ZED RUN founder envisions user narrative-driven Metaverse

cointelegraph.com:

Chris Laurent, the founder of the popular-digital horse racing game ZED RUN, envisions a future where people will spend their free time developing their own unique narratives within the Metaverse. 

This virtual world will contain a mix of gaming, entertainment, and social experiences underneath an overarching storyline, he believes.

The ZED RUN founder spoke to Cointelegraph following the launch of its first Metaverse platform, Human Park, on June 13. It features fully-customizable user avatars and an aesthetically pleasing 3D world built using the Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, the same platform used in top gaming titles such as Fortnite and Borderlands.

In an interview on launch day, Laurent and his team at Virtually Human Studio (VHS Labs), including Human Park executive producer Steven Na and Rick Pearce of Spectre Studios, stressed that Human Park was different from other Metaverse projects as it focuses on story-telling rather than just plopping users into a 3D world to roam around aimlessly.

“We are storytellers at heart, so we're here to empower players to tell their own stories. In this way, we believe we will be transforming the way people engage with and express themselves in this new internet we are all building,” said Pearce, co-founder and creative director of Spectre Studios.

Steven Na told Cointelegraph that they didn’t want to create a platform that white-boxed users into particular gaming experiences.

Laurent added that the Metaverse will offer “many different types of game experiences, entertainment, and social environments.”

Related: US trademark filing hints at Arizona State University planning classes in the Metaverse

“Much like you would see if you look at something like Roblox or Minecraft or even