This article is part of a series exploring the key themes from the Metaverse Roadmap 2007—a foresight exercise conducted nearly two decades ago by a group of developers, technologists, and futurists from the games industry.
Nearly two decades ago, a group of us from the games industry—developers, technologists, and futurists—came together to explore the trajectory of virtual worlds, digital economies, and intelligent systems. We weren’t just speculating about entertainment; we were mapping out the signals of a technological and societal transformation.
At the time, Second Life, Eve Online, and early MMOs had already demonstrated that:
Digital spaces could be persistent
Economies could be player-driven
Social identity could transcend the physical world
The Metaverse Roadmap wasn’t just about gaming—it was a foresight exercise into how digital technologies would redefine identity, ownership, intelligence, infrastructure, and governance. And while we certainly didn’t get everything right, many of the predictions have become central themes in today’s digital landscape—and in the work Greenstone is doing today.
I’ve decided to revisit the roadmap and examine what I consider the six key themes that emerged—each of which continues to shape the future and represents a foundation for Greenstone’s focus.
This article provides a summary of those pillars, with a separate post exploring each in greater detail.
The roadmap predicted that digital economies inside virtual worlds would evolve beyond walled gardens. Players who had once traded virtual gold in MMOs would eventually demand real control over their digital assets, breaking free from platform-controlled economies. At the time, Bitcoin didn’t yet exist, but the patterns were already clear—digital scarcity, in-game currencies, and player-driven economies were stress-testing concepts that would later define Web3, DeFi, and tokenized ownership.
As blockchain emerged, it became clear that the true innovation wasn’t just in decentralizing money, but in decentralizing property rights—from virtual items to real-world assets (RWA). This shift is now at the heart of new financial models, ownership structures, and digital-native economies, where culture and commerce intersect in ways few could have anticipated. My work today in RWA tokenization, entertainment-based digital assets, and decentralized ownership models is a direct continuation of this transformation.
At the time of the roadmap, AI in games was still largely about NPC behavior, procedural content, and early predictive analytics. But even then, we saw a future where AI would move beyond scripted interactions to become an autonomous force in digital economies and governance.
What started with AI-powered game characters has since evolved into autonomous trading systems, generative AI, and decision-making algorithms that now shape finance, media, and infrastructure. We are entering a world where AI is not just augmenting human decision-making but, in some cases, replacing it entirely. This raises fundamental questions about labor, wealth distribution, and economic coordination—questions that today influence my work in AI ethics, governance, and decentralized models of trust and transparency.
One of the biggest takeaways from the roadmap was that virtual and augmented realities were on a collision course. We anticipated that AR and VR would eventually merge, and we predict how game technology would become the foundation for multiple industries beyond gaming.
Real-time rendering engines like Unreal Engine and Unity are now standard in virtual production, architectural visualization, and industrial simulation. Meanwhile, spatial computing, virtual studios, and AI-assisted content creation are erasing the boundaries between digital and physical media.
For me, this is personal—I’ve spent much of my career at the intersection of gaming, virtual production, and immersive storytelling. Whether through my work with MixCast in virtual production, or our ongoing investment in interactive entertainment and simulation tech, the thread is clear: the lines between virtual and physical are dissolving, and gaming remains the proving ground for what’s coming next.
We originally called it Life-Logging, but in hindsight, we were describing what would become TikTok, YouTube creators, and the digital influencer economy. At the time, we saw a future where individuals would take control of content creation, identity, and social interaction. What we didn’t anticipate was how algorithmic platforms would centralize control over creator economies, shaping visibility and monetization in ways that often favor engagement over ownership.
Yet, the shift is happening again. AI-assisted content creation, blockchain-backed monetization, and decentralized creator platforms are challenging traditional gatekeepers. My work today in helping creators establish real digital ownership and revenue independence is a direct evolution of these early conversations. The next era won’t just be about UGC—it will be about creator-owned economies.
One of the most prescient insights from the roadmap was that ubiquitous compute would be the foundation for everything else. We knew that virtual worlds, intelligent systems, and decentralized economies could only function at scale if the underlying processing power and network infrastructure could keep up.
Today, that roadblock is becoming clear: AI, large-scale simulations, and decentralized economies require an exponential increase in compute power. This is why the rise of DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks), green data centers, and sustainable AI infrastructure is one of the most pressing technological challenges.
Through our work with MetaGravity’s DePIN Supercomputer and other decentralized compute projects, I’ve seen firsthand how new infrastructure models are being built to ensure that AI, Web3, and digital economies don’t outgrow the resources that sustain them. If we want an internet that is scalable, sustainable, and open, we need to rethink who owns and operates the computational backbone of the future.
As immersive digital spaces became more mainstream, we recognized that the questions of digital identity, governance, and ethical AI would be unavoidable. The roadmap touched on the risks of centralized platform control, and today, those risks have materialized in ways that demand urgent solutions.
The more digital our lives become, the more pressing the question becomes: who owns our data, who controls our access, and who governs the systems that shape our reality?
This is why I’m involved in projects like the Pacific Commons Protocol Institute (PCPI)—because governance models matter just as much as the technology itself. The shift to decentralized governance, commons-based ownership, and AI transparency isn’t just an idealistic alternative—it’s a necessary counterbalance to corporate-driven, algorithmic control over digital life.
The Metaverse Roadmap was never just about predicting technology—it was about understanding how we participate in and shape it. For me, these themes have been the driving force behind my career—from early MMO economies to today’s work in digital asset ownership, sustainable compute, and ethical AI governance.
This blog series will explore each of these pillars in depth, revisiting the roadmap and asking what comes next. The vision we mapped out nearly two decades ago is still playing out. And the most important work is still ahead!