There seems to be many new organizations appearing for the first time, backed by large industry players, to unite companies to build the metaverse. Then there’s M3, a grassroots community of artists and open source hackers that also want the open metaverse and have been operating for almost 4 years guided by the same charter.

M3 stands for Metaverse Makers. We couldn’t decide on what the third M was going to be so use your imagination. It’s home to the minds behind innovative projects such as JanusXR, Anarchy Arcade, Webaverse, and Hyperfy. Since 2019 we’ve been working towards a common goal of building an interoperable and decentralized metaverse, our GitHub is a testament to this: https://github.com/m3-org

Without further adieu…

Metaverse Makers Mastermind (M3) Charter

Source: https://github.com/m3-org/charter

“A mastermind group is a type of peer-to-peer mentoring group used to help members solve problems, make decisions, and achieve personal and professional goals. The group typically consists of a small number of people who meet regularly to support and challenge each other. Members share their experiences, offer advice, and hold each other accountable for progress. The goal of a mastermind group is to help members leverage the collective wisdom and resources of the group to achieve their goals more quickly and effectively than they would be able to on their own” - ChatGPT

Who we are

We are a group of makers working to reify a practical "Metaverse". We are doing this through open products, content production, education, and fundraising.

Let's break that down.

What is a Metaverse?

A metaverse is a three-dimensional world, existing in computers, created by many different people with many conflicting goals, who nonetheless loosely agree on interoperable evolving standards.

So it's the Matrix?

Maybe "The Matrix" is an inspiration, but we're not trying to recreate reality.

So it's the web?

The web has a lot of the right properties, but it isn't a "three-dimensional world". Technology like WebXR might help. We embrace any technology that can help, as long as it is based on interoperable evolving standards.

So it's VR? AR? 2D?

A three-dimensional world can be viewed through many lenses. It can be on a flat screen, attached to real locations, or completely virtual. Interoperability means these should all talk to each other.

So it's Facebook Horizon/Steam/Oculus/Magic Leap?

These projects are run by a single business that sets the goal and dictates the standards. We can't work in a vacuum, so we try to fit our ideas with theirs.

So it's VRChat/Minecraft/Decentraland/Cryptovoxels?

These projects are amazing, but not sufficiently interoperable, and also generally led by a single organization.

What is a "maker"

A maker is someone who contributes towards fulfilling the goal. Making takes many shapes, such as ideation, organization, data research, design, execution, funding and other endeavors that advance our mission.

A maker is not in the group for entertainment, appreciation, or keeping "up to date".

If you are not a maker you may still enjoy the things we produce, and you can still support our mission in other ways.

What is "practical"

Practical means we are forward-thinking pragmatists. Our work cannot exist in a vacuum.

Here are some things we do not believe:

• We are right and everyone else is wrong

• Everything should be "open source"

• If we make great things, people will come help

• Results emerge organically, by something other than our work

• We appreciate volunteers who work for free

• People and organizations are benevolent

• If we wait, it will happen

Here are some things we do believe:

• Bias towards action and tentative answers rather than perpetual questions and talk

• Clarity of thought is important

• Our ideas compete with giants who want different things

• Money is needed for us to survive

• Everyone wants something different, but we can take aim together

• Promotion of our ideas is important work

• Time is of the essence, because others aren't waiting

Our activities

• Regular meetings to discuss and present our ideas, and be held to accountable progress on them.

• Research events that serve as both learning and promotion of our ideas.

• Producing clear communications of our ideas, in the form of videos, blog posts, social media activity, and so on.

• Fundraising work, including GitHub Sponsors/Patreon/Venture Capital, where having capital available helps the group's goals.

• Organization and coordination of presentations with other leaders who do not necessarily share our views.

• Managing minutiae, such as the GitHub organization, Discord channels, video transcriptions, etc.

How you can help

• Participate in our meetings by presenting your idea and what you've learned.

• Work on a project that is missing, or missing in the right shape, in the open metaverse community.

• Promote the group to an audience who might be interested in helping out the mission.

• Sponsor us as a subscriber.

• Sponsor us as an advertiser.

Join us

M3 is like a virtual hackerspace. Hackerspaces are traditionally community owned public spaces where people share their interest in tinkering with technology, meet and work on their projects, and learn from each other. Places like Cyberdelia from the movie Hackers and The Black Sun club from Snow Crash inspire our third place.

No dues required, just a passion for learning and growth. In order to unlock membership privileges you must complete git gud - a quest that requires you to learn how to make virtual avatars, worlds, and documentation. If you’re into topics like AR/VR, open source, crypto, and AI, then join the discord and make an intro 😎

If interested in a longer origin story check out this post:

Letter to Makers