We were going to start this piece by talking about our project. But instead, we want to begin by thanking Satoshi Nakamoto, Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood, Hal Finney, and Ethan Buchman, among hundreds of other creators. Their work has paved the way for a new possibility of social, political, and economic organization.

We also want to thank the Mirror team for this incredible creation. Not only for the technological aspect but also for the proposed concept of Collect is the new Like, a post from Denis Nazarov. This theory reminds us of the mindblowing video of Jaron Lanier on TED several years ago, “How we need to remake the internet”, that made us reflect and debate a lot at the time.

The most current text of p.mirror.xyz,“Come for the creator, stay for the economy”, and “The Power of Metaphor!”, among many other texts that we have found here on mirror.xyz, has impressed us with the community they have generated around them.

I admit that I had stopped at the platform several times, but technologically it seemed similar to some competitors. But when I looked more closely, I realized how ignorant I was not seeing the beautiful project that is being created here with more than just technical skills. Before concluding the acknowledgments, I must also highlight the work of joan.mirror.xyz with #DIY:Fuck the Gatekeepers, which once again brought me to Mirror. But this time looking with more mature eyes, I entered a rabbit hole of hyperlinks that led to more and more incredible minds, projects, and human beings. I felt myself looking very bottom up and seeing how many fronts the future of Web3 is getting worked on at such a high and beautiful level that I was ecstatic. - Product Designer

As an indie, a small project following Joan's impactful and motivating words, we also decided, as a team, to introduce ourselves here. Our goal is to be part of something we believe in, and go to a place different from “The next token X or Y going to the moon!” We have much more to learn here than to give, but we consider it worthwhile to share what we have.

We come from the game design sector, and we believe in the power of playfulness as a base factor of culture. Citing Johan Huizinga in Homo Ludens:

“You can deny, if you like, nearly all abstractions: justice, beauty, truth, goodness, mind, God. You can deny seriousness, but not play.”

Huizinga identifies 5 characteristics that play must have:

• Play is free, is in fact freedom.

• Play is not "ordinary" or "real" life.

• Play is distinct from "ordinary" life both as to locality and duration.

• Play creates order, is order.

• Play demands order absolute and supreme.

Making a parallel to Chris Dixon:

“The next big thing will start out looking like a toy”

In our society, where attention time has become an increasingly expensive product, we see the potential of fun, of emotional consumption of information. Not just the factual and the scientific, but following the concept “memory is emotion”. And this is clear in several instances in our society when we try to talk about political positions and the pandemic. Without diving into direct examples, it is easy to see the point of “science vs. emotional political views”.

What we want is not to pressure the separation of these things but to unite them. We believe that communication has a fundamental role linked to the concept of truth to human perspective and learning with emotion. In other words, the power of metaphor to create reality.

“New metaphors are capable of creating new understandings and, therefore, new realities.” —George Lakoff

Our project is named in/habitants, which refers to the Inside Habitant. The in/habitant resides not only in the physical world but also the digital world, having a life and memories in the meta-universe.

In more detail:

"in" is an abbreviation for inside. The slash represents a broken passage or portal. "Habitants" is society as organized today. So "Inside / Habitant" refers to an individual living inside today's society in both worlds (physically and digitally). By connecting with other "insiders" through the Web2/Web3 "portal", they find those with similar values and philosophies. People/Avatars with diverse and decentralized values come together through these connections.

As a reinterpretation of the metaverse concept, we chose the word "multiverse". And the citizens of the various multiverses are the in/habitants.

And why does it matter?

We believe that Web3, like Web2, will reshape different layers of the world, whether in terms of work, learning, finances, or even geopolitics. It is something much bigger than a global stock exchange. And as creators, we seek our role in trying to convey this complex new world in a more fun, friendly way through the manga medium, more precisely, the webtoon. Our mission:

• To create a form of entertainment and introduction to the Web3 world in a more gradual, friendly way.

• To increase the spectrum of professionals in the sector.

• To create relevant contexts for this new paradigm and highlight important debates that involve the sector in the course of the narrative.

• To explore the world of the metaverse and experience transmedia interactions that enhance relationships with different media.

And how do we intend to do this?

Tokengate/webcomic platforms are the main places. The marketplaces are Opensea on Polygon, and Cosmos using the Stargaze. We like being EVM-compatible because we have a lot of respect for Ethereum. But we also have a keen interest in the interchain concept that Cosmos offers.

Our intention is to create an engaging and long-lasting story, slowly telling the story of characters who, in different ways, get involved with the crypto world.

This concept, mixed with Web3 and the culture of a co-creation network, allows for a more participatory, interactive context, a web3comic.

And what is this story anyway?

In a world not unlike this one, the least fortunate of the population must struggle to survive.

When a group of misfits come together and find they share a similar pain, they decide to combine their strengths.

Using cutting-edge technology, they set out to rebuild the status quo and create a new world accepting of everyone.

Or at least that's what they hoped.

We intend to create a microcosm where complex sociocultural contexts take place. The reader can take sides and reflect on the contexts and their favorite characters in a more human and direct projection, to think about conflicts that happen across the world.

So it's just a manga?

Yes and no. Conquering attention, as stated at the beginning, is something disputed in today's world, so just the consumption of a few episodes is already an introduction to the context of Web3. But if the reader enters the rabbit hole, they will find much more with the main product and community.

With our expertise in game design, we are creating a playful experience with our NFTs, tokengate, and other features. Readers can dive into different arcs of the characters’ stories, participate in discord with special access, and exchange knowledge and friendship with like-minded community members. A similar experience brought us here. We are a derivative project and desire other projects to also derive from us, to build a large, flourishing community.

We looked very carefully at the vision proposed in the post of p.mirror.xyz, highlighting:

• Phase 1: Creator Mode

• Phase 2: Org. Mode

• Phase 3: A Protocol Economy

We are interested in gradually decentralizing the project but also understand the complexity of doing so. There are not many comparative cases about the real-world applicability of this. But we believe it is necessary to think about it from the beginning, to try to be free to advance levels over time.

And where did all this start?

Our previous works already involved a lot of this context, but the trigger to the web3 world was an NFT project called Rebel Rabbits, which we are a derivative project. Some of us bought the initial NFT, a cool rabbit mask. We started playing with it, making models and photos, participating on Discord, creating friendships and exchanging ideas with other members. We created plots, drawings, animations for the rabbit masks, and conceptual characters. The feedback we received got more interesting and playful with time. We started to get excited about our diegesis and decided to create a parallel story. Gradually this idea grew and became what we have today at in/habitants.

Closing Thoughts

Something interesting about this experience is that we now have a bigger dream, but honestly don't know all the steps to get there yet. We are experimenting and inviting you to come with us. We don’t know where this will end, but it’s been an enjoyable journey.

We know cutting-edge technology will create opportunities and risks for us to deal with and grow. Does our project have a future as a DAO? We don't know, but we are open to learning and exploring the possibilities.

For now, we want to create a satisfying reading experience. Then give our characters more life to interact in the digital world as avatars. With their own social networks, they will “exist” in meta format in the ludic digital world while interacting with users who are in the physical and digital world. The meeting point is the digital world.

We want to experiment with different layers of the metaverse, from the simple Instagram of a character to network nodes that maintain the security and decentralization of the network. There is even the possibility of the characters being real beings of the digital world, not only inside the story but as a character avatar.

And here is our final thanks to all of you creators mentioned and many more creators not mentioned here. And an invitation to get to know our work on our website.

“All play means something.” —Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture

If this piece resonates with you, take the first step. Collect it. It is free but limited.

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And thank you so much for reading to the end!

in/habitants Episode 01 - It wasn’t my fault