Do you remember the movie *Ready Player One*? In it, the protagonist puts on a VR headset and races around in the OASIS to earn treasures. In fact, you’ve already been playing a simplified version of the metaverse.

Just think about it: spending 60 yuan on LINE animated stickers, using Brown’s head-shaking meme to suppress elders’ photos in family group chats—at their core, it’s only one difference compared with NFT players buying land on virtual platforms and trading digital art. You’re buying a license to use the game company’s servers, while they’re buying digital assets that truly belong to them and can be taken anywhere. That’s the key difference between the metaverse and NFTs.

In recent years, how to play the metaverse and NFTs has become a hot topic. But many people still don’t really understand what it is or how to participate. Today, I’ll explain all of it clearly from my own observations.

The concept of the metaverse comes from the 1992 science-fiction novel *Snow Crash*, which describes a virtual world parallel to reality where everyone has an online avatar. A broader understanding today is that the metaverse is a visually rich virtual space in which people can work, entertain themselves, shop, and socialize—everything supported by blockchain and NFTs.

Why are capital and markets chasing the metaverse? Venture capitalist Matthew Ball put it well: “The metaverse represents the fourth wave of computing after mainframes, personal computers, and mobile computing.” This isn’t hype—it really captures a shift in the times.

What role do NFTs (non-fungible tokens) play in the metaverse? Simply put, they are the metaverse’s anti-counterfeit ID. NFTs are built on blockchain technology, providing ownership and scarcity proofs for virtual assets. What would a metaverse be like without NFTs? Game treasures you buy can’t be resold, so their value is stuck on the server. Designed virtual clothes can only be worn by yourself, with no commercialization potential. Houses you worked hard to build can be taken down by the platform at any time, leaving your assets with zero value. That’s why NFTs are so important.

How are NFTs different from traditional digital assets? Traditional assets are copyable duplicates, while each NFT is unique. It’s hard to prove ownership of traditional assets; NFTs clearly record ownership through the blockchain. Traditional assets are tied up by platforms; NFTs can be traded freely across multiple marketplaces. This is true autonomy.

What’s the relationship between the metaverse and cryptocurrencies? One rises, the other falls together. During the 2021 bull market, Decentraland and The Sandbox sparked a frenzy, with MANA token gains reaching 4,100%, surpassing Bitcoin’s performance in the same period. The average virtual land price in The Sandbox jumped from 1000 to 45000, outpacing the appreciation of Taipei real estate. But as the crypto market topped out, the floor prices of these projects kept hitting fresh lows—cutting by half became normal. Some small projects were even left with no one paying attention.

How do ordinary people participate? Creating projects has a very high barrier, but buying and selling NFTs is relatively simple. Let me walk you through the process.

First, choose a platform. OpenSea is the most mainstream NFT trading marketplace, and the functions and gameplay are pretty similar. Then set up a wallet—MetaMask (the “little fox”) is a common choice, used to connect to the trading platform for various operations. Log in to the OpenSea official website, click “Connect Wallet” in the top-right corner, and complete the login. The first time, it will ask you to accept the terms, with no account-opening fee.

Next, you need to buy cryptocurrency—usually Ethereum, ETH. Buy it through an exchange and then transfer it into your own wallet. Once you have enough funds, you can select NFT projects you like and purchase them. If you think the floor price is too high, try auction formats—sometimes you can pick up bargains. If you want to sell, find the NFT in your profile, set a price, and list it. If someone buys it, you’ll earn the proceeds.

What should you pay attention to when entering the metaverse? Never input your private key on an unfamiliar platform—that’s like telling someone your bank password. Don’t register all accounts using the same set of passwords. Don’t trust “guaranteed profit” airdrop advertisements.

To be honest, investing in the metaverse does carry risk. Many projects put “metaverse” in their name, but in essence they have no real-world fundamentals—just hype. Once market excitement fades, prices can fall off a cliff. For people new to this field, it’s best to test the waters with small amounts and avoid projects you’re not familiar with. Compared with stocks and futures, the barrier to how to play with NFTs isn’t high, but overall liquidity is still relatively poor—so you need to be mentally prepared.

In the long run, the outlook for the metaverse is still fairly good. Big tech companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Google are investing. Virtual reality and AI will become important components, and the share of the virtual economy will further expand. Laws and regulations will gradually improve, lowering the entry barrier.

Some people ask whether the metaverse and NFTs are scams. Mainstream and well-known projects won’t completely detach from application scenarios; they won’t just do pure marketing. Is metaverse investment risky? Any investment has risks—the key is to have basic understanding and judgment. The good news is that there’s no leverage factor. As long as you follow trading discipline and there is sufficient liquidity, you can still enter and exit freely.