SK Telecom announced on the 3rd that it has introduced a personal space service called ‘if home’ within its metaverse service ‘ifland,’ allowing users to decorate their own spaces and leave records of their daily lives.
‘If home’ is a personalized 3D space service launched by SKT to enhance social networking activities in the metaverse world. SKT expects that ifland users will have a special metaverse experience by leaving their interests and daily lives in ‘if home,’ which is an evolved form of My ifland, and communicating with friends.
My Own Space ‘if home’ to Create and Decorate According to My Taste
‘If home’ can be created by selecting one terrain and one building each from four terrains and six buildings available in the newly updated ‘ifland,’ resulting in a total of 24 combinations. The terrains include forest, space, beach, and city, while the buildings offered are houses from Santorini, Greece, wooden buildings, Hanok (traditional Korean houses), traditional houses from Spain, cabins, and modern-style buildings.
The interior can be decorated with over 400 various items, including basic items needed for home decoration such as wallpaper, flooring, furniture, and appliances, as well as items like flowerpots and speech balloons that allow users to freely express their personality and taste.
A posting feature is also provided to leave personal interests, experiences, and activities in the form of text, photos, and videos. Posts are exhibited as huge 3D spheres within ‘if home,’ which can be rotated or displayed as framed pictures on the walls. Visitors to ‘if home’ can appreciate the posts and interact by pressing the ‘like’ button or leaving comments. Inviting acquaintances is easy by sharing the unique URL assigned to each personal ‘if home.’
Additionally, play items are provided so users can enjoy the metaverse world alone or with friends. For example, a karaoke item is placed where users can sing themselves and compare scores with friends. Moreover, special items are offered for ‘if home’ spaces verified for companies and celebrities. If users like the costume on a mannequin placed in ‘if home,’ they can apply it directly to their avatars.
In particular, volumetric technology (a technique that uses multiple cameras and sensors to capture and store specific objects in 3D) will provide a new enjoyment of meeting celebrities stored in 3D up close. The first celebrity to be introduced is Lee Sang-hyeok, known as Faker, a player from the global e-sports company T1 Entertainment & Sports, and SKT plans to continuously expand the number of volumetric celebrities.
More Than Double the Available Items Within the Year... Introduction of an Economic System
To enhance the enjoyment of decorating for ‘if home’ users, SKT plans to increase the number of selectable terrains and buildings to up to 20 within the year and expand the decorating items from the current 400 to more than double. They will increase the freedom of decoration functions by allowing users to change item colors or apply patterns, and continuously add play items to keep increasing the fun in if home.
An economic system will also be introduced. SKT plans to apply the economic system to 3D content (such as space decoration and special effects) and functional items (such as karaoke tickets and lecture admission tickets). They are also considering applying the economic system to support hosts conducting specific gatherings or purchasing rare NFT items with collectible value.
Unlike the existing ifland, which is provided in two versions?Korea and global?‘if home’ will be operated without distinction between the Korean and global versions. Users from other countries can also visit Korean users’ ‘if home.’ To accommodate overseas users, SKT has added German to the existing ifland languages of Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional).
‘If home’ can accommodate up to 31 people, and for ifland users who need communication spaces for larger groups, the existing Land has been renamed ‘if square.’ ‘If square’ can accommodate up to 131 people and is a large plaza-scale space, unlike ‘if home,’ which is a small townhouse-scale space. It can be chosen for situations requiring large lectures or events.
‘Special if home’ spaces will also be unveiled for companies or celebrities who want to communicate with fans or customers in the metaverse. In May, T1’s ‘if home’ will open, providing fans with past game videos, photos, schedules, and more. The ‘if home’ for the K-POP fan meeting program ‘K-POP Show’ will also be launched, where fans can enjoy videos and photos of the participating stars and participate in events. Various corporate brand ‘if homes’ will be opened as well, with Seven Eleven planning to open a metaverse store and hold various events.
‘If home’ and ‘if square’ can be accessed by updating the ifland application to the latest version. Upon updating, users will also encounter a redesigned home screen centered on ‘if home.’ They can check friends’ popular feeds and be introduced to real-time popular users whose follower counts have surged within 24 hours, providing opportunities for interaction. For users wondering how to decorate their ‘if home,’ a ‘Today’s if home’ section introduces users who have beautifully decorated their spaces.
Yang Maeng-seok, head of SKT’s Metaverse CO, said, “With the introduction of ‘if home,’ ifland has evolved into My ifland, a new SNS where users can decorate, share, and communicate in their own spaces.” He added, “We will further develop the service by enhancing the functions and content of ‘if home’ and actively introducing the economic system.”
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