Opening of 'Seoul Children's Grand Park Metapark' on Metaverse Platform Zepeto
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] From now on, Seoul Children's Grand Park can also be experienced in the 3D virtual world metaverse. In the virtual space that realistically recreates the park's major landmarks, visitors can enjoy the four-season garden and admire the city nightscape.
On the 20th, Seoul Facilities Corporation announced the opening of the 'Seoul Children's Grand Park Metapark' on ZEPETO, a global metaverse platform used by 200 million people worldwide. ZEPETO is a metaverse platform service operated by Naver Z. With 80% of its users being teenagers, it is gaining popularity as a metaverse playground for the MZ generation. On ZEPETO, users can create items and maps themselves, upload selfies or photos taken with other avatar friends to SNS, and follow others.
By searching for 'Children's Grand Park' on ZEPETO, users can move to the map. Anyone using ZEPETO can enjoy the Metapark with their avatar and interact with other users. The 'Seoul Children's Grand Park Metapark' consists of six zones: the main gate, the Octagonal Pavilion, the botanical garden, the forest stage, the amusement park (swimming pool), and the Four Seasons Garden.
Entering through the metaverse main gate, which faithfully reproduces the actual main gate of Seoul Children's Grand Park, visitors can see the landmark Octagonal Pavilion at the center. The three-story Octagonal Pavilion exhibits photos showing the historical changes of the park from its opening in the 1970s to the present. On the third floor, there is also a terrace where visitors can enjoy the city night view.
To the right of the Octagonal Pavilion are the botanical garden and the forest stage. The botanical garden is also faithfully recreated to resemble the real botanical garden. Visitors can walk through the exhibition spaces (1st and 2nd floors) and inside the greenhouse to view the four-season garden decorated with various types of trees and flowers. The forest stage can be freely used for avatar performances or group activities.
On the left side of the Octagonal Pavilion is the amusement park, which includes a swimming pool where avatars can enjoy water play. Although there is no swimming pool in the actual Children's Grand Park, this space was specially created for the Metapark. Additionally, photo zones are set up throughout the Metapark where visitors can take certification photos or commemorative photos with friends' avatars.
Seoul Facilities Corporation plans to link various citizen experience programs held at Children's Grand Park with the Metapark so that people can participate online as well. Furthermore, a Metapark opening commemorative event will be held from the 30th to September 30th.
Meanwhile, the 'Children's Grand Park Metapark' is the first project created by the Metaverse TF team composed of MZ generation employees. Following the Metapark, various ideas for integrating the metaverse with places such as the Memorial Park and DDP Fashion Mall are being developed.
Cho Sung-il, Director of Seoul Facilities Corporation, said, “The Children's Grand Park Metapark is the first achievement linking the corporation's projects with the metaverse, and it is meaningful that it was created directly by MZ generation employees familiar with the metaverse. We will continue to discover and provide various content that can be safely enjoyed non-face-to-face in the COVID era.”
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