SK Telecom (SKT) has launched a new service on its metaverse platform, "ifland," called "if home."
"ifland" is a 3D virtual space that allows users to express themselves and socialize with others in the world of metaverse. With the introduction of "if home," users can create their personalized virtual home by selecting one of four terrains (forest, universe, beach, and city village) and one of six buildings (Santorini-style house, wooden house, Hanok (Traditional Korean house), Spanish-style house, cabin, and modern house).
Users can decorate their virtual homes according to their personal style and taste using around 400 different items in a variety of categories, such as wall-paper, flooring, furniture, home appliances, and props.
Users can also share their daily lives, thoughts, and interests by posting messages, photos, and videos on a giant 3D ball or a frame that can be placed anywhere. Visitors to an "if home" can give likes and comments on these posts and leave a footprint or a message on the guestbook.
Users can invite guests by sending a unique URL assigned to each "if home." With friends over, users can have a great time with play items. For instance, they can choose the karaoke item to sing their favorite songs and compare scores with friends. "if home" also provides users with the joy of meeting celebrities realized via volumetric technology. SKT plans to create more volumetric celebrities for "if home" users.
The company plans to add more terrains and buildings, more than double the number of "if home" decoration items, and develop more play items/features within this year to further enhance the user experience. An economic system will also be introduced within the year, where 3D content like virtual decoration items and special effects, tickets for diverse events, and rare NFT could be sold in "ifland."
"if home" can accommodate up to 31 users. For those who need a larger space for gatherings, "ifland" provides "if square," which can hold up to 131 users at the same time, making it ideal for large-scale events like lectures, performances, and concerts.
Although the "ifland" app is offered in two different versions – the Korean version and Global Version – "if home" is operated in an integrated manner, meaning that global users can visit "if home" of Korean users, and vice versa. With the addition of the German language, "ifland" now supports five different languages, namely Korean, English, Chinese (Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese), Japanese, and German.
"ifland" will also unveil special "if home" for companies that want to better communicate with customers as well as celebrities looking for new ways to reach out to their fans.
For instance, T1's "if home" will provide fans with past game videos, photos, and schedules. "K POP Show," a metaverse fan meeting program of K-pop stars, will also open its "if home" to share video and photos and hold special events. Many different brands, including 7-Eleven, are planning to use "if home" as a 3D virtual store to launch various promotional events.
SKT expects that "ifland" users would be able to experience a new form of communication in the metaverse by going back and forth between "if home", "if square" and special "if home".
“With the introduction of ‘if home,’ ifland takes social networking to the next level by allowing users to design and decorate their own space, and share their interests and daily experiences with others in the metaverse,” said Yang Maeng-seog, Head of Metaverse CO at SKT. “We will continue to enhance user experience by upgrading ifland’s service features and content, and introducing the economic system.”
