LG Uplus announced on the 4th that it will launch 'UVERSE,' the only dedicated metaverse platform in Korea specialized for university campuses.
UVERSE is a compound word combining 'you,' meaning the customer, and the suffix '-verse' from metaverse, conveying the meaning of "a metaverse for customers, customized for customers, and belonging to Uplus." To develop UVERSE, LG Uplus collaborated since last year with Megazone, Korea's No.1 cloud managed service provider (MSP), and Gala Lab, a global game developer.
UVERSE was launched as a cloud-based Metaverse as a Service (MaaS) that significantly reduces the burden of construction costs. Unlike existing B2C metaverse services that provide only standardized maps and standard spaces, UVERSE features dedicated spaces specialized for each school and essential academic functions in a virtual space mirroring reality.
UVERSE is characterized by ▲convenience of access through a dedicated website without the need for a separate app installation ▲usability with specialized functions essential for universities such as attending classes and special lectures, admission and employment counseling, and library services ▲continuity, allowing use throughout the year from pre-admission to post-graduation activities covering curricular and extracurricular schedules ▲security, permitting access only to authenticated students and faculty members.
In UVERSE, users can fully enjoy campus life with features such as lectures, counseling, social activities (chatting and friend management), 'Study With Me,' promotion (videos and banners), campus tours, festivals and events, and 'My Room' (avatar and space decoration).
The flagship feature, 'UVERSE Auditorium,' can accommodate over 1,000 people simultaneously, making it suitable for large lectures and various on-campus events, and allows voting among participants. Additionally, presenters and participants can engage in two-way communication through Q&A sessions.
Students can receive psychological counseling about admission, employment, and campus life using avatars in the 'UVERSE Counseling Room,' and enjoy various social activities such as one-on-one, group, or entire space chats, video chats, and follower/following management.
'Study With Me' reflects trends among the Gen Z generation, allowing users to broadcast real-time study sessions via a video platform and study together with others. Using this feature, friends can study together while measuring goal achievement rates or checking weekly and monthly study time statistics to motivate learning.
UVERSE offers two ways to implement campuses. Users can choose a university standard map and use the platform with only the basic platform fee, or decorate the campus as a 'Mirror World' by implementing major university buildings with 3D modeling, reflecting the unique characteristics of each university.
Going forward, LG Uplus plans to enhance UVERSE as a community platform connecting students with students, universities with universities, and universities with local communities. The company also intends to expand the platform’s functions by including small businesses, local communities, and companies around campuses as collaborators in UVERSE, creating new revenue models.
Seunghoon Jeon, Executive Director of Smart Infrastructure Business at LG Uplus, stated, "UVERSE is a metaverse platform created exclusively for universities by gathering the voices of university customers." He added, "We hope that all universities in Korea can have dedicated metaverse campuses without a large financial burden and that UVERSE becomes a metaverse platform frequently visited by university students. We will also build an ecosystem connecting universities and companies for information sharing and talent recruitment in the future."
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