Somnium Space: Deepening the Experience

Somnium Space is not only broadening the platform by continuously releasing new features (such as the revolutionary Somnium Space Worlds), they’re also relentlessly committed to deepening the quality of the immersive experiences in their VR world.

When I first entered Somnium, I was overwhelmed by the sense of connection I felt to the environment. I was in my (real life) living room, but the moment I entered Somnium, my brain was instantly tricked into believing I was in a totally different space. After some walking around I found myself standing at the shores of deep Oasis Lake. The sun had just disappeared behind the horizon. It triggered genuine emotions in me, similar to those I experienced when visiting Lapland a few years ago and standing at a crystal clear lake against the backdrop of snow capped mountains.

Lapland in north Sweden on the left, Somnium Space on the right. But virtual or not, the emotions are real.

That’s when I understood how rich and deep VR can be and how inherently connected you can feel to virtual environments. Sure, in VR I wasn’t feeling the cool evening breeze brushing my skin and I did not experience the smell of the air that came rolling down the mountains and across the water. But I was emotionally connected due to the views, the quality of the simulated natural phenomena, the sounds and the sense of space. If you ask me, it is only a matter of time before senses like touch and smell can be triggered in virtual settings as well, but until then sight and hearing really do the trick for me.

Since that first emotional connection – when I stood at the shores of Deep Oasis Lake – the experiences have only gotten better. They’ve deepened. Why?

Well, the image quality has gotten even better, the realism of the natural phenomena has gone up several notches, spatial audio sounds even better, finger tracking was added, there are volumetric clouds that cast dynamic shadows on the ground, there’s fog, grass and much more!

All these enhancement deepen the immersive experience; and it is the immersion that is one of the main attractions of Somnium Space for me.

The fabric of the Metaverse

While the immersion is second to none, Somnium Space is much more than an immersive experience. It is a thriving world, buzzing with activity. What is so fascinating is that the fabric of the very Metaverse is woven before our eyes. Somnium is a glimpse of the future. Or rather, the future is already here. People socialize, build, share, invent revolutionary new business models, have fun, are creative, play roles, attend concerts, organize parties, hike together, and so much more.

That’s depth as well. There is richness in immersion and richness in utility and possibilities. Possibilities that will only explode with the announced new features (Somnium Space Worlds: Forging the Future of the Metaverse and Somnium Space At Your Fingertips, Right From Your Web Browser).

Virtual land, real ownership

Imagine the joy of being a virtual land owner.

When I bought my first land, a small parcel close to the mountains, I was genuinely proud and excited. Here I was, in the far east of Somnium standing on my land with my imaginary rubber boots. I had never owned a piece of land in real life, but I understood that with this virtual asset, this small piece of land in Somnium, I had opened a door to a new world with a whole range of new possibilities. I didn’t fully realize it at the time I think. It was just a feeling that this was special, nothing like anything we had seen before.

Proud land owner in Somnium Space.

One thing I did fully grasp at that moment was the significance of the fact that Somnium Space is a blockchain based virtual reality world and that the land I was standing on was truly mine, undisputable. Somnium Space assets – including but not limited to land parcels – are blockchain (NFT) tokens, which implies that all transactions are engraved on the Ethereum blockchain. Forever.

What’s ahead?

I can put it very simply: Continuous broadening and deepening of the experiences and possibilities. Immersion – already capable of triggering my emotions – will only get better. Utility, the possibilities – already impressive – will only increase.

I am so confident of that. There’s hardly a week passing without new or improved features. This gives me the constant feeling that we’re still at the beginning of the ride. A ride into the Metaverse. And what a ride it will be!

| All the building previews are now 3D
| Improved image quality in VR
| Time of the day inside Somnium is from now on synchronized between everyone
| Running in 2D mode + dramatically improved animations
| Typeable values in Builder for more precise building capabilities are now implemented
| Building under water is now implemented

An ordinary day at the office for the Somnium Space team!

Purchasing land

If you are interested in purchasing land, make sure to tune in on the Secondary Land Offering (SLO), during which many new parcels will hit the market.

You can also purchase parcels on the secondary market.

All parcels (SLO or secondary market) are listed on the Somnium Space VR marketplace on OpenSea.

Useful links

Somnium Space website

Somnium Space interactive map

Somnium Space on Discord