get to do or pursue in real life.
For the first time in the social networking industry, Soul chose to construct a social metaverse. That was earlier last year just before Facebook changed its name to Meta in November. Officials from the Soul claim that technology is the metaverse’s bedrock, and that long-term investments are required.
“This mission is to build a Soul metaverse for the young generation.
Users can experience emotional social scenarios and cross paths with like-minded people based on their own interests, graphics and recommendations with personalized avatars.” Said Tom Ming.
Soul says NAWA refers to ‘Nuwa’ a goddess in Chinese mythology who created human beings. Tom Ming says the NAWA program is the foundation for Soul to jointly create a metaverse with users.
The social network company plans to launch more user tools in the future to build other scenarios such as different environments for metaverse. Though it’s the early stages of metaverse, it should be the users who ultimately decide what they want and how the virtual realm should look like.
