History to be made? 

The Minister of Culture of St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Carlos James, spoke highly of adapting to the current times. With Vincy Mas being canceled for the last two years because of the ever-present Coronavirus, he suggested to the members of the House of Assembly that in 2022, it is only natural that St. Vincent and The Grenadines becomes the first Caribbean island and possibly the first country in the world to explore the possibility of hosting  carnival within the Metaverse.

This ‘Metaverse’ he speaks of is the merging of virtual, augmented, and physical reality in an alternate reality. There, users can interact in a computer-generated environment with other users which will be facilitated by headsets that support both virtual and augmented reality in the completely immersive 3D world. 

Since being plunged into the deepest depth of the pandemic, the world has been made aware of this alternate reality. It has gotten to the point where brands and artistes, musicians, and everyday folk, have been giving this reality a go. Brands have been taking the leap into the virtual reality side of things by working on their Non-Fungible Tokens or NFTs. Jumping on the Metaverse hype train are the brands Adidas, Pepsi, and Nike.  Luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Bulgari, and Rimowa have also been looking to solidify themselves in the Metaverse as they can see billions coming by adapting to the craze that is virtual reality.  In a recent report, according to Bloomberg analysts, the global Metaverse revenue opportunity could approach US$800 billion in 2024.

With St. Vincent entertaining the possibility of folks chipping away in the Metaverse, is it far from far-fetched?

Currently in discussion with the relevant folks is the exploration of how best they can pull off having events in the virtual space. Acknowledged was the fact that it is “3D mixed concepts that fuse a real-world platform with a digital world”. This the Minister of Culture says will allow for more people to take part in activities, or simply put: partying. Where the Metaverse is concerned, Minister James feels that “St Vincent and the Grenadines can tap into the virtual space to provide the right avenues for creatives to express themselves and to earn revenue. It’s a new topic and new conversation and for those who are unfamiliar with it, I suggest you google it”.

Now, if Vincy Mas is held in the Metaverse, SVG will be the first nation to play a mas in the digital world. To bring back Carnival in 2022, after being on pause for two years, in a history-making way? Wetty Beatz didn’t lie when he said “Ting Go Nice Again”. At the time of writing this piece, no details have been given on how the execution of the proposed carnival celebration will be carried out. One can’t help but wonder if this is feasible at present because taking into consideration the means of pulling off what is being dubbed ‘Metaverse Mas’, it has the potential to grow expensive.

Firstly, to be taken into consideration is the fact that in order to tap into this virtual reality that is the Metaverse, one would need a virtual reality headset such as the Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Playstation VR, Samsung HMD Odyssey, and the Lenovo Mirage Solo. VR headsets can run someone between US$18 to $1300+ and it’ll have to be supplied to the folks across SVG. If it does turn out that Metaverse Mas is greenlit and Carnival 2022 is indeed a go, it’ll just be a fact that Wetty Beatz didn’t lie, cheers!🍻

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