Lifeform: Exploring a redefinition of DID in a visual and three-dimensional form

Author: ChainCatcher

The formation of a virtual society requires the existence of digital humans, meaning that we should twin people from the real world into the virtual world to further carry the mapping relationship between the real and digital worlds. From a sociological perspective, this is crucial for the development of virtual ecology.

Although the original intention of the internet was to better facilitate communication among people, especially the sharing of knowledge, to grant everyone equal access to information, the highly commercialized development of the internet is now contradicting this original intention. It is becoming a tool for Web2 commercial giants to extract business value.

Essentially, Web2 builders create their websites and applications through servers, allowing users to apply for accounts based on a centralized platform's account structure to access services. Any user who creates a digital account and uses the services provided will have their behavioral data, relationship graphs, etc., stored and heavily reliant on centralized private servers. This means that this data is firmly held by Web2 platforms, creating massive commercial value for them.

While Web2 users have an absolute numerical advantage, internet giants have cultivated user habits through good user experiences. For example, the virtual network ecology represented by QQ Show / QQ Number has gained the favor of the vast majority of internet users, becoming the first digital identity passport for early internet users. However, we also see that in the Web2 world, a few individuals are controlling the data of the majority, and under the control of a few stakeholders, they are preventing users from overflowing into other Web2 ecosystems, which means that most of our Web2 digital identities are fragmented.

Thus, in the Web2 world, the average person needs to manage 10 to 20 different platform accounts, and the centralized storage of data poses certain security risks. Data privacy breaches can be catastrophic for users.

Overall, under the ideology of Web2, users do not possess sovereignty over their digital identities, and the operation of traditional digital identities is limited by the platform's servers. Users' social graphs and relationship graphs (social relationships) have become proprietary data owned by private companies.

The First Generation of DID Systems

Based on emerging technologies such as blockchain and distributed storage, Web3 is reshaping the ideology of the Web2 world. We can log in and use most Web3 applications in a permissionless manner through cryptographic accounts generated on the blockchain. With the further adoption of NFTs, DID (Decentralized Identity) based on NFTs is granting new identity sovereignty to Web3 users in an assetized form and allowing them to control their data (permissioned authorization). In addition to being decentralized and sustainable, it also possesses new features of being resolvable and verifiable.

From our perspective, we hope to leverage DID identities that bind social graphs, reputation, credibility, and assets to fully utilize composability for authorizing and logging into various Web3 applications (and even Web2 applications), and to obtain various services in a permissionless manner (supported by the vast majority of protocols and applications).

At the same time, we believe that digital identities need to be attractive, requiring a more convenient and secure user experience and visual appeal to attract more users to participate in the Web3 ecosystem, effectively addressing the issues of the Web2 world. It is also expected to become a major entry point for aggregating the Web3 world.

Currently, decentralized text domains represented by ENS, .bit, Space ID, and soulbound tokens (SBT) like Binance's BAB are becoming the main carriers of DID, with text domains as the primary manifestation of DID becoming mainstream.

However, we see that text is a one-dimensional feature. While it can meet some basic needs, we do not believe this will be the final form of DID. This form of DID identity has low added value (especially cultural attributes), with few derivative scenarios, such as lacking personalized displays that are difficult to meet visual needs and editability, etc.

From another perspective, existing DID identities have poor universality, including poor integration with different applications and poor compatibility with multiple chains. DID based on text domains resembles the early forms of traditional internet development from 30 years ago.

From the blockchain perspective, wallets are the main carriers of such DID assets, with account management (private keys, etc.) and issues of recourse after the loss of account private keys. Additionally, in terms of user experience, wallet mnemonic phrases and other methods do not align with traditional user habits, creating certain entry barriers. The inherent design flaws of blockchain are becoming obstacles for Web2 users to enter the Web3 world, which can be attributed to a lack of infrastructure.

This is also why Lifeform chooses to collaborate deeply with Particle Network: we aim to ensure that end users have asset autonomy while frictionlessly generating and managing DID assets through the industry's leading wallet infrastructure provider's MPC (Multi-Party Computation) wallet middleware.

Lifeform: A Redefinition of DID, A "Renaissance" of Web3

Recently, a "face-sculpting" craze has swept Twitter, with many KOLs showcasing their Avatar creations made through the "Lifeform" engine. This activity is part of Lifeform's "ShowMeYourAvatar" creative event, where users can create Avatar characters using the engine to participate and share rewards. A total of 42,607 users participated in this event, sparking heated discussions and attention in the crypto industry. In fact, these Avatar creations are not just 3D UGC works; they are also visual, three-dimensional DID assets.

Lifeform is the first Web3 "visual DID" project, which completed a multi-million dollar seed round of financing in August this year, led by Binance Labs, and received early support and promotion from Binance Labs.

Its biggest feature is that users can generate 3D Avatars through the Web3 visual DID editor provided by Lifeform, serving as their DID credentials. As users continuously interact with Web3 applications, it will further encompass various elements such as assets, reputation, identity, and social graphs. With the emergence of Lifeform, the form of DID assets will no longer be limited to text domains; 3D Avatar characters are also becoming a new carrier of DID. Lifeform is redefining the form of the DID track and providing a new narrative for development.

The advantage of Lifeform's visual DID lies in the introduction of 3D Avatars, allowing users to upgrade from initially pursuing personalized text (combinations of numbers and letters) to personalized visual element choices. This means users have more options in terms of personalization and aesthetics. At the same time, 3D Avatars further introduce cultural attributes into DID, transitioning from early pseudonyms to more recognizable 3D characters.

