Surf The Metaverse In Style With The CARV Metaboard

Upgrade your Ready player Me avatar and compete against other Metaboard owners in a game of Hoverball.

Metaverse company CARV recently announced the CARV1 Metaboard, a metaverse hoverboard that doubles as a digital collectible.

Each Metaboard will use avatar integration depending on which metaverse platform you find yourself in and will include custom avatar animations and allow for modifications and upgrades. The hoverboard also features a physics system that allows you to perform tricks and offers item-optimization per metaverse environment. 

Nathan Grotticelli, CEO of CARV talked with VRScout about how he sees people using his Metaboards, saying, “We see people using Metaboards to traverse 3D model terrains within ever-growing virtual worlds.”

“The awesome thing about hovering is that ocean waves, snowy mountains and concrete skateparks are all rideable with similar physics.” Grotticelli adds, “We’re rolling out various demo examples of these, including 3D scans of places people love to ride already in real life.”

The initial CARV1 collection will come in 50 super rad designs and will be available at different levels of rarity and speed. The collection will feature 500 limited edition 3D assets in total. At the moment the company is limiting sales to two per customer, however, the company has bigger plans later in the year that will update how many you can buy.

Currently, you can use your Metaboards with your Ready Player Me avatar in any world Ready Player Me-compatible world. That list will grow, however, as CARV has agreements with 15 other apps/companies to rollout integration in the near future. 

That said, these virtual hoverboards aren’t just a fashion statement. You can also ride your board in the test drive showroom via the LEVRTV app. One thing to mention is that they may change the name of the app down the line, so if you are interested in checking it out, the CARV team suggests you go to their website and sign-up to get a direct link sent to your email.

One way Grotticelli envisions Metaboards being used is as a way for avatars to experience live-action 360 and volumetric video with greater vertical control and minimal vertigo.

Along with surfing the metaverse, owners will be able to resell boards to other collectors, ride on 3D terrain (including NeRFs), and compete against other owners in the upcoming Hoverball eSport competition. One tweet even teases AR functionality.

“We’re enabling freestyle tricks and a VR-first esport called Hoverball. This stems from some of our teammate’s previous experience creating and selling hoverboards in an app called Secondlife over 10 years ago. People enjoyed casually cruising and hitting jumps, but their Rocket-league/Quidditch-esq gameplay known as Simball is what people were drawn to most,” said Grotticelli.

CARV has some cool plans in store for its Metaboards, including a skate/street artist drop. The company is also preparing to announce its CARV 2 collection that includes a detachable virtual drone camera and more CARV rider competitions. 

If you’d like to own a CARV Metaboard, it’ll cost you 777 Matic (Polygon). CARV will open up other currencies such as USD and ETH in the upcoming months.

To learn more about CARV and their Metaboards or to buy one, hit the link here and join their Discord to talk with other Metaboard owners and the creative team and to get the heads up on the latest news.

Image Credit: CARV