The no-code metaverse maker

By
Puneet Badrinath
September 12, 2022
4 min read

Everything we see around us will become immersive and interactive, that’s the future. But the path to this future is extremely expensive, frustrating, and time-taking. Enter Fabrik - the pain killer. TL:DR - Fabrik is a no-code metaverse maker that runs on your web browser with a regular keyboard and mouse. Try it yourself here!

I have tried explaining Fabrik as building digital twins, transitioning work instructions into 3D-first, a self-help tool for consumer durables and complex machines, an immersive training tool, and many more. While all of them are true, it doesn’t feel compelling. It’s not a gut-punch, in-you-face, duh solution. It’s a good-to-have, not a must-have. Until Facebook → Meta. The metaverse is not new, it’s been around for a while. But, we’ve been trying to make it easy for anybody to create one (or many) meta-universes or metaverses.

The Meta company announcement has put the spotlight on Fabrik-like companies that make transition into the new world simple,easy, and quick. But the wrong brand is championing it’s cause. All problems with the metaverse summarised in this photo - wrong cheerleader, wrong timing, and a debatable logo.

“We don’t want to be products in the metaverse.” - every human being.

Why do we distrust Meta or other big tech. with the metaverse?

  • We don’t want to be products in the metaverse.

Every single search or click by users around the world 24/7/365 is contributing data that is used to promote controversy and disinformation (not by intention) that polarises people - and has real-world consequences. Needless to say, the vast majority of the human population is tired of this, and they fear this perversion of the metaverse.

I’m no big tech. hater, I love Google Docs, MacBook's, AWS, and Oculus as much as anybody else. I use these tools everyday, and can’t live without them. Infact, these giants are building the infrastructure for metaverse applications of the future like Fabrik (just like AT&T or FedEx built the infrastructure for Amazon). However, their business model does not fit well with the metaverse. They are built to collect data, centralize it, and keep it shrouded in secrecy with very little accessible to the outside world. And this data is used extensively to train algorithms for polarizing people and popularizing cats. In summary, the more content you consume, the more money they make, and the more extreme your outlook will be. The metaverse will generate 100x more data about each person than currently available, and controlled by a handful of companies.

So, why can’t we limit access to data? Limiting access to data is like pulling the rug from under one’s feet. Big tech. businesses will crash and burn because data is no longer fueling ads, and targeting won’t work, resulting in lost customers & revenue. Data is an inextricable part of their business model, and changing that is impossible. To the credit of FAANG (now MAANG or MANGA) they are trying hard, but no luck. They are creating alternate channels of revenue when this business model is no longer viable (look at Google Cloud Platform/Amazon Web Services, etc.). The solution for the metaverse then is decentralized data (owned by each user) and not championed by MANGAs (historic trust deficit).

The internet talks about technology quite a bit here - specially Web 2.0, why it does not work in the long-run, and why we need Web 3.0? Web 2.0 relied on the goodness of individuals and businesses to respect user data and privacy. User data and privacy is subjective, a line in the sand, open to interpretation, and it failed. Web 3.0 has the checks and balances in place to eliminate subjectivity and return control back into the hands of users.

With this context, let me come back to Fabrik. Meta’s announcement is compelling because it answers two questions:

  • How do individuals, businesses and enterprises transition into the metaverse?
  • And, more importantly, how to move away from users as products?

Fabrik has come a long way from a VR collaborative tool to a metaverse maker. It’s an interesting ride (and still day one, goes without saying), but the focus on making the metaverse accessible has always been at the center of it. On Fabrik, you don’t need any special skills or a heavy-duty computer to create metaverse experiences, it’s a 5-minute job on your browser with a regular laptop. Over the next few years, people will have a choice of creating their metaverse experiences in a walled-garden with restricted access for users who “opt” into the ecosystem, or an open-garden where users access these experiences on their browsers with the level of privacy they are comfortable with. And that will have a huge impact on Fabrik.

I no longer find it hard to explain Fabrik, a metaverse builder that creates a connected world (in its entirety of people, devices, and everything in between). In a day, I can jump between multiple metaverses (or meta-universes):

  • Gymverse - a metaverse for my gym.
  • Workverse - a metaverse for work.
  • Schoolverse - a metaverse for school.
  • Restoverse, Cafeverse, Autoverse, Energyverse, etc.

The metaverse is still in its infancy, and we have a long way to go. It’s a constant challenge to identify ethical business models that work for everybody, and we are happy to create value for customers that is independent of user data/privacy. As I write this, I keep thinking about Ready Player One, Minority Report, or The Matrix - dystopian futures, but I’m confident we will not land there. We will see a lot more of the metaverse, and Fabrik’s role in the metaverse in the next few years, it is exciting and scary at the same time. But it will be a discovery, and I invite you to explore with us.