Currently, Lifeform's Web3 visual DID editor includes 7 creation components, each with over 1,000 components, allowing users to create over 10 billion combinations of appearances (body types, skin colors, facial features, etc.), enabling users to customize various unique virtual images. When generating an Avatar, users can choose a template and further decorate and adjust it. The editor can even capture users' facial expressions and movements. After editing, users can save their avatars and generate NFTs.

Lifeform is liberating the imagination and creativity of many users. Creating 3D works and generating NFTs is no longer a privilege of a few artists. As users create works, they also infuse more emotional and spiritual attributes, providing value accumulation. It resembles a "Renaissance" characterized by Web3.

As DID assets, these Avatar NFTs can already log into various Web2 and Web3 applications using Particle Network's wallet middleware and be showcased. Currently, Lifeform users can log in using Web2 accounts or email, and support applying their 3D virtual identities in applications like Google Meet, Zoom, Discord, and TikTok. We see that Web2 and Web3 are not inherently disconnected; the collaboration between Lifeform and Particle Network is a typical case of Web3 infrastructure beginning to integrate with Web2 applications and services.

For some ecological applications with three-dimensional characteristics, such as virtual space applications and GameFi applications, Lifeform will support users in further applying their 3D Avatars in these ecosystems. Lifeform is providing developers with open ABI and API standards to achieve interconnectivity of various identities, states, assets, resources, and data, leaving the interpretation rights freely to the application side. Through its unique automated multi-end adaptation technology for 3D models, the same visual DID will adapt to model assets of different styles and precisions, entering different styles of metaverses and achieving interconnectivity between different metaverse spaces, significantly enriching the content of these ecosystems.

In the early Web3 ecosystem, content is essentially scarce, which further leads to limited scenarios where Web3 applications can provide user experiences that surpass Web2 products. The limited on-chain data or content provided by users also further prevents DID and other elements from enriching various ecosystems. Therefore, Lifeform's visual DID greatly enhances the composability of assets, promising to address the aforementioned issues.

Of course, high composability and universality are also early intentions behind the construction of NFTs, DIDs, and other entities, which is precisely where Lifeform's value lies.

Currently, Lifeform has reached a partnership with Particle Network. By integrating Particle, the Lifeform ecosystem will have a complete MPC-TSS multi-chain wallet (no need to save private keys), supporting users to log into applications using Web2 methods quickly and at low cost. This component allows users to use decentralized applications without needing to download a separate wallet app, significantly lowering the threshold for Web2 users to enter Web3.

Lifeform launched its Windows client on November 8, with over 131,000 users creating more than 206,000 Avatar NFTs. Lifeform Avatars and Lifeform Items (accessories) are both ranked high in NFT minting and sales charts.

Currently, Lifeform's SDK has been integrated into the blockchain-based metaverse game BurgerCities, and assets within this game are expected to interoperate with other game ecosystems soon. Meanwhile, Lifeform will launch a Mac version in December, allowing Apple ecosystem users to experience the visual impact brought by Unreal Engine for the first time. In January 2023, Lifeform will continue to push into the mobile sector, launching metaverse exhibitions and simulation life games like "HALOWORLD," among other scenarios, to empower Avatars.

NFTs are moving towards a utility application revolution. Lifeform's new selling methods and utility support will place all choices and usage rights in the hands of users. Users can live stream using their created Avatars in Web2 video streams and can also earn in the HALOWORLD game using their created Avatars.

It is reported that on January 4, 2023, the Lifeform platform will launch its first batch of Launchpad, selling HALO Avatar NFTs at a public sale price of 2500 BUSD and a whitelist price of 2250 BUSD.

Lifeform aims to build the next generation of IGO platforms, bringing players a new NFT selling method, granting players a freer user experience while providing more valuable utility support for NFTs. Users can not only live stream using their created Avatars in Web2 but also earn in the HALOWORLD game. Lifeform's IGO sale is not just selling an image; it is a visual DID, serving as both an SDK interface for the metaverse and a 3D model that can operate in games.

Lifeform is Expected to Become the Most Important Infrastructure for Metaverse Development

Humans are the core element of the real world, creating various scenes and building complex social networks. We see that the metaverse, as a virtual replica of the real world, although built on chains and allowing users to enter the ecosystem at any time in a permissionless manner, does not place humans as the core element of the ecosystem.

We observe that early "virtual space" metaverses represented by Cryptovoxels and Decentraland allow landholders to edit some scenes, but "humans" themselves find it difficult to twin well in these ecosystems. Many characters in these ecosystems share the same appearance, differing only in the "crypto address" displayed above the user's head.

The formation of a virtual society requires the existence of digital humans, meaning that we should twin people from the real world into the virtual world to further carry the mapping relationship between the real and digital worlds. From a sociological perspective, this is crucial for the development of virtual ecology. Lifeform's 3D hyper-realistic virtual human editor is expected to achieve a low-threshold twinning of "humans" in the virtual world, injecting soul and new colors into virtual humans in the metaverse through visual DID.

When users have high-quality image assets at a low threshold, the UGC model will stimulate a surge in virtual human users, attracting the metaverse ecosystem to embed more Web3 commercial scenarios, ultimately forming a self-governing and prosperous virtual human social ecology.

DID is the main entry point to the Web3 world, and through DID, we hope to navigate various applications in the Web3 world. We see that Lifeform's visual DID is evolving decentralized identity from text to a three-dimensional form, fully leveraging the composability of cryptographic assets and utilizing Particle Network to lower the entry barriers for Web2 users, promising to enrich the content of the Web3 world in the short term, which holds extraordinary significance for the development of the Web3 world. Lifeform is leading the next billion users into the gateway of the Web3 world